For those of you that missed it. Here is the speech I gave today! Please take a look!! First of all, Id like to thank the organizers of Marriage Equality Ohio and this event, The March for Marriage Equality, for their invitation to participate in this event. The Libertarian Party of Ohio has supported the concept of marriage equality since its founding in 1971. Were proud to continue that commitment today. We’re very excited to be a part of the March for Marriage Equality and to work with Marriage Equality Ohio. It’s so important to ensure fundamental equality to all citizens in Ohio, and ultimately, the entire country. In one sense, I have a hard time understanding why we have to be here today. I have a hard time understanding why this issue wasnt settled decades ago. I have a hard time understanding why we ever needed to address this issue at all! But there are forces, in Ohio, and in the nation, that oppose the simple principle of equality before the law. And that’s what has forced people of good will to appeal once again to the courts, our remedy of last resort. Here are familiar words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Not all straight people. Not all people who believe in a particular religion. Not all people who hold to certain political ideals. All people, without exception! Opponents of marriage equality say a lot of things. They talk about the LGBT community asking for “special privileges.” They talk about “defense of traditional marriage.” They talk about the so-called “gay agenda.” And they lie, knowingly, deliberately and maliciously. There are no special privileges being sought here, only the same basic freedoms enjoyed by every other American!! Traditional marriage is not under attack. The sanctity of those marriages isnt harmed in the least by the legal recognition of so-called “un-traditional” marriages. And the only “gay agenda” is the agenda of the Civil Rights movement of a half-century ago: equality; equal rights, equal protection, and equal respect. I long for the day when all barriers of inequality are torn down. We stand here today not as gay or straight, white or black, libertarian or otherwise. We stand here today as one people united for equality. The hearing today, has the opportunity to set Ohio back on the path of equality for all Ohioans. It has the opportunity to set Ohio back on the path to the Twenty-First Century. The Libertarian Party of Ohio is the only political party to stand with freedom to marry from the beginning and we will be standing with you when victory is achieved and all are treated equal under Ohio law.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 21:38:19 +0000
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