Open Letter to President Obama re Gays and Marriage

Dear President Obama: The best freedom I have in this country is my choice to write a blog addressed to you without the fear of being stigmatized -- or arrested. But since you are the President, I will remain respectful for same reason.

Let me ask you a question: Are we not all members of ONE race upon this earth? Yes, we are. The HUMAN race. And as such, we should all be entitled to equal rights. Who are you, or anyone else, to take a stand and offer your opinion as to who should be able to marry, or be entitled to health insurance or the rights to which we ALL should be entitled living in this country?

I recently read a story that you are "wrestling" with gay marriage. Why? Why or how does it affect you? It doesn't affect me or my son so why should it affect you?

Let me toss up my two cents. Why does it bother so many people that men fall in love with men and women fall in love with women, form solid relationships and stay together long-term? Is it the sexual part of that that bothers so many? Let's leave out the religious part of this scenario because I'm not so sure God is happy with the fact that people are being discriminated against for their sexual orientation.

Why shouldn't gay couples be able to marry like, well, other human beings? I'm not going to sit here and write "like regular people" because gay people ARE REGULAR PEOPLE. They are humans, they have thoughts,emotions, they have jobs and families and dogs and fish and cars and homes. Don't you? You just live in a way bigger home and have a really important job.

But do you see my point? Why should gay people be denied the fundamental rights that "couples" are afforded when they marry? If a husband lands in the hospital and is near death, the grieving wife is freely allowed to sit by him and pray for his recovery. If a gay man lands in the hospital and is near death, his "partner" or spouse is railroaded and sometimes turned away because he's not considered a "spouse" or immediate family. Is that fair? Gay people have the exact same emotions as you and I. They love, they laugh,they cry, they grieve, they smoke cigarettes, they make decisions, they have checkbooks, etc.

Gay people pay taxes.

What is the big deal about allowing gays to marry? IT ISN'T A BIG DEAL!!!!! It's only a big deal because someone DECIDED that oh, look what the bible says and oh, the rest of the human race has to abide by these rules and regulations of the bible. Seriously? Do you actually think God sits up there and frowns upon gays?

No, he does not. He gave us free will, independence and choices. If He didn't want us to have those things, then why did He give them to us? We can't judge God and blame him for anything - we as humans are the ones to blame because we have the freedom to choose.

And living in this country, the freedom to choose who we love, who we marry and with whom we raise children should not be an issued on a podium, on a piece of paper, read by you as the President or anyone else. When you got married, did anyone shred you to pieces? No. When you were elected President, however, it was a different story. The first BLACK President. Why in the WORLD did the color of your skin matter/ Does the color of your skin run the country? Nope. It's the man upon around which the skin is wrapped around who runs the country.

My point is that gay people are just like you and me on the inside. Some are flamboyant and loud and stand up for their rights - or what those rights really should be. Some are quiet and humble and stand in the background and wait for someone to say hey, it's OK to be you.

It should ALWAYS be OK to be who you are without someone pointing a finger, or passing judgment just because as a man or a woman, your chemical makeup in your body attracts you to the same gender.

Why is this such an issue? Why does "straight" and "gay" have to be separate and apart words? We are human beings. Period. We choose mates, some for life, some for a day, some for months. We choose either to have children or not. Human beings are either good or bad.

But for you to "wrestle" with allowing gay marriages and allowing HUMAN BEINGS to be afforded the same rights as any other married couple - now that's really sad and discriminatory in my opinion.

While the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" law was FINALLY initiated (and that was based upon the same principals about what I just wrote) your "wrestling" with gay marriage and the rights of gay couples still bothers me greatly.

It should be NO ONE'S business - at all - who we choose to love, who we choose to marry. Certainly, our friends and family can blah blah blah their opinions all they want but in the end, we as humans make our own choices and act freely and independently because God gave us those rights.

Shouldn't you, as President of the United States, act freely and independently and allow gay married couples the same rights as you and I have?

This isn't rocket science, Mr. President. This is simply about giving human beings the same rights as other human beings who are married, who love, who laugh, who cry, who eat, who sleep, who dream, who own big dogs and little dogs and play basketball with their kids and who pack lunches and make dinner and take their cars in for repairs and who pay taxes and buy holiday cards and presents and who celebrate life and who grieve at death?

We are all the same, Mr. President. We are bound together by one undeniable, nondestructive fabric: we are all members of one race: the human race.

And we should all be afforded the same rights when it comes to marriage.

So please stop wrestling with your conscious or a piece of paper or a pages in the Bible. This isn't about men having sex with men, or women having sex with women. This is about people who simply want to marry and be afforded the same rights as everyone else. This is why we live in America. This is why we have these kinds of freedom.

And above all else, no one should have the authority nor the right to determine what is a marriage, or what determines the sanctity of marriage. What matters is that people want to choose who they love, and if they choose to marry them, let them. And celebrate the marriage in the same manner as everyone else does. And allow them the same rights as we all have. I refuse to to separate "gay" and "straight." That would be unconstitutional now, wouldn't it?

And you should know of all people, Mr. President, should know all about what's constitutional - or not.

Thank you.

Are You There God, It's Us - Paula and Jake

Open letter to God:

Dear God: You know, I am wondering if you just put on your Ipod some days to take a break from the prayers everyone tosses up to you. While I believe that justice prevailed in my eviction case and that pyschopath's lies were ultimately FINALLY seen to be just that - lies - (even though I did pray that Jake and I wouldn't get evicted); AND I asked you for help in getting us out of this horrendous place in which we reside (I got a call Friday that may allow my son and I to FINALLY move), you still haven't answered my biggest prayer.

I can't get to Point B without Point A. And since I don't have Point A, I'm going nowhere.

Why did my own mother forsake me? Am I that rotten a daughter? No. Have I made mistakes? Yes. But nothing that brought shame or humiliation upon her or my family. You know I've never been arrested, I don't drink so obviously I don't drive drunk with my child in the car, I don't do drugs (except for the Coumadin for my blood clots and the Lorazepam so I can sleep-sometimes), I work every day, I don't beat my child or expose him to violence, I choose my friends carefully, I've been with the same man for going on six years, I pay my bills on time even though I am burdened with debt and my Jurassic Park Honda Civic is falling apart at the seams (as cars begin to do when they hit 100,000 or more) and you KNOW I don't have the money to keep fixing it and I can't help but feel a bit of fear every time I drive it wondering if something goes wrong is it going to harm my son in any way.

Why won't my own mother who has more than a half a million dollars in the bank help me? What is she so afraid of?

And it's clear that she ISN'T going to help so what do I need to do to get a little help in a big way? Am I doomed to stay in this cereal box in which we live? Yes, I understand there are far, far worse off people in this world. I can't fix that. I'm a realist. I have to think about my son. Maybe someday I CAN make a difference. But RIGHT NOW, I need to make a difference for my son and myself.

And I just can't seem to catch one little break.

Maybe you aren't listening anymore. Maybe all you hear is blah blah blah.

Have you given up on us?