Our civilization and culture were built by people of men and
women of all races, skin color, religious convictions, national origin and
sexual orientation. We owe a debt of
gratitude to the gays and bisexuals who wrote our poetry, our plays, and our
music; made discoveries in mathematics, science and economics, and protected
our freedom. We should honor that debt
by extending courtesy, dignity and equality in all things to people of every
sexual orientation.
------
Mike Pence is a conservative Republican governor of the
State of Indiana, a former U.S. Representative and radio talk-show host. Governor Pence has just been selected as the
Vice-Presidential running mate of Donald Trump, Republican nominee for
President of the United States.
In 2015, under Governor Pence, the Indiana State Legislature
passed a law allowing individuals and business to deny services to people on
the basis of sexual orientation. The
rationale for this legalized bigotry was the pretext of religious freedom. The law is one of many proposed by Republicans in dozens of states to legalize discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation. Under the law, businesses which disapprove of
homosexuality for religious reasons could deny services, housing, or employment
to gays. Governor Pence signed the
legislation. It is clear that the law
was a response to the legalization of gay marriage. The law was intended to
impede the implementation of the national gay-marriage law, through harassment and denial of services to gays.
A firestorm of national criticism ensued. Several prominent Indiana companies protested
the legislation. A number of national
interests declared various boycotts on Indiana.
Within two weeks, an amendment protecting the rights of gays was added
to the legislation, effectively nullifying the law.
Here is a letter that I wrote to Governor Pence following
his signing of the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“Dear Governor Pence
I am an Indiana native, and a master's degree graduate of
Indiana University. I am deeply ashamed
of my home state, ashamed of your actions, and ashamed of the State
Legislature.
In keeping with the spirit of your "religious
freedom" law, you could ban all performances of the works of William
Shakespeare; all art by Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci; all music by
Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Leonard Bernstein, Elton John and Freddy Mercury; the plays of Oscar
Wilde, Thornton Wilder and Tennessee Williams; poems of Walt Whitman and essays
by Ralph Waldo Emerson; economics of John Maynard Keynes, and any commemoration
of victory in World War II, which might have been lost without the genius of Alan Turing, who deciphered Nazi
codes during the war.
Regretfully, Turing and Tchaikovsky were hounded to the
point of suicide by the actions of people like you.
Or, as a suggestion, you might honor our debt to these great
people, and many others like them, by extending courtesy and equality to all
people regardless of sexual orientation.”
No comments:
Post a Comment