Let's Take Action!

Here's a copy of the body of an email I sent this morning to my state Senator:

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.