FUNDAMENTALLY, IT IS ABOUT DECENCY

A beautiful friend of mine, native of Colorado, 

wrote this smart and passionate letter to Rep. McNulty. 

I cannot add anything to it, because it is perfect. Here it is.

Thank you, Jill, for letting me share these wonderful words.

"Today's committee vote in the Colorado house was disheartening and extremely agitating. Instead of just yelling at my computer screen some more, I decided to write the below letter to Rep. McNulty, who orchestrated the political maneuverings that prevented the civil unions bill from going to a vote in front of the House. I know I have a lot of Colorado friends--Republicans and Democrats alike--who are tired of this nonsense and ready for our state to do the right thing. If you're one of them, make your voice heard."

Rep. McNulty,

Today when I learned that the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted to kill the bill that would have created civil unions, I was disappointed. Actually, I was more than disappointed. I was embarrassed. 

I called Colorado home for the first 28 years of my life, and I usually identify myself as a Colorado native with pride. Today I cannot do that. Today I cannot boast that I was born and raised in one of the greatest states in this nation ... not when that state denies basic rights to many of its citizens. 

I am disheartened by your maneuverings to prevent the bill from coming to a vote in front of the House, though I am not so naive as to think this sort of political jockeying is not part and parcel of the way the legislative game is played on both sides of the aisle.

I also believe that you sent the bill to a "kill committee" because you thought there was a good chance the House would pass it--a fact that gives me hope that many of Colorado's elected men and women do not share your views on civil unions. A majority of the men and women they represent certainly don’t. 

As I am sure you are aware, polls suggest that well more than half of Coloradans support legal recognition for same-sex couples. We can squabble over which polls and who conducted them and on and on, but one thing is clear—more and more Coloradans support extending basic legal rights and protections to all couples who seek them. 

I have no doubt that one day in Colorado men who love men and women who love women will be able to enter into legally recognized relationships just like you can, and just like I can, and will be afforded the same rights that you and I are afforded when we do so.

I also have no doubt that one day our children and their children will shake their heads in disbelief as they learn about a time when some people actually fought against granting tens of thousands of Coloradans the right to be involved in crucial decisions about the health and wellbeing of the people with whom they have decided to spend their lives. 

You chose to be among those who fought to deny people basic rights. You chose to be among those at whom so many will shake their heads. Is that the sort of legacy you want? 

Perhaps it is. 

But it is not the sort of legacy I want for the state that I love and that I will always consider home.

I hope that you will reconsider your position on civil unions and rise above the divisive rhetoric that attempts to make this issue about Republicans vs. Democrats, conservatives vs. liberals, Christians vs. non-Christians. 

Fundamentally, it is about decency. It is about respect. And, above all, it is about equality and freedom of personal choice as provided for and championed by our Constitution.