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Letters to the Editor

Published Thursday, 01-Jan-2009 in issue 1097

“If November 4 taught us anything, it’s that we must all be activists, lest we sit passively aside and watch others define us and our future.”

Dear Editor:

I was intrigued by the choice of “People of the Year” last week, and meditated on what it was supporters of Prop 8 did right. (In the interest of full disclosure, my husband is the associate editor of the GLT.)

In life there are only two opportunities to see a person in the context of their whole. There are only two opportunities where colleagues, family, friends, associates, neighbors, et al, come together and are granted that glorious opportunity of seeing their loved one in his or her entirety: weddings and funerals. How sad it would be for a family to have to wait for the funeral. And so, Randy and I got married in August. It was a glorious day, to say the least.

And, what a sad day, then, was November 4, when California voters stood up to protect the institution of marriage, thus eliminating in many minds one-half of their opportunity to converge the various parts of their lives into a whole. And let’s not even talk about voiding the greatest financial stimulus in California, the world’s eighth largest economy.

I have never really considered myself an activist. I do twist peoples’ arms when it comes to charitable endeavors, and have helped friends in their political aspirations on a rare occasion or two. But if November 4 taught us anything, it’s that we must all be activists, lest we sit passively aside and watch others define us and our future. To be fair, nothing voters did on November 4 takes away from a most spectacular, fairy tale wedding as was had on August 9. But I am more concerned for my nieces and nephews, and their children.

So, today I say, fight fire with fire.

Drafting legislation is not nearly as difficult as it seems, apparently. Proposition 8 reads – in its entirety – as follows:

Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

Therefore, I propose a constitutional amendment titled California Marriage Protection 2.0 (and while Prop 8 may have had the Mormon Church to fund it, I think we have a real shot at some Papal support):

No divorce between a married man and woman is valid or recognized in California.

And for those who think I may be joking, I can assure you, you’ll see me standing in front of Ralphs, Target, Sears Essentials, etc, collecting signatures. I only need 433, 470 more signatures to qualify for the ballot. Care to join me?

I don’t think of myself as an activist, but I am a fierce supporter of social justice, and if voters in California really don’t want marriage redefined, then we need to take our society back to its core marital foundation: one man, one woman, in sickness and in health, until death do they part.

Brian van de Mark

www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=13723

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