An action alert
message about the Federal Marriage Amendment from our friends at Human
Rights CampaignReceived from Equal
Partners in Faith, April 3, 2003
[Posted here 4-7-04]
Dear friends,
Are you feeling complacent about the
Federal anti-Marriage Amendment? Think it's not a threat? That the Senate or
House would never pass it?
Think again.
Groups like the Family Research Council,
Concerned Women for American, Focus on the Family, and the American Family
Association are banking on our community and our straight allies being
silent or being lulled into a false sense of security that Congress would
not write discrimination into the United States Constitution. And they will
stop at nothing.
These groups all have millions of dollars
-- more than all GLBT advocacy groups combined -- between them that they can
use for a gigantic media blitz the week before the FMA comes up for a vote
in Congress.
Here's the Family Research Council's
preferred version of an amendment: "Marriage in the United States, whether
entered into within or outside of the United States, shall consist only of
the legal union of one man and one woman. The uniting of persons of the same
or opposite-sex in a civil union, domestic partnership, or other similar
relationship as a substitution for such marriage shall not be valid or
recognized in the United States."
The House held the first of a series of
five hearings on the discriminatory Federal Marriage Amendment today -
Tuesday, March 30, 2004. HRC was there - we held a press conference, we're
working with our allies, and we are lobbying today with families who are
constituents of the members of the subcommittee.
As we saw yesterday in Massachusetts, if
lawmakers throw a "civil unions compromise" into the mix, some of our allies
might be inclined to support a discriminatory amendment. Some members of
Congress are looking at just such a "compromise amendment" - but it's no
compromise. It's still discrimination. (For the full story on what happened
in Massachusetts, visit
www.MassEquality.org)
We need to make our voices heard NOW -
before Members of Congress have made up their minds. And this week, we're
asking you to take a specific action to help -- to hand-write a letter and
mail it to your Senators' and Representative's district offices. See the
sidebar on the right for a step-by- step guide.
Last week we asked some of you who are
constituents of Judiciary Committee members to call Congress. Thousands of
folks made phone calls - and we heard that several offices got literally
hundreds of calls. But we need more. So today, write your handwritten
letter, mail it to the district office, and then phone your Representative
and Senators.
Call the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at
1-877-762-8762 - and then let us know that you called by e-mailing us at
field@hrc.org.
With your help, we can win this fight.
Please make sure that you take action today!
Sincerely, Seth Kilbourn and the activist
team at the Human Rights Campaign
================================================
WRITE A HANDWRITTEN LETTER TO YOUR SENATORS
AND REPRESENTATIVES TODAY!
Why a handwritten letter? Congressional
offices receive a lot of e-mail and faxes - but not as many handwritten
letters these days. Some Members of Congress tell their staff they
personally want to read every handwritten letter that comes in. And we hear
that our side is sending less handwritten mail - we need to change that!
1. SAMPLE LETTER
For a sample letter go to:
www.hrcactioncenter.org/actioncenter/sample_letter.html Use it as a
starting point - make it personal and tell your story.
2. SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE DISTRICT OFFICE
Why the district office? Mail sent to
Washington, DC goes through a screening process that can take up to 8 weeks.
If you send your letter to the district office, then it will reach your
legislators much more quickly. That's critical for this fight -- it seems
likely we will face a vote on the Federal anti- Marriage Amendment by the
end of the summer. To look up the district offices addresses for your
Representative and Senators go to:
www.capwiz.com/hrc/dbq/officials/
3. TELL US YOU SENT A HANDWRITTEN LETTER
Tell us you sent a letter so we can keep
count. To tell us you wrote and sent a handwritten letter go to:
www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/letter_fma
4. TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO WRITE A LETTER
Between now and the vote, we need literally
hundreds and thousands of letters pouring into Congressional offices. To
tell your friends today go to:
www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/letter_fma/forward
5. DOWNLOAD HRC's NEW MARRIAGE PAMPHLET
A pamphlet that answers many common
questions and concerns about marriage equality for same-sex couples,
including "Why aren't civil unions enough?" Go to:
www.tinyurl.com/2tkwe
