California (XXX) Congressman Howard Berman

Today I continue with Congressman Howard Berman, Democrat, representative of California's 28th Congressional District:

Dear Congressman Berman,

I write as a concerned citizen to solicit your support for a Marriage Equality Amendment that would recognize the right of same-sex couples to marry throughout the United States. Your record shows you supportive of the cause of marriage equality. In 2006, after the second attempt to initiate ratification of the so-called "Federal Marriage Amendment," you made the following statement:

"As much as extreme, anti-gay individuals would like to convince us that this is a pressing national issue, the facts say otherwise. Wasting time debating a constitutional amendment to permanently deny the protections of marriage to same-sex couples isn't a priority -- it isn't in our country's interest at all. The Federal Marriage Amendment would have written discrimination into our founding document. The fact that there are even more votes against the amendment this time around goes to show that more and more people have come to understand this (State News Service, 7/19/06)."

As you so rightly declared, denial of the protections of marriage to same-sex couples is discrimination, of a kind that millions of Americans live with on a daily basis. Preventing the inscription of such obscenity into our basic law was an important victory. The recent passage of Proposition 8 in California, however, demonstrates that the forces of bigotry and intolerance are determined to maintain and expand the unjust state of marital apartheid that prevails in most of the U.S. today. If civil rights are ever to prevail in our nation an aggressive counter-campaign in support of marriage equality must be undertaken.

To that end, I have set out to write every member of Congress, seeking support for the following amendment to the U.S. constitution: "The right to marry shall not be abridged or denied by the United States or any state on account of sex or sexual orientation." This is the surest way to secure and defend the rights of all Americans against discriminatory measures such as Proposition 8.

Will you take up the cause of this amendment in the House, Congressman? Such efforts would be a worthy continuation of your long work in support of civil liberties and individual rights. I hope that you will lend this issue your voice. In any case, I thank you for your attention on this matter and extend my best wishes for the success of the 111th Congress.

Sincerely,

Andrew Meyer