Thursday, May 21, 2009

Response to Rep. Martin

Thanks for asking! My husband & I feel the same on this item. My two sons don't understand the big deal over it. They really don't care who is or isn't gay & think they should be afforded the same rights as men & women.

1. Vote FOR marriage equity.

I'm so happy to hear that God actually speaks to some. However, maybe their ears need a good cleaning? Giving gays marriage rights in no way diminishes me- so let them have their civil rights.

2. No referendum. We'll be overrun in this State with outside groups. It will be low-down & nasty. It may well bring forth hate groups & targeting. This seems to be an easy-out for legislators who don't want to be on record.

3. I'd still vote for full civil marriage rights for gays.

4 comments:

John said...

Thanks, Eileen for your thoughtful responses, and thanks for sharing this with all your readers. I really hope our legislators are encouraged to stand up for civil rights.

However, and it is painful for me to raise the question in this context, why is Rep. Martin using a private e-mail address to solicit input which he claims he will use for deliberation on a public issue?

Unknown said...

I'm just supposing that he uses this account more, but I really don't know.

Why do you think that it makes a difference? If he used a public account would it make everything public? I never thought about that. Would you then ask him to share any responses that he received?

John said...

Hi, Eileen...
If he used his rep-foo@rilin.state.ri.us then it all goes through the state system and is subject to whatever record retention and access rules apply. I don't mean to be paranoid, but I would like to hold all public officials to the same standard, and using private e-mail for public business just doesn't pass the smell test for me.

Cheers.
-j

Michael Carr - Veritas Literary said...

As a former resident, now living in the frozen wastelands of the north, I'm glad to see that RI is taking up the issue.

Rhode Islanders seem more cautious and conservative in many ways than some of their neighbors, so it doesn't surprise me that the state will probably be the last in New England. However, I saw a live and let live attitude when I was living in the state and I'm confident that Rhode Islanders will ultimately choose in favor of equality and tolerance.

In the meanwhile, I'm sending hopeful, tolerant vibes from Vermont.