Here are copies of what I sent to my senators in Pennsylvania. As I understand it the vote for the anti-gay “Protection of Marriage Amendment” is coming up in the Senate very shortly. Probably this week and perhaps even on Monday. I encourage everyone to contact your own senators quickly, either by phone or email. It might be a little late for this one to do so by mail.

Probably the most effective way to approach an elected official is professionally and in person, but it seems that we don’t have that chance at this point. Let’s rally our friends and shoot this one down by having as many people as we know contact their senators immediately.

The Christian Coalition and Focus on the Family are doing a bang up job on mobilizing their followers to contact their elected officials to support the amendment, so we need to make quite a showing. One of my senators is for the amendment and another is against it. Make sure you take time to thank your senator if he is voting against this.

If you don’t know who your local senators are you can use a tool from the other side to enter your zip code and locate your senators and congressmen’s contact information. Please do not email them through this site though. I only provide the link as a way of using our opponents tools for a good purpose. Find your senator by CLICKING HERE and clicking on the right where it says Marriage Protection Amendment Action Center. Enter your zip code and you’ll be provided with the contact information you need.

Okay, here is what I wrote this morning. Feel free to use it as inspiration or just copy it if you feel one of them fits the views of your local man in the US Senate.

6/2/06

Mr. Santorum,

I understand that you are a family man with six children, and that you are a man of faith. I too am a Christian and I have three sons. I also have a partner to whom I've been committed for seven years. It isn't legal for us to get married because my partner is also a man. So if one of us dies... well, you know how hard it will be. There is no "protection" for us if the Protection of Marriage Amendment passes in the Senate.

Just who are you protecting if you vote for this amendment? I do not want to hear about the so-called loose "gay lifestyle." Why do straight couples get to have a life, but loving honest couples like us are relegated to a mere lifestyle?

Are you protecting the celebrities who bounce in and out of legal marriages as swiftly as they bounce out of bed? Are you protecting my children? The divorce rate is higher than ever in this great nation, and you know that the gay community had nothing to do with that. Straight couples have been destroying the sanctity marriage quite adequately without our help. I am not asking for any church’s blessing. I am asking for legal protection from the State.

But some of our elected officials seem bent on the State becoming the hand of the church. Are you one of those officials, Senator? How long will the people be fooled? It has happened in the past. The church has sanctioned slavery and the subordination of women, and now the suppression of rights for homosexuals. I can only hope that our great nation will soon rise above this form of discrimination as well.

“The Christian Right” is constantly telling us not to be duped by the liberal media. And yet you are duped daily. You seem to believe that because certain peoples' behavior makes the news that all gay people fit that mold. You must know that this is not true, no more true than it is that Brittney Spears is a classic example of the modern American family woman.

Let's be done with the stereotypes for a moment and look at some of the good tax-paying citizens like me who suffer and have been forced into a history of silence because of whom and how we love. What protection do you offer me, Senator?

You may not agree with my interpretation of scripture. I do not agree that my sexual orientation was a "choice," any more than yours was a choice for you. We are not talking about the downfall of a society here. Whether you can see it or not, we are talking about discrimination against a minority that seeks the legal right to marry. So if two men or two women provide a good and loving family, who are you to say that God will not allow it? After all, as our own scriptures proclaim, "God is love."

Thank you for your time. I pray that you will make the right decision and not vote for this destructive amendment.

David J. Bauman
Northumberland, Pennsylvania
________________________________________

6/2/06

Senator Specter,

I just want to voice my thanks and support for your decision to vote against the Protection of Marriage Amendment. It is good to know that we do have elected officials who are interested in protecting the rights of all the people.

Sincerely Yours,
David J. Bauman,
Father of three, active member of Gay Men of Faith
and Founder of Gayfatherhood.com

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Son of Walt,

hi david, you know that this wont pass the house and senate are too evenly divided . don't you just hate being used . it's this sort of thing that makes me hang my head to admit i vote republican.

No, I'm pretty sure that this won't pass the Senate either, but since Bush aslo dedicated his entire radio adress to this subject (Did NOT mention Iraq once!), you know that he's trying to get out the very conservative (church)vote base.

I just don't want to be caught sleeping. And while he's busy making his noise, I want to take the opportunity to make a little of my own. Don't get me wrong, I know full well that my letter to Santorum will have no affect on changing his mind. Probably my thank you to Specter was more important. At least we are getting our voices out there and that's vital. Is it too dramatic to remind myself of Edmund Burke's words? "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

FYI, The best way to contact your congress person and senator is via a phone call or an e-mail. I was recently informed by a political action group I am part of the send a letter by U.S. postal can take as long as 6 WEEKS to make it to the politician's office in Washington. This is because of all the screening they do due to terrorism threats, anthrax, etc.

A letter to the politician's local office works too. They are able to forward that easier, either by scanning and down loading to the computer, or having a staffer in Washington hand carry it in.

David

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world" - Gandhi

when all the hot air stops thay will comprimise on domestic partnerships. the republicans have alot to lose in this dog fight.
if they somehow win then some of the more " left wing " churches will defy this admendment and the supreme court would have to rule on the question is marriage a thing of God or the state.
if it is a thing of God than the state can not regulate it.
if it is a thing of the state than that undercuts the churches.
ano win situation for eather side. however if thay just keep screeming about it that keeps boath sides bases fired up.
just look at what thay have done with abortion.

Proof that this debate in the Senate has degenerated into the absurd:

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/06/inhofe-gay-marriage/

It takes some major ineptness to come out in public and proclaim that there are no homosexuals nor have there ever been, in your great big perfect, Christian family.

I'm wondering why this Senator, from Oklahomo, didn't also say that no-one has ever been an adulterer, child molestor, rapist, or any other type of person they consider a predator.

I've called both of my senators previously on this issue, alas, in vain. We have two perfect Republican Senators here in the great RED state of Georgia and basically I was laughed at but it's not the only issue I've called them on.

Guys, we can only do so much. This is clearly a dead end issue and until we can convince enough people to get out and vote for the candidates who won't work against us all and our freedoms, we're going to see a real erosion of our rights.

By the way, as David said, it's pretty useless to send a letter, but a phone call is logged, emails get there sooner but they also take weeks to get a response. As with the vote on the marriage amendment in Georgia in 2004 which won by something like 75%, I'm sure the calls to these clowns was 70 or more percent in favor of this ridiculous amendment.

As I've begun to tell people who complain about the important things like universal health care, the war in Iraq, the nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea or job outsourcing, you get what you vote for folks. I've never voted for these clowns and I've voted in every election since 1980.

As I heard Ed Schultz say today, it looks like apathy is so great (and Karl Rove and his kabal know this!) that the little people will keep voting based on single issues like gay marriage, flag burning and abortion. You get what you vote for.

By the way David, did you see what Senator Ricky said today on the floor of the Senate about this amendment....if he and Scalia had their way we'd all be thown in jail, or worse.

We gotta keep fighting.


Jim

Yes, David and Jim, you are right-- email or phone is the way to go. Unless you can do it in person in a suit, with lots of influential friends.

I sent both those letters by email, not by post for the reasons you mentioned. But I also followed up the thank you letter to Specter with a phone call to his office.

The point is for each person to do something. I believe that if we each take action and inspire others, even ONE other to take action, we'll be like gay dominoes all over the place.

Keep on swinging, men... and thanks!

We have our right-wing Stephen 'Harping' Harper putting the 'settled' same-sex marriage issue to a free vote in parliament. That is, whether or not to have the same-sex marriage issue re-opened. Man! The courts say we are entitled, just as the het Canadians. Which is as it should be! I am sick of him already.

WHAT CAN I SAY ANOTHER RED LETTER DAY FOR THE US SENATE.
49-48 INSURING THAT THIS DEBATE WILL COME UP AGAIN AND AGAIN. THE ONLY ONE I CAN SEE WHO WON TODAY IS FRED PHELPS.

Yes, it was a win for us, but not by a large margin. On the other hand there were several senators, including my own Senator Arlan Specter, who switched their votes since the last time. AND the republicans were certain they would at least get a majority vote, though two thirds were required. They failed on both counts.

Another positive is that mid-term elections are coming up and we have the opportunity to get out the vote for a better more free America. Really, I must say that Heph is correct that this problem is more symptomatic of larger issues. If this nation continues to improve as a free republic, such debates over who we may love and marry will be cast down as they have in the past.

Heph, I hope you are right. See Heph's brilliant journal entry on this topic HERE.