Here's Something I'm Doing to Stop the Fundies
Here's a copy of the body of an email I sent to my state Senator, Linda Garrou, this morning:
I hope you are doing well as you take care of the people's business in Raleigh. I just wanted to drop you a line to see what your thoughts/feelings are about the measures that have been presented in the House and Senate that seek to amend the state constitution regarding marriage.
I find these measures troubling on many levels, as I am a concerned citizen, active in the community here, and I'm the new chair of precinct 82 for the Forsyth Democratic Party. Is there anything that you are doing to fight these mean-spirited measures that seek to enshrine discrimination into our state constitution? I know we already have a couple of laws on the books concerning this issue (an antiquated measure from the 19th century and a mean-spirited act from the mid 1990s), and, while I disagree with them, I respect them as the law of this state until a judge or panel of judges sees fit to show them for what they are----an unconstitutional tyranny of the majority.
The way I see it, the fundamentalist, anti-gay movement is seeking to empower their discrimination by removing any prospect for judicial review, and this is the very reason we have wise, elected represenatives in our republic to protect us from democratic referenda that will bring on majority tyranny on an easily misunderstood issue such as gay relationships. If we ran things this way throughout our history, I have no doubt in my mind that many of the constituents you and I now serve and represent in Precinct 82 might still be slaves, or, at least be subject to the whims of Jim Crow.
I'm not asking you to legalize gay marriage----that's a bigger job that will take years to solve, though judicial review and legislative compromise (see: New Jersey). I'm just asking you to protect our constitution from a fundamentalist assault.
Please let me know where you stand on these issues. I have supported you since I moved to your district from Greensboro three years ago, and I'll look forward to lending my help whenever I can.
Thanks, in advance, for taking time to respond to my concerns. I am not copying my state representative, Mr Folwell, as I know that he is one of those leading the charge to bash gay people with legislation. I sincerely hope you are acting as a counterweight to him.
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Excellent letter.
Thanks for sharing it. Hope others will use it as well.
It works, too!
I just got what I think was a very quick response from my senator. She doesn't expect these bills to come to the floor, which I think is great! And I think she rocks for getting back to me so quickly.
great
Sen Garrou is no lightweight, so hopefully she is correct.
Draft Brad Miller -- NC Sen ActBlue :::Petition
Very nice Inter
you were born in the 80's? < shuffles away with cane in hand >
No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.
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No, born in 71
Just "came of age" in the 80s
Beautiful Inter
clear and rational. And a damn good idea. Time for our lawmakers to hear from the rational among their constituents.
My motivation is this:
The lawmakers should be very clear on what is and isn't allowable for a referendum. Not everything should come up for a vote among the ignorant masses. Am I a liberal elitist? Well, maybe so. Or, maybe I just believe in our little old republic the way the framers set it up.
What they are doing is obviously unconstitutional. You use constitutions to grant rights, not to take them away. That's what laws are for, and then you see what the judges think about the laws' constitutionality when/if they are challenged.
At some point in this debate, the ignorant bigots on the right decided that they wanted to turn this arrangement upside down. I think it's time to call them out, and I'm doing that in my own way. I really admire what the rest of you are doing on this, too.