Digital Johnny, Real Johnny

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger, Please help *all* of your citizens exercise their right to marry

Letter emailed to the Governator moments ago

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

With all due respect to you and the responsibility of your position, I believe that you are gravely mistaken in both your stance on same-sex marriages in California and your support for the Attorney General's defense of the constitutionality of the "marriage definition" in the California Constitution.

First, as Governor of this state, I would hope that you would recognize that you not only have the duty to uphold our state's constitution, but also to uphold and protect the civil and human rights of all of California's citizens. The right to marry has been established by the United Nations Declaration of Human Right and the Federal Constitution has been interpreted to make marriage a fundamental right of all US citizens and, as law-abiding, tax-paying and consenting adults, US and California citizens are entitled to that right no matter who it is they chose to marry.

Second, it is true that Prop. 22 defined marriage as only able to exist between a man and woman, but I do not believe that is either an accurate statement of the beliefs of this state or of the position of the United States Constitution that should be allowed to stand. In the March 2000 election, Prop. 22 did pass with 59% of the vote, but just 53.88% of registered California voters participated in that decision, which is just 37.15% of all eligible California voters. This means that just under 22% of eligible voters in this state actually voted for this amendment to our constitution. I believe that the silent majority of Californians, who may not have been fully aware of the amendment or its blatant violation of our homosexual citizens' human and civil rights to marry, do not agree with this definition. The thousands of same-sex couples, as well as their friends and families, that have come to San Francisco from around the state to be married in San Francisco reflects the demand for and approval of the recognition of same-sex marriages.

Furthermore, now that this has become such a visible issue in our state with the recognition of all citizens' rights to marry within reaching distance, I can guarantee you that this will become an issue if and when you decide to run for re-election. Your position on this issue may affect your ability to remain our governor, because at least I will take either your helping or opposing the recognition of all your citizens' right to marry as an indication of your general commitment to our human and civil rights, our well-being and our wishes.

Governor, please do the right thing and encourage the Attorney General and the State Legislature to help every citizen of this state exercise his/her right to marry.

Sincerely,

Kristina Almquist
(single, straight, 23 year-old, female law student in San Francisco, CA)

Posted by Kristina at February 20, 2004 10:02 AM