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To the Editors: Re: “Let’s drop the word ‘marriage’” (op-ed by John Shields, Dec. 12)
I agree with John Shields’ suggestion to “drop the word marriage.” Let’s be pragmatic and realistic. The effect and consequences of a “civil union” (which is attainable!) are more important and real than the perceived social “status” of marriage, which is probably not attainable anytime soon.
Remember, most of the opposition to “marriage” comes from religious thinking, institutions and arguments. Since when has the church or religion been our friend? Or the friend of women or blacks? Sometimes I wonder why any women, blacks or homosexuals even remain in the churches and religions that condemn(ed) them.
Let’s have marriage be a religious thing, and civil unions a legal, governmental one. If your church will not marry you, then leave it and find one that will.
Our secular, civil government, and we, its citizens, should not be held hostage by churches or religious positions. Remember separation of church and state?
What do Jerusalem, Mecca, or Vatican City have to do with Washington, D.C.?
STEVE LOWE
Washington
To the Editors: Re: “Building on Prop 8 protests” (news, Nov. 21)
In the aftermath of last month’s election results, I am left with an intrinsic question I can’t seem to shake. Where is my King? No, not a husband — but my Martin Luther King.
Where is my eloquent knight in shining armor to lead the march of 1 million plus to the National Mall to share a vision of equality and humanity? A person who has been to the mountaintop and has seen the promise of tomorrow — that is what I am looking for. And then I hear the echoes of Barack Obama’s speeches: We are what we have been waiting for.
There is little doubt that King saw the Promised Land, Obama climbed the hill, or that one day we will be judged not by whom we love but how we love. There is no doubt that the “arc of history is long but bends toward justice” (King). What we are seeing today is the result of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot and a dream.
We have come too far to go back, even though California’s Prop 8 was a blow to our struggle. The realization of our dream won’t be easy. History has seen a sad change: Humans are the new attack dogs, using a corrupted version of the Bible in place of the fire hose, committing a silent suicide in lieu of a lynching. Yet in the face of all this hate and tragedy, the vision remains. Even as we sit here, we lose a transgender brother or sister every month to a hate crime, Matthew Shepard and Lawrence King remain strong in our memories and indeed the narrative of all in the LGBT community.
If the story of Barack Obama teaches us anything, it is that there has never been anything false about hope. Yes we will win the struggle! Time may not be on our side, and I may not live long enough to see universal marriage on a federal level, but I stand on the backs of those who came before me and I will leave a ledge up for those that come after me.
If every journey begins with the first step, we are running and it’s a sprint to the finish line. Don’t despair about Prop 8. It is a tragic loss, but it’s time to pick up our swords and head back to the battlefield and settle for nothing less than a more perfect union.
BRENT BRAY
Washington
To the Editors: BET recently premiered a show called “Brothers to Brutha,” which centers around five young brothers and their singing group. On a recent episode, the youngest brother, Anthony, made a comment about one of his older brothers, Grady, dancing like a homosexual.
Grady, out of anger, then assaulted Anthony. This angered me in two ways; the fact that “homosexual” was used as a derogatory term, and that it was received as such a horrible label that one would attack his own brother. It angered me enough to log onto BET’s web site to post a comment. I was confronted with a survey pertaining to this exact issue but instead of BET questioning the usage of this word, it asked if Anthony should have questioned Grady’s manhood. They’re basically inferring that being gay somehow negates being ...
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