I strongly urge you to call and or write your Sentors and Representatives to reject The Federal Marriage Amendment.

Throughout our country’s history, certain areas of law have been restricted to the jurisdiction of the states. Marriage laws have been one of these areas. To allow the Federal government to seize jurisdiction in an area of law not explicitly enumerated in the Constitution would be a violation of the Bill of Rights’ Tenth Amendment.

I am sure you understand the historical need to maintain the rights of the states to make legislation and to control their own affairs without undue interference by the Federal government. To cede this right, in any instance, may establish a precedent, which could, in the long run, severely reduce the power of the states in all areas of law.

Since the abolition of slavery over 130 years ago, the U.S. Constitution has been a document that expresses equality and expands the rights of all American citizens. Its positive expression and protection of those rights is its hallmark. It is the envy of countries and the hope of people around the world.

To add this proposed amendment would return the tone of our country’s most important document from one of hope and inclusion of all people to one of restriction and separation. It would be the first time since the civil rights movement that discriminatory practices would be codified into law. It would be the first time since the Civil War that inequality of American citizens would be Constitutionally mandated. It would radically change the direction of a document whose purpose is to “secure the blessings of liberty, to ourselves and our posterity.” If we start restricting rights of certain groups where does it stop? When do “our” own rights become infringed?

We live in a country that is about freedoms. That means at times as a country, we have to accommodate differences we may not personally embrace in order to ensure that all individuals share this freedom:
· In order to guarantee that everyone can freely express their views we must tolerate things like pornography and KKK marches.
· Even though we may think some religions weird or unorthodox they are allowed to exist so that our own beliefs and religious practices are not infringed.
· Our justice system may not convict every person who has committed a crime in an effort to ensure that no innocent person is wrongly judged guilty.
· Some religions such as the Roman Catholic and probably other conservative sects do not recognize divorce and re-marriage as an acceptable lifestyle, yet our government not only recognizes these unions, it also protects the faiths from requiring the recognition of such unions.

The whole systems of laws in our country is set up to ensure the widest range of personal freedoms and to foster tolerance and acceptance of others who may not be like ourselves. The only way to exist in a nation with such diversity as ours is to fully embrace those differences as a positive trait in our nation and not to divide our country by what makes us different.

Placing such a restrictive covenant such as the Federal Marriage Amendment on a document meant to enumerate and describe our freedoms as Americans would certainly do more long term harm to our national sense of purpose, our image as perceived by other nations, and the freedom of our citizens, than allowing the states to determine what the marriage laws are in their own respective jurisdictions.

Again I urge you to write your Senators and Representatives to reject the Federal Marriage Amendment.