(This Guest Column first appeared in Unity of Madison’s October 2006 Grace Notes Newsletter It has been revised and is not necessarily the views of Unity of Madison.)
On November 7th, 2006, Wisconsin voters will be asked whether we should add an amendment to the state constitution. The proposed amendment reads:
“Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state.”
This constitutional ban would permanently deny civil unions and marriage for lesbian and gay couples, and it would seriously jeopardize other legal protections for thousands of unmarried opposite sex couples who are presently living together. While this amendment is aimed principally at gay couples, many citizens may not be aware that this mean-spirited amendment could also affect your non-gay best friend, your parents, grandparents, children, and perhaps like me, even yourself someday.
My case I believe is a good example. After reading this I believe you will see that this proposed amendment is really an anti-family amendment. If passed, it will exclude legal and civil rights for over 109,000 unmarried opposite sex couples who are now living together in Wisconsin. Thousands of these couples, like my partner and I, are senior citizens. I worked for over forty years as a professional social worker. My ex-wife and I married and raised four beautiful children, and we now have five lovely grandchildren. After our youngest entered her freshman year at UW-Madison we amicably parted.
I am now seventy one years old. Several years after my divorce, I met a woman I will call Sue. After living apart for about eight years and after my health continued to worsen, we decided to share a home together. Both Sue and I had experienced painful divorces and were wary of pursuing another marriage this late in our lives.
Both of us have had professionally fulfilling and productive careers. Sue’s family has become my family and my family has become hers. Together we now live a secure and modest life together. Throughout our lives we have both been and continue to be good tax paying citizens. We have both pursued careers serving others while also being active in civic and community affairs. For this we believe we have earned a right to continue to pursue our happiness in a private life of our own choosing.
There is no doubt in our minds that if this mean-spirited amendment passes my health insurance and other legal protections and privileges that we now jointly share will end. Up until now Sue has participated in my health planning, sat with me in the hospital through several major surgeries, and signed on as a power of attorneys for my health care. As a domestic partner I am also on Sue’s family insurance plan. These and innumerable other legal and civil rights, which we now enjoy as domestic partners, will come under attack if this amendment is passed.
Before you vote on November 7th I urge you to ponder why, after fighting for racial and women’s rights, we are now being asked by our legislators to once again deny another segment of Americans their legal rights and personal freedom and happiness.
Our legislators, who now remain perpetually in office based on a pay-to-play arrangement with powerful special interests, have decided to appeal to fear and our darker side and to use a small minority group to divide us and draw our attention away from real social ills, such as lack of adequate health care, our right to decide and address our own local community problems, and shrinking resources for education and human services, to name only a few. On November 7th let all Wisconsinites stand together and vote NO and send a loud voice to the politicians that we have had enough.
Respectfully,
William R. Benedict, NSP Steering Committee Member
