Commentary

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   R-71 ballot title The legislature passed Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5688 concerning rights and responsibilities of state-registered domestic partners and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this bill. This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage. Should this bill be approved or rejected?   HAVE YOUR SAY Feel strongly about something? Share it with the community by writing a letter to the editor. You’ll need to include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) We reserve the right to edit letters, but if you keep yours to 250 words or less, we won’t ask you to shorten it. If your letter is published, please wait 30 days before submitting another. Send it to: E-mail: letters@heraldnet.com Mail: Letters section The Herald P.O. Box 930 Everett, WA 98206 Fax: 425-339-3458 Have a question about letters? Contact Carol MacPherson (cmacpherson@heraldnet.com or 425-339-3472).   Published: Sunday, October 11, 2009 NO ON REFERENDUM 71 Protect children, defend marriage — reject R-71 By Gary Randall Senate Bill 5688, the “Everything but Marriage” bill, was presented to the Legislature as a bill about benefits, yet Sen. Ed Murray, one of the sponsors, told the Seattle press that it is really part of a long-term strategy to redefine marriage and legalize same-sex marriage. SB 5688 is the threshold. Rep. Jamie Pederson, also a sponsor of the bill, has called it a “bridge” to homosexual “marriage.” The Seattle Times editorial board agreed that with the passage of SB 5688, the Legislature should go ahead and give the homosexual activists the name “marriage” as well. We must REJECT SB 5688. If this bill becomes law, domestic partnerships will be elevated to where there is no legal difference between marriage and domestic partnerships. The Washington State Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) will be declared irrelevant and same-sex marriage will be imposed through the courts by litigation, claiming discrimination. Although they were in the minority, many Legislators opposed this bill and have worked with Referendum 71, to bring SB 5688 to a vote of the people. The Gregoire administration has not been able to accurately assess the actual cost of implementing all aspects of SB 5688. It is fiscally irresponsible, in these extreme economic times. Sen. Dan Swecker says, “A domestic partnership diverts rights and resources from a family to an unrelated adult. These include benefits for independent children, end of life decisions by older children for elderly parents and inheritance rights of all surviving family members, just to name a few.” The homosexual community emphasizes the fact that they have biological children, yet no child is ever produced by a same-sex relationship. There is always an opposite-sex partner involved and they can lose their rights as well. Support natural marriage. REJECT SB 5688. Homosexual rights, or equality, as they call it, are not equal to civil rights. Homosexuality is not equal to ethnicity. The gay movement has evolved. Historically, homosexual behavior was defined as an “act.” Sodomy. Later it was elevated to be a “condition.” Homosexuality. In recent years it has become “gay.” An “identity”. There is no medical evidence to support the idea that people are born homosexual. Homosexuality is not equal to ethnicity and must not be treated the same as civil rights. Homosexuals have the legal right to live as they choose, but must not be given the right to re-define marriage. To treat homosexual union as marriage, with or without the name, even in terms of rights and privileges, is to fake equality between two fundamentally unequal relationships. SB 5688 is an attempt to deconstruct marriage as it has existed throughout all human history. This unique and exceptional relationship that connects a man and a woman genetically to a child is the cornerstone of every successful society in history and is the master plan of the Creator. There is no other relationship that meets these criteria for marriage. Only natural marriage provides generational sustainability. Rejecting SB 5688 is not rejecting or hating individuals. It is not taking something from someone. It is rejecting their attempt to redefine and deconstruct marriage, normalize homosexuality and rewrite our children's text books. Rep. Matt Shea has said, “At the founding of our country we made the conscious decision to promote marriage between one man and one woman above all other legal unions because of its inherent value to children and society. REJECTING SB 5688 will help us preserve that decision for another generation.” This is your time to speak. REJECT SB 5688. Inform others. Gary Randall is president and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Network. READER COMMENTS Log in or register to post new comment | Log out Genetically Superior Jon, Matt, So, GLBTers are: Genetically superior. Morally superior. Intellectually superior. Physically superior. Legally superior. And, God is actually on your side. Solutions to every problem will be at hand just as soon as the rest of us are forced into submission to special laws that elevate your special selves to your proper station. Hmmm. Where have we heard this before? Gordon Dewey | Oct 14, 2009 9:10 am | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Protect tolerance, defend rational thought - reject Gary Randall The out-and-out lies told in the name of religion are always astounding to me. Let's look at a few: 1. "Homosexual rights, or equality, as they call it, are not equal to civil rights." Interesting. Equality is not a civil right? I say it's everyone's civil right to be treated equally. Gary, did you know that if Jesus were around today, you and he probably wouldn't get along very well? He preached tolerance and acceptance. He openly defended a hooker. Would you do that? 2. "At the founding of our country we made the conscious decision to promote marriage between one man and one woman above all other legal unions because of its inherent value to children and society. REJECTING SB 5688 will help us preserve that decision for another generation." Really? I'd like you to show me where that is in the constitution or Bill of Rights. Do you know what the founders were fleeing from in England? Religious oppression. Much like what you're spreading right now. 3. "There is no medical evidence to support the idea that people are born homosexual." Not really true. While there isn't specific evidence, we do know that homosexuals' brains tend to resemble that of the opposite sex (e.g. some lesbians' brains look more like men's and vice versa). Furthermore, I'd say the fact that homosexuality occurs in the animal kingdom and has existed in humans since our inception points to the fact that PEOPLE ARE BORN GAY! Don't believe me? Check with Ted Haggard and Larry Craig. The flat-earthers are getting more and more desperate as evidence piles up that their beliefs are at best out-of-date and at worst inherently irrational. Gay marriage is legal in parts this country already, and this will only increase sooner or later. I just hope sooner so I can see the religious fanatics blow a fuse. Matt Reichmann | Oct 13, 2009 2:33 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Haven't we heard enough from the religious right for too long? Over half of hetero marriages end in divorce, many of them involving children, and a large and rising number of little darlings become single mothers, with the state as the virtual daddy, and yet another tax free pulpit banger rants about the sanctity of something he has likely done little to protect. If hetero marriage folks had half the drive and energy of the homo ones, solutions to the above problems might be at hand. Is it too much to ask that hetero problems be solved first rather than witchhunting some minority or another? This is America, not a theocracy, live and let live. Go back to your tax free holy barns, open day cares, foodbanks, prenatal health clinics, job placement services, all those services that protect and encourage your kind of families. Follow your Leader, who led by example, not by bashing and bullying all around to be just like Him. Homosexuality will not go away, it is a fact of life, perhaps the Lord put it among us to teach something about responsibility and love. My take is the right would rather see it as an exercise in how many boxcars and ovens it would take to do the Lord's work. jon coulter | Oct 12, 2009 11:24 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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