This is a letter from Bette Midler to President Bush - I think it is
amazing. She handed it out at her concert...one
person making a difference...

Dear President Bush,

Today you called upon Congress to move quickly to amend the US
Constitution, and set in Federal stone a legal definition of
marriage. I would like to know why.

In your speech, you stated that this Amendment would serve to
protect marriage in America, which I must confess confuses me. Like
you, I believe in the importance of marriage and I feel that we as a
society take the institution far too lightly. In my circle of
family, friends and acquaintances, the vast majority have married
and divorced -- some more than once. Still, I believe in marriage. I
believe that there is something fundamental about finding another
person on this planet with whom you want to build a life and family,
and make a positive contribution to society. I believe that we need
more positive role models for successful marriage in this country --
something to counteract the images we get bombarded with in popular
culture. When we are assaulted with images of celebrities of varying
genres, be it actors, sports figures, socialites, or even
politicians who shrug marriage on and off like the latest fashion,
it is vitally important to the face of our nation, for our children
and our future, that we have a balance of commitment and fidelity
with which to stave off the negativity. I search for these examples
to show my own daughter, so that she can see that marriage is more
than a disposable whim, despite overwhelming evidence to the
contrary.

As a father, I'm sure you have faced these same concerns and
difficulties in raising your own daughters. Therefore I can also
imagine that you must understand how thrilled I have been over the
past few weeks to come home and turn on the news with my family. To
finally have concrete examples of true commitment, honest love, and
steadfast fidelity was such a relief and a joy. Instead of speaking
in the hypothetical, I was finally able to point to these men and
women, standing together for hours in the pouring rain, and tell my
child that this is what its all about. Forget Britney. Forget Kobe.
Forget Strom. Forget about all the people that we know who have
taken so frivolously the pure and simple beauty of love and
tarnished it so consistently. Look instead at the joy in the
beautiful faces of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon - 51 years together!
I mean, honestly Mr. President - how many couples do you know who
are together for 51 years? I'm sure you agree that this love story
provides a wonderful opportunity to teach our children about the
true meaning and value of marriage. On the steps of San Francisco
City Hall, rose petals and champagne, suits and veils, horns honking
and elation in the streets; a celebration of love the likes of which
this society has never seen.

This morning, however, my joy turned to sadness, my relief
transformed into outrage, and my peace became anger. This morning, I
watched you stand before this nation and belittle these women, the
thousands who stood with them, and the countless millions who wish
to follow them. How could you do that, Mr.President? How could you
take something so beautiful -- a clear and defining example of the
true nature of commitment -- and declare it to be anything
less? What is it that validates your marriage which somehow doesn't
apply to Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon? By what power, what authority
are you so divinely imbued that you can stand before me and this
nation and hold their love to a higher standard?

Don't speak to me about homosexuality, Mr. President. Don't tell me
that the difference lies in the bedroom. I would never presume to
ask you or your wife how it is you choose to physically express your
love for one another, and I defy you to stand before Del Martin and
Phyllis Lyon and ask them to do the same. It is none of my business,
as it is none of yours, and it has nothing to do with the "sanctity
of marriage." I'm sure you would agree that marriage is far more
than sexual expression, and its high time we all started focusing on
all the other aspects of a relationship which hold it together over
the course of a lifetime. Therefore, with the mechanics of sex set
aside, I ask you again -- what makes a marriage? I firmly believe
that whatever definition you derive, there are thousands upon
thousands of shining examples for you to embrace.

You want to protect marriage. I admire and support that, Mr.
President. Together, as a nation, let us find and celebrate examples
of what a marriage should be. Together, let us take couples who
embody the principles of commitment, fidelity, sacrifice and love,
and hold them up before our children as role models for their own
futures. Together, let us reinforce the concept that love is about
far more than sex, despite what popular culture would like them to
believe.

Please, for the sake of our children, for the sake of our society,
for the sake of our future, do not take us down this road. Under the
guise of protection, do not support divisiveness. Under the guise of
unity, do not endorse discrimination. Under the guise of sanctity,
do not devalue commitment. Under the guise of democracy, do not
encourage this amendment.

Bette Midler


Thought?

It's midnight in Memphis & all the boys are out tonight...

NPD313 said:

THAT'S what I'm talkin' about If marriage is so sacred what are the quicky, tacky, shotgun, drunken weddings in Vegas all about? Why is the only requirement that one is male & one is female? Shouldn't it have more to do w/ the connection between the two people & their commitment to one another? It's absolutely insane to deny a gay couple that's been together forever & are committed yet allow 2 drunken idiots who just met hours ago to tie the knot only to divorce weeks later.

Right on. Divine M

I know alot of straight people who feel the very same about the issue so I hope the President catches wind of this. (*carbon copy to Canadian Prime Minster!)

Also, I think this should clear up any misunderstandings (ie. Maragaret Cho) about where Bette stands on the issue.

CinisterCee said:

What did Margaret say?

CalhounSq said:

Some chit.