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 Over just ONE weekend people from 34 States and 14 Countries signed and sent the PRIDE MONTH PETITION to TWO KEY religious groups to STOP their harmful LOBBYING against basic human rights for LGBT People in America. I imagine it is an interesting morning in the offices of: Mr. Todd Bassett (Executive Director NAE), Mr. Galen Carey (Director of Government Affairs NAE), Rev. John C. Wester (Bishop of Salt Lake City UCSSB) and Mr. Kevin Appleby (Migration and refugee Services USCCB). For too long we have allowed their work to go unaddressed. While we’ve built beautiful support among many faiths, we’ve yet to find a message that speaks to these two groups. This message is new. It says: yes you have the freedom of religion to not accept us, but it is a violation of your civic duty to try to undermine our right to human dignity and safety. Believe what you will, but DO NOT LOBBY in our legislatures, under our Constitution, against us. Many people shy away from this work and are down right AFRAID to challenge these groups or have their organizational name associated with it. But this is for the heroes who know it is our responsibility to address our opposition. Their work can not continue unfettered. This Petition is intentionally civil and hopefully devoid of anger. It comes from the spirit of mutual respect and is intended truly to give cause for reflection. It is tough, but honest. Thank you all who have signed it from Jakarta Indonesia to Sun Prairie Wisconsin! To ADD YOUR NAME go to: HERE IS THE PETITION LANGUAGE: A Plea to Stop Harm Caused by Advocacy Against LGBT Civil Legislation Greetings, June, 04 – 2010 To the: Honorable Representatives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Association of Evangelicals, There is a crime at work when society takes a young child and teaches him to hate himself so much that he becomes George Rekers. When this happens, as it does daily, we have failed our primary shared responsibility: to protect our children from harm. Yet this is the suffering inflicted by the unrelenting advocacy against LGBT equality and basic human dignity propagated by you in legislative forums throughout the country. From murder to depression to suicide, this fueled societal homophobia wreaks havoc on generation after generation, every day, and every hour. Due largely to your work, LGBT people are not safe and their dignity is systematically under attack. Given the overwhelming evidence of injury, at this point we consider your involvement in perpetrating this harm to be an act of violence against our community. Today, we say that advocacy must end. Regardless of the teachings of one bible, our social compact in the United States is founded upon a Constitution. As such, equality for LGBT Americans under the law cannot be held hostage to any religious viewpoint, and nor should you try; it betrays our duty as citizens. The system itself demands a degree of mutual respect and deference, which allows for both the sanctity of your beliefs and houses of worship, and our right to live and work in safety. Clearly, both parties have to respect that relationship for it to work. In this spirit, we urge you to cease your political advocacy against our human rights in every piece of legislation, state and federal, and on every topic, including marriage. Our Country’s founding promise that we each enjoy the pursuit of happiness can no longer be denied us, and nor should you try. Clearly, the civil rights conferred by marriage do not belong to any specific Church, and many other faiths reject your claim on the institution and the word. This hubris underlies much of the Catholic Churches’ misguided history, and it is time to stop it. From this day forward, we intend to hold the USCCB and the NAE, and their representatives, directly accountable for the harm caused to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people stemming from their political opposition to our legal equality and their painful homophobic advocacy, which lacks even basic respect for our fundamental existence. Indeed, our human dignity demands it, as would yours should you find your religion and right to exist similarly undermined and persecuted. As an indication of your good faith, we ask that the USCCB and the NAE issue a statement of political neutrality on all matters of LGBT human rights and equality under the law. Once you have taken that righteous step, we look forward to forging a mutually respectful co-existence with you in the United States. Sincerely, Signed in support of all members of the
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