California (XLI) Congressman Ed Royce

Today I continue with Congressman Ed Royce, Republican, representative of California's 40th Congressional District:

Dear Congressman Royce,

I write as a concerned citizen to urge you to change your stance on marriage equality. You have twice voted in favor of a federal amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Indeed, you have a consistent record of opposing any recognition of the rights of LGBT citizens. The Human Rights Campaign has given you a rating of 0% for each of the last three Congresses.

This record is bizarrely out of step with political principles that you have expressed and embodied in other realms, Congressman. Your activism in support of human rights abroad, especially in China and Vietnam, is well known. It is quite strange that you would be so empathetic to the rights of people overseas yet so unfeeling with regard to the rights of your compatriots.

What right is more human than that of marriage to the partner of one's choice? The Government Accountability Office lists 1,138 benefits and protections that accrue to a couple from married status under federal law. It is grossly arbitrary an unfair to withhold those protections from two citizens merely because they are the same gender.

Marriage equality is an inalienable right, one that is already guaranteed by the 14th Amendment's promise of "equal protection of the law." Unfortunately, events like the passage of Proposition 8 in your own state make clear that the forces mobilized to obstruct the practical achievement of marriage equality are well-organized, well-funded and implacable. It will thus be necessary to establish more explicit safeguards before the rights of all Americans are secure. To this end, I have set out to write every member of Congress, promoting that the U.S. constitution be amended to read: "The right to marry shall not be abridged or denied by the United States or any state on account of sex or sexual orientation." Such a reform is the surest means to guarantee that our laws and institutions are brought into alignment with the natural rights of our citizens.

I hope that on reflection you will have a change of heart and see the justice of this cause. In any case I thank you for your attention on his matter, and extend my best wishes for the success of the 111th Congress.

Sincerely,

Andrew Meyer