The 9th Circuit just decided to NOT lift the stay on Judge Walker's ruling that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional. That's a death sentence for at least some couples.
The poignant video testimony of two Courage Campaign members (above), Ed and Derence of Palm Springs, a couple that has been together for 40 years, demonstrates that lives are in the balance. Ed suffers from advancing Alzheimer's. The California Supreme Court and now the 9th Circuit have decided to make Ed and Derence wait at least 9 more months before they might enjoy the fundamental right to marry.
By then, it might not matter anymore.
Together, we have to work to assure there won’t be more Ed and Derences. So here are 3 things you can do right now (from the Courage Campaign):
1. You can click here to contribute $9 – one dollar for each month it’s expected to take until the CA Supreme Court rules on the “standing” issue. Courage Campaign will use your tax-deductible contribution to make sure no more courts ignore couples like Ed and Derence through advertising, events, and on-the-ground organizing.
2. You can click here to join the 48,958 people who signed up for the Courage Campaign's effort with Sen. Feinstein and Rep. Nadler to repeal DOMA, so that for couples who are married in California, and can marry elsewhere, they can get the 1,100+ federal rights they deserve, no matter where they live.
3. You can click here to tell the 9th Circuit: You Can't Stay Our Love. Take a photo of you and your loved one holding a homemade sign that says "Can't Stay Our Love". Then, if you’re straight, tell your story of how you’d feel if you had to sit in a waiting room to get married with no end in sight. If you’re LGBT, tell why you can’t wait. Ed and Derence sent in their story the last time Courage Campaign asked, and it went viral on The Washington Post, The Advocate, and dozens of blogs. Yours could be the next.
Courage will increase public awareness so that future rulings do not confuse dry, legal prose with life itself. We will never stop fighting. Please keep fighting by taking one, or all, of the actions above.
Well, I had a rather good arguement all written out here and ended up--accidentally--erasing it. ARGH!
ReplyDeleteBut the gist of it is why do those who want to deny marriage, hell equal rights?, to anyone who doesn't fit *their* idea of right have the power to do so. This is wrong on so many levels and, even though I live in Canada, there is so much more that needs to be done. And as a straight Catholic woman, I say that the religious zealots should pay attention to their own churches and stop trying to tell everyone else what to do.
Yeah, I said it much better before. *sigh*
I just wish that Ed and Derence weren't at the mercy of those who, wrongly, have the *right* to decide that they can't marry the man they love.