Dear Governor Schwarzenegger –
I started out writing this letter intending to point out that there were a lot of Republicans who would let me get married to my partner of ten years.
We all know about Vice President Dick Cheney saying ”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.”
But then the trail ran dry. With all of the Congressmen and Governors who trust their careers to lesbian and gay staffers; all who attend official ceremonies where gay couples are treated as married people; all who talk about compassion, freedom and the value of the family – with all those people, I would think there would be more than three that support the freedom to marry over the oppression of a minority’s basic human rights.
I guess the kind of people that truly believe “freedom means freedom for everyone” either don’t become Republicans, or conveniently forget about their personal convictions when they step onto the campaign trail.
I wish that you would remember why you became a Republican – “free enterprise, getting the government off your back, lowering the taxes and strengthening the military” – and like Mr. Cheney, Mr. McCain and Mr. Sanders, let me get married.
Yours,