[NEohioPAL]Lights out

[LissyGulick at aol.com]

You have put it beautifully (as usual). Here's a letter that I am emailing t=
o=20
major newspapers in the 11 states that voted discrimination into their state=
=20
constitutions:

Subj:    Re: Issue One
Date:   Thursday, November 4, 2004 10:49:26 PM
From:   LissyGulick
To:     letters at plaind.com

To the editor:

After spending a morose day with other hardworking and passionate Cuyahoga=20
County Democrat volunteers as we deconstructed the East Side KERRY headquart=
ers,=20
I realized that even worse than the defeat of John Kerry is the victory of=20
the heinous constitutional amendment that discriminates against gays and =20
non-mainstream unions in my home state of Ohio.


I am a straight woman, married for 27 years (to the same man :). Of the=20
friends I hold most dear, and whose friendships have been the most uplifting=
 in my=20
life, less than half are straight; and indeed one of the longest-running=20
relationships I know is two men who have been together for over 40 years. Th=
eir=20
union is an example for all who know them, because any relationship is hard=20
work--regardless of sexual orientation--and they have made an inspiring succ=
ess of=20
it.=20

=20

So I invite anyone who voted for Issue One (or its counterparts in other=20
states) to explain to me how my 27-year marriage is threatened by the presen=
ce in=20
my community of long-term unions of people of other sexual orientations, who=
=20
now wish the legal benefits of marriage conferred by the government and not=20=
by=20
any religion.=20

How does it hurt me when a non-married partner is permitted to visit and=20
comfort a very sick partner in the hospital?  Or confers the same benefits u=
pon=20
that partner that I would wish to receive from my husband?

Explain to me how gay couples who adopt and give loving homes to=20
otherwise-unwanted children weaken the fabric of society. For that matter, i=
s it the gay=20
world who is responsible in the first place for bringing all those unwanted=20
babies into the world =E2=80=93 or are they the fruit of what my husband cal=
ls "reckless=20
heterosexual breeding?"

I would like to know: are love and commitment of so little value to our=20
troubled society that we can dismiss and trample on them when they appear in=
=20
non-traditional packaging?

=20

Call me na=C3=AFve, call me ignorant, but as an Ohioan, an American, and a=20
Christian, I just don=E2=80=99t see how it makes my life better to deliberat=
ely make someone=20
else=E2=80=99s life more difficult.=20


=20

 Lissy Gulick

Cleveland Heights, OH

<A HREF=3D"http://www.geocities.com/lissygulick/index.html">Lissy Gulick </A=
>

http://www.geocities.com/lissygulick/index.html