In an open letter
released Monday morning, the head of the Log Cabin
Republicans takes President Bush to task for supporting the
proposed federal marriage amendment, which the U.S.
Senate begins debating today. Patrick Guerriero,
the outgoing executive director of the gay GOP group,
calls the president's support of the discriminatory
amendment "an insult to millions of fair-minded
Americans from all walks of life."
The full text of the letter follows:
Mr. President,
On behalf of millions of gay and lesbian
Americans, I write to denounce your decision to divide
the American family by promoting an amendment that
would insert discrimination into the United States
Constitution. Your decision to use the grounds of the
White House--America's house--to advance
discrimination is an insult to millions of fair-minded
Americans from all walks of life.
Mr. President, gay and lesbian Americans pay
taxes, contribute to community and family life
across our great nation, and worship the same
all-loving and compassionate God. Thousands of gay and
lesbian Americans, under your command, serve proudly
in our nation's military, fighting to win the war on
terror and promoting liberty across the globe. Your
effort to codify discrimination against our families,
including men and women in uniform while the nation is
at war, is offensive and unworthy of the office
of the presidency. Great Republican presidents from
Abraham Lincoln to Ronald Reagan have united Americans and
appealed to our best hopes, not our worst fears.
Wedge-issue politics may score short-term
political points but will end up eroding your ability
as president to unite the American people behind
winning the war in Iraq, enhancing border security,
advancing immigration reform, and controlling
spending. Your call for "civility and decency" in
this debate rings hollow because the effort to write
discrimination into our Constitution is intolerant and uncivil.
While Americans deserve a chance to debate
contentious issues, the constitutional amendment
process you propose denies states the right to
handle this issue as they deem appropriate. This proposal
runs completely counter to our party's
conservative belief in federalism. We suggest you
listen to your own vice president, who has reminded us
that this is an issue that should be left to the states. And
we suggest you listen to your former U.N. ambassador
and former United States senator John Danforth (R-Mo.)
who has called this amendment one of the silliest ever
proposed in our nation's history.
While decent Americans can respectfully disagree
about how to offer fairness to our families, your
White House event today further legitimizes the voices
of intolerance who have made an industry out of
denigrating gay and lesbian Americans. That legitimization
has sadly fueled discriminatory state amendments
across America that go beyond denying civil marriage
equality--by denying even domestic partnerships or
civil unions that allow for hospital visitation,
inheritance rights, and basic dignity to life-long
loving couples.
Mr. President, the White House has been the site
of historic legislative triumphs that expanded liberty
and opportunity for the American people--from
expanding equal opportunity for women to the signing of
the Civil Rights Act to the Americans With
Disabilities Act. Today, you desecrate America's house
by using the White House grounds to denigrate
part of the American family. History recalls those
moments in America's past when our nation's leaders
expanded liberty and fairness for American citizens.
History also remembers those political leaders who
have stood in the doorway of equality and tolerance.
Mr. President, may God bless our great
nation--and each and every
American who believes in the promise of the
Declaration of Independence that all Americans are created
equal. (The Advocate)
