Kerry Edwards
Dear Senators Kerry and Edwards,
In a recent email, your campaign asked, “What values matter most to you?”
I’d like to let you know what matters most to me is keeping my family close, acquiring financial independence and a successful retirement, and equality for GLBT people – which includes full marriage rights, not just civil unions.
But you probably have people reading through these letters for you, and they have probably been given a list of criteria to weed through the thousands of letters, to find only the ones that will help your campaign. So the chances of your actually ever reading this letter yourself are quite slim. Further, you’ve probably been watching the polls and have deduced that since “most Americans” are “against gay marriage,” that taking the side of the minority would not be to your advantage. This makes me wonder why I am wasting my time writing. In reality, I have no real choice but to vote for you, because I obviously can’t vote for Bush, and if I don’t vote at all then that’s actually one in his favor.
But the fact is, gentlemen, I’m a real person who is affected by the decisions you make as Senators, and the decisions you might make as the President and Vice President. I am a mortgaged homeowner living in Marion, Iowa. I live with my girlfriend of 5 years in a loving, monogamous relationship. We have 2 dogs and we split all household bills equally. We both work 40 hours a week, pay our bills on time, contribute to the economy both locally and nationally, pay taxes, are responsible pet owners, are defensive drivers with clean records, and we get involved in democracy by voting and grassroots activism. At the end of the day, the most important thing to me is not some imaginary “gay agenda.” It’s being able to relax at home with my girlfriend and not have to worry what she will do if something happens to me.
But I DO have to worry. I have to worry if she will be allowed to visit me in the hospital during
In a recent email, your campaign asked, “What values matter most to you?”
I’d like to let you know what matters most to me is keeping my family close, acquiring financial independence and a successful retirement, and equality for GLBT people – which includes full marriage rights, not just civil unions.
But you probably have people reading through these letters for you, and they have probably been given a list of criteria to weed through the thousands of letters, to find only the ones that will help your campaign. So the chances of your actually ever reading this letter yourself are quite slim. Further, you’ve probably been watching the polls and have deduced that since “most Americans” are “against gay marriage,” that taking the side of the minority would not be to your advantage. This makes me wonder why I am wasting my time writing. In reality, I have no real choice but to vote for you, because I obviously can’t vote for Bush, and if I don’t vote at all then that’s actually one in his favor.
But the fact is, gentlemen, I’m a real person who is affected by the decisions you make as Senators, and the decisions you might make as the President and Vice President. I am a mortgaged homeowner living in Marion, Iowa. I live with my girlfriend of 5 years in a loving, monogamous relationship. We have 2 dogs and we split all household bills equally. We both work 40 hours a week, pay our bills on time, contribute to the economy both locally and nationally, pay taxes, are responsible pet owners, are defensive drivers with clean records, and we get involved in democracy by voting and grassroots activism. At the end of the day, the most important thing to me is not some imaginary “gay agenda.” It’s being able to relax at home with my girlfriend and not have to worry what she will do if something happens to me.
But I DO have to worry. I have to worry if she will be allowed to visit me in the hospital during