Travis (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} orlith) wrote,@ 2009-05-29 16:23:00 |
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Open Letter to President Obama
May 29, 2009
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Re: Marriage and Civil Equality
President Obama,
I am writing to express to you my strong personal support for marriage equality and civil right for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered minorities in this country, and how very important it is to me and others like me to put our national attention on these important issues.
First of all, I hope that you and your family are doing well adjusting to your new household and duties in Washington, D.C. I doubt that you’ll actually have the time to read this letter yourself, and that is understandable, given the magnitude of your job. However, I hope that whichever of your staff members gets to read this will pass some of this information along to you, as I truly feel it is important.
You don’t know me, Mr. President. I am neither rich nor powerful nor do we run in the same circles. By way of introduction, I’ll say that I’m a fairly ordinary man living life and following my dreams in the big city of Los Angeles.
As a teenager, I discovered that I was gay. It was quite the shock for me at first, and eventually for my family when I told them at the age of 19. I always figured that although I was romantically interested in members of the same gender, I would follow the same general life paths as my brothers and sister. You’re familiar with those paths, I’m sure: spouse, career, house ownership, joint checking account, worrying about the bills, a pet or three, the difficult choice of whether to have kids or not, how to take care of my parents as they get older, and making my difference in the world. The list goes on.
The paths you may not be as familiar with are those that I didn’t share with my siblings. Learning how to be truthful with my friends, family and the world about being different from the rest of them tops the list. It was a difficult and liberating journey. Learning how to live in the sunlight, rather than in the darkness of secrets, fears and despair took a long time. I dealt with an HIV diagnosis in my early 20's, a subsequent drug addiction and recovery. I’ve not only lived with these issues over the past 20 years but managed to thrive. I tell you these things not for you to feel sorry for me, but to help you understand both the differences and similarities of our lives.
Through all of this, Mr. President, I always hoped and dreamed that I would find the man that could share my heart and my home. I’ll tell you a bit of a secret. I haven’t been that successful in finding him yet. But I keep the hope and dream alive because I’m stubborn enough to believe that if things like HIV and drug addiction can’t kill me or my joy for life, then finding the man of my dreams is possible, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to give up on that part of a nurturing and vibrant life.
After the recent California Supreme Court decision came down regarding Prop 8, I realized that I had certain assumptions about being an American. The first assumption being that as an American, my fellow citizens considered my constitutional rights and freedoms to mean as much as their own. The passage of Proposition 8 was the latest and loudest of proofs that I was wrong. I also assumed that the American system of checks and balances would be sure that I would not be deprived of those rights. I was quite shocked to find out that even those learned judges assumed differently.
Marriage is a pretty fundamental issue to me. Humans are social animals, and I am no different. The freedom to pair up with another person in love and support in order to face the slings and arrows that the world throws at us is pretty important. When our fundamental relationships are denied, spit upon and preached against by not only the churches, but people at the voting booths, and politicians in office, life becomes much more difficult and hateful than it needs to be. Listening to the constant hatred that is preached and aimed at me and those like me is wearing at best, and life depriving at worst, and I can’t help but wonder how many lives would be saved or able to find more of their potential if we didn’t have to worry about fighting for our right to love and our fundament rights enjoyed by the rest of our society.
Mr. President, I live and work and love in this great country and world we live in, just like my straight brothers and sisters. I need the same rights and protections as they do. It’s not about mere want or desire, it’s about need and fairness.
When you were elected, you were elected as the hope of a country who had lost that hope. I’m grateful to have had that hope rekindled. I still hope. Can you help us so my right to a loving relationship and that relationship itself can be recognized and supported by the government which is made by the people and for the people ... people like me.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Travis Terry
May 29, 2009
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Re: Marriage and Civil Equality
President Obama,
I am writing to express to you my strong personal support for marriage equality and civil right for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered minorities in this country, and how very important it is to me and others like me to put our national attention on these important issues.
First of all, I hope that you and your family are doing well adjusting to your new household and duties in Washington, D.C. I doubt that you’ll actually have the time to read this letter yourself, and that is understandable, given the magnitude of your job. However, I hope that whichever of your staff members gets to read this will pass some of this information along to you, as I truly feel it is important.
You don’t know me, Mr. President. I am neither rich nor powerful nor do we run in the same circles. By way of introduction, I’ll say that I’m a fairly ordinary man living life and following my dreams in the big city of Los Angeles.
As a teenager, I discovered that I was gay. It was quite the shock for me at first, and eventually for my family when I told them at the age of 19. I always figured that although I was romantically interested in members of the same gender, I would follow the same general life paths as my brothers and sister. You’re familiar with those paths, I’m sure: spouse, career, house ownership, joint checking account, worrying about the bills, a pet or three, the difficult choice of whether to have kids or not, how to take care of my parents as they get older, and making my difference in the world. The list goes on.
The paths you may not be as familiar with are those that I didn’t share with my siblings. Learning how to be truthful with my friends, family and the world about being different from the rest of them tops the list. It was a difficult and liberating journey. Learning how to live in the sunlight, rather than in the darkness of secrets, fears and despair took a long time. I dealt with an HIV diagnosis in my early 20's, a subsequent drug addiction and recovery. I’ve not only lived with these issues over the past 20 years but managed to thrive. I tell you these things not for you to feel sorry for me, but to help you understand both the differences and similarities of our lives.
Through all of this, Mr. President, I always hoped and dreamed that I would find the man that could share my heart and my home. I’ll tell you a bit of a secret. I haven’t been that successful in finding him yet. But I keep the hope and dream alive because I’m stubborn enough to believe that if things like HIV and drug addiction can’t kill me or my joy for life, then finding the man of my dreams is possible, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to give up on that part of a nurturing and vibrant life.
After the recent California Supreme Court decision came down regarding Prop 8, I realized that I had certain assumptions about being an American. The first assumption being that as an American, my fellow citizens considered my constitutional rights and freedoms to mean as much as their own. The passage of Proposition 8 was the latest and loudest of proofs that I was wrong. I also assumed that the American system of checks and balances would be sure that I would not be deprived of those rights. I was quite shocked to find out that even those learned judges assumed differently.
Marriage is a pretty fundamental issue to me. Humans are social animals, and I am no different. The freedom to pair up with another person in love and support in order to face the slings and arrows that the world throws at us is pretty important. When our fundamental relationships are denied, spit upon and preached against by not only the churches, but people at the voting booths, and politicians in office, life becomes much more difficult and hateful than it needs to be. Listening to the constant hatred that is preached and aimed at me and those like me is wearing at best, and life depriving at worst, and I can’t help but wonder how many lives would be saved or able to find more of their potential if we didn’t have to worry about fighting for our right to love and our fundament rights enjoyed by the rest of our society.
Mr. President, I live and work and love in this great country and world we live in, just like my straight brothers and sisters. I need the same rights and protections as they do. It’s not about mere want or desire, it’s about need and fairness.
When you were elected, you were elected as the hope of a country who had lost that hope. I’m grateful to have had that hope rekindled. I still hope. Can you help us so my right to a loving relationship and that relationship itself can be recognized and supported by the government which is made by the people and for the people ... people like me.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Travis Terry
