I’m proud to be a citizen of a state that has recognized that all families are best protected by allowing equal marriage opportunity to loving couples.
My wife and I were married in May, 2004 in our church in Jamaica Plain. When we were married, we asked our daughter if it made a difference to her that her parents were married just like her friends’ parents were, and she replied with a firm and joyous, “Yes!”
This morning when I was explaining to my daughter about the anti-equal-marriage amendment coming before the Legislature on Nov. 9, she asked, “If they changed the law, would you and Mommy have to live in separate houses?” I told her no, but, in fact, that’s what discrimination looks like—separation into first- and second -class families. Why? Why would we put to vote discrimination against an entire group of people?
Since May 17, 2004, over 8,000 same-sex couples have legally wed in Massachusetts. These families (and our commonwealth as a whole) have been strengthened by having the same protections and legal obligations that only legal marriage gives, and equal marriage has hurt no one. It is time to move on. I urge you, honorable senators and representatives of the Commonwealth, to oppose the hateful amendment to be voted on Nov. 9 in the Constitutional Convention and support all families. It’s in the best interests of all families and it’s in the best interests of our Commonwealth.
Elizabeth Ingram
Jamaica Plain