Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Comments from Margaret Hoover (President Hoover's Grandaughter)

Gays and lesbians are our friends, neighbors, doctors, colleagues, sisters and brothers. Does it sit well with you that because of their sexual orientation, a factor outside one's control, that they should have less rights and protections in the eyes of the law? While increasing acceptance of gays marks my generational experience--Ellen DeGeneres is welcomed into the living rooms of millions of Americans daily, an impossibility in even my childhood-- many who are older than me fear that if gays and lesbians can marry, what's next? They worry that homosexual marriage degrades the integrity of heterosexual marriage. They fear that their children might be exposed to alternative lifestyles that will impact them negatively, or argue that the purpose of marriage is procreation. If you are uncomfortable with gay marriage, I encourage you to pay attention to this trial, the plaintiffs, the defense and the spectrum of experts, historians, psychologists, economists, political scientists, who will testify as to the effects and detriment of Proposition 8. In the words of NAACP chairman Julian Bond, "The humanity of all Americans is diminished when any group is denied rights granted to others."

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