My friend Karly posted this excellent OC Register letter to the editor on her blog - I can't find the letter's link, but I wanted to repost the text here. This is by D. Lew of Laguna Beach:
For more information go to http://whatisprop8.com/I believe in human rights. I believe in civil liberty. I believe that no government or law of man has the right to compel anyone or any entity to perform any act or service contrary to his own beliefs as long as his beliefs does not constitute harm to others. This is the reason why I will vote yes on Prop. 8.
Prop. 8 will reaffirm the voice of the people in California that marriage is between a man and a woman. And those four activist judges in San Francisco cannot and should not be the voice of the populous overwhelmingly passed what was then Prop. 22 in the year 2000. Preserving the definition of traditional marriage is important for California and good for our society.
I am not prejudice. I respect individual rights and the freedom of choice. I have neighbors who are gay. They are good and decent people. I respect their rights to choose. I accept them as what they are. I don't impose my values on them and they don't impose their values on me. But if Prop. 8 does not pass, the law will demand their values be imposed on me. All businesses, all entities and all of us will be compelled by law to treat all marriages without distinction. The schools in California will be compelled to teach children and that children must accept that same-sex marriage is the same as traditional marriage. Any child does not accept all marriages are same would be construed as breaking the law. Churches will be forced to perform same-sex marriages even if that is contrary to the church's position. Churches would not be able to use their doctrinal beliefs to defend their positions.
The opponents viewed this as another scare tactic. I wish this is only a scare tactic but it is the truth. It is happening in states such as Massachusetts where same-sex marriage is legalized. Passing of Prop. 8 will protect individual liberty, protect our schools from mandatory teaching same-sex marriage to our children and protect our churches from performing marriages contrary to their doctrine.
Posts
3 comments:
oh dear...
poor Karly is so scared she doesn't know what to do but feel like a victim that some great evil in society is going to ruin her lovely little life.
I've never understood what Christians are so afraid of. Or is she Mormon? What are Mormons and Christians scared of?
Churches being FORCED to perform same-sex marriage! That is such a crock. We have a little something called the 1st amendment.
"Any child [that] does not accept all marriages are same would be construed as breaking the law" Ha! This is so beyond reality that I can't help but laugh.
And you wonder why gay people hate organized religion. Because you pretend to be nice and even have "gay neighbors" but then you write outright lies to local papers and instead of trying to reach gay people with love you try to outlaw it so you feel safe.
How horrible.
pomoprophet, I'm all for an engaging discussion, but please refrain from disrespect on here. Name calling and ad hominem attacks are completely uncalled for. (Note - the letter wasn't written by Karly, only reposted on her blog.)
And these aren't outright lies. There are cases of this happening. Even the term "traditional marriage" is deemed hate speech that California state employees cannot use.
I have immense respect and love for my gay friends - but I also have respect and love for marriage. Defining marriage as between a man and a woman doesn't strip same-sex couples of any rights, but the lack of that definition has so many adverse affects.
"Gay people hate organized religion"? Can you be gay and religious? Yes, and there are a lot of people who are gay and religious. Please don't lump every gay person in with what your ideas are.
Post a Comment