Governor Jim Douglas
109 State Street, Pavilion
Montpelier, VT 05609-0101
April 4, 2009
RE: Civil marriage bill S.115
Dear Governor Douglas,
When I heard that you were planning to veto the civil marriage bill S. 115, I recalled that many other Republicans have had a change of heart about this issue. Maybe it’s not too late for you.
We all know about Vice President Dick Cheney’s quote ”freedom means freedom for everyone,” John McCain stating that “The constitutional amendment [banning gay marriage] strikes me as antithetical in every way to the core philosophy of Republicans,” and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders who refused “to tell an entire group of people in our community they were less important, less worthy or less deserving of the rights and responsibilities of marriage than anyone else.”
Even California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that he would have signed our version of S. 115 if it was legally possible for him to do so.
I wish you would do the Republican thing: get Government out of our personal lives. Make Government smaller. Let individual people make individual decisions. And sign S. 115.
Sincerely,