Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 14:22:18 -0600 Subject: From Virginia Wolf From: Kate Hale <halecl@uwec.edu> Message-ID: <BFBCA09A.359F%halecl@uwec.edu>
Dear Colleagues,
I know that many of you have already acted on an earlier request to send
word to our state legislators on this issue; in case you had intended to ac
t
but didnšt get around to it yet, here is a similar request from Virginia
Wolf, whom many of you will know. I have gone to the site
http://www.actionwisconsin.org
I encourage you to take the few minutes it requires and do so, also.
In solidarity,
Kate
------ Forwarded Message
From: <wolfv@uwstout.edu>
Reply-To: <eauclairewib@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 11:37:28 -0600
To: wib <eauclairewib@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [eauclairewib] FW: a favor
Dear Women in Black,
I have a favor to ask you. The amendment to ban civil unions and same-sex
marriage is being debated by the state senate. It could be voted on today.
Sen. Ron Brown is one of the swing voters. It would be a great favor to
Carol and me and to many other couples who do not have a civil marriage, if
you would go to www.actionwisconsin.org and punch the vote "no" button and
send an email to your senator and representative.
This amendment will hurt families like Carol's and mine, just as we are
about to celebrate 30 years of being together. There are 1200 rights that
we do not have that couples with the sanction of a legal marriage have.
This is simply not fair, and it is a source of deep sadness and worry for
us. My excellent health care does not cover Carol, and when she retires we
will have to buy insurance for her that would be unnecessary were we legall
y
married. As we age, we worry about illness and dying and not being able to
be together at such times because we are not legally family. We worry abou
t
ensuring that the one left has the resources now available to us as a
couple. When we were young, we worried about having Carol's relationship t
o
our children acknowledged by the schools and the medical sector. We have
had a religious wedding. We don't need that. We need the protections of a
legal sanction of our relationship. That people don't wish for us to have
these, that they don't believe that we deserve equal rights, greatly sadden
s
us.
Also the proposed amendment goes too far. It would outlaw all legal
protections comparable to marriage, those such as domestic partnerships and
civil unions, for all unmarried couples, heterosexual or homosexual. Even
if you oppose same-sex marriage, this part of the amendment seems completel
y
unfair and has been used in Ohio and Michigan, respectively, to deny
domestic violence protections, and to revoke domestic partnership benefits.
Surely, this is going too far.
Please let your senator and representative know you oppose this ban on civi
l
unions and same-sex marriage, especially if he is Sen. Brown. Brown seems
to be wavering and might be a swing vote. It's a simple process. Just go
to www.actionwisconisin.org and vote "no." If you would care to share this
information with any of your congregation, please do so.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Virginia
"Recognize that the other person is you."--Yogi Bhajan
The Rev. Dr. Virginia Wolf
Unitarian Universalist Congregation
421 S. Farwell St.
Eau Claire, WI 54701
715-834-0690