Dear Family and Friends,

After the election, we feel the need to reach out to the people close to us. We know that most of you have lots of different reasons for being upset about the outcome. We too are very concerned for a long list of reasons — the Supreme Court, the war, the deficit, etc., etc. But for us, there is yet another very critical concern. All indications are that we have now entered into an increasingly hostile and dangerous political reality for gay people in this country. Here is a snapshot of the landscape in the United States after November 2nd:

• 11 states put bans against marriage equality for same-sex couples in their Constitutions — not just laws. Our second-class status has been written into the basic principles of those states. In several of those states, including our very own Georgia, gay couples are no longer allowed to enter into legal contracts with each other to provide basic protections during times of illness and death. This could mean that Bev’s company could withdraw our domestic partner benefits and Andrea would lose her health insurance. Our wills, powers of attorney and healthcare powers of attorney (affecting hospital visitation rights, among other things) could be invalidated or challenged.

• An Alabama Republican state lawmaker is calling for legislation to ban gay speech from any institution which receives state money. Representative Gerald Allen is preparing a bill that would bar any representation of homosexuality in schools, libraries and state funded universities. If his bill became law, public school textbooks could not present views on homosexuality, college theater groups would not be able to perform plays like the Tennessee Williams classic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or The Laramie Project, and public school libraries could not display books that include lesbianism like Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. Allen said he hopes to have the bill ready for the 2005 session of the legislature but concedes that he still has to work out the method for weeding out objectionable material and programs.

• US Senator-elect Jim DeMint from South Carolina was elected on a promise that he will pass legislation to ban gay people from teaching school, along with unwed mothers (those who have never been married).

• The day after the election a Republican in Pennsylvania introduced legislation that would make it illegal for labor unions to include health care for gay partners in their collective bargaining requests.

• In his victory speech to his supporters on election night, Representative Glenn Richardson, Georgia’s first Republican Speaker of the House, promised the crowd that the GOP will go after gay people full-force. The first part of their plan is to pass a law that will ban gay people from adopting children. This will directly impact several wonderful, loving families that we know well.

• A South Carolina legislator called for ending that state’s funding for public television after SCE-TV ran a documentary on gays in the South.

There are undoubtedly many other such examples from around the country. We fear it is going to get very ugly over the next few months as the Republicans in Washington and at state houses around the country feel emboldened to freely exhibit their anti-gay “moral values.”

In 1937 the Nazis passed the first law intended to dehumanize the Jews. It was a law that made it illegal for them to marry. You all know what followed. When all those things were happening in Germany, Jews and the gay people also being persecuted said, “We are safe here. This is the most enlightened, educated, progressive country ever known in human history. This won’t get any worse.” Their neighbors, families and friends kept saying that right up until the end.

Is that analogy extreme and unduly paranoid, or is there the potential for history to repeat itself? We still believe the former, but cannot sit idly by and ignore the possibility of the latter, or anything remotely like it. Whether or not you believe in using the term marriage, the fact remains that there is a concerted effort being implemented to actively discriminate against us and to deny our 12 year relationship the respect, rights and basic protections that we deserve and should be entitled to in America.

So, we are asking you to become a proactive partner with us in this fight. We will be making requests of you over the next few weeks and months as the legislative sessions in the U.S. Congress and across the country gear up and we face new challenges. The reality is that there is only one way for this tide to be turned, and that is for non-gay people to rise up to not only defend their gay family members and friends against further attack, but to fight for real equality for us. It will take people like you speaking out, doing things such as writing letters and making calls to state and federal legislators, writing letters to the editors of your newspapers and talking to people about these issues. We are asking you to stand with us and make this fight your own.

We are going to make our first request. If you have not already done so, please click the link below and add your name to petition supporting marriage equality and civil rights protections for all Americans.

http://www.millionformarriage.org

I know that many of you do not consider yourselves to be “political.” But, we are truly in a fight for our lives and need your help. We can’t do it alone.

Thanks in advance for doing what you can do!

Love,
Bev & Andrea