I’ve just written letters to my two Senators and Congressman. I used the Congress.org site to e-mail them but they seem to have disappeared off the site. Hmm. At any rate, I’ve also printed them out and plan to mail them off tomorrow. You should all do the same. Read on if you want to see what I wrote.Dear Senator Bayh,

SUBJECT: SAME-SEX MARRIAGES

Lest you wonder why an Australian is writing to you, I should probably start by explaining that I’m an American citizen and Hoosier by birth. I lived in northeast Indiana for most of my life and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1999. Since matriculation I’ve been living and working overseas, first in the United Kingdom and now in Sydney, Australia. For some time now I’ve been looking forward to the day when I would return home for good. I envisioned myself buying a house, marrying my Australian partner, and possibly even having children. I’ve seen a lot of nice places around the world, but I’ve always held on to the belief that the U.S. is a fundamentally good and fair country, the best in which to raise a family.

Now I’m questioning that belief.

I find it completely ludicrous that our President would even suggest enshrining homosexual discrimination in our Constitution. He would alter the document that provides the very foundation of our country merely to define a word – a word! – and in effect turn an entire demographic of hardworking Americans into second-class citizens. His only justification can be on religious grounds, which though I respect, are no basis for United States law. This very idea of this Amendment is an outrage. It is election-year pandering to fundamentalists and zealots.

Have you seen the couples that were wed last week in San Francisco? What right-minded person could object to loving individuals that just want the same rights as everybody else? How could anyone familiar with the Civil Rights Movement honestly suggest that “separate but equal” civil unions are palatable? I fail to see any valid reason why I should be able to marry my partner but someone else is not. If this Amendment were to pass, I seriously doubt that I could bring myself to marry. I could not in good conscience take advantage of legal benefits and privileges that were so callously denied to so many, purely based on the gender of their partner and the tyranny of the homophobic majority.

I urge you to speak out against the President’s proposed Amendment. I have been politically apathetic in the past but this issue has galvanized me. I am ashamed at the eagerness with which some of those who enjoy the freedoms our Constitution provides would use it to curtail the freedoms of others. I will not sit back and watch my country be divided by fear, intolerance, and hate. I intend to use what tools I have – my voice and my vote – to ensure that never happens.

Sincerely,

Kristine Howard