TO DAN SAVAGE: Just wanted to say that I loved "My Marriage License" [March 11]. I am a lesbian who married her best friend, a gay man, a year and a half ago because we were sick of gays not getting benefits. Since we've been married, we've gotten financial aid for college that we didn't qualify for before, car insurance reductions, a better credit rating, a very nice tax refund, and we enjoy numerous other perks.
Lisa Alatorre
GET THE STATE OUT OF THE MARRIAGE BUSINESS
EDITOR: I suppose gays and lesbians should have the same legal right to fuck up their lives with insincere or Pollyanna-ish promises of a mythical "forever," but that is beside the point. States have no business defining or condoning marriage in the first place. Let's leave that to the religious institutions that invented the outdated concept. States should be in the business of recognizing civil unions for any pair of consenting adults, without discriminating on the basis of race, sex, or any other irrelevant matter. Then the moralists who want to defend "marriage" can continue to do so, but church and state will remain happily separate (see First Amendment) and the state will no longer deny equal protection under the law (see Fourteenth Amendment).
David S. Goldstein
BASH CHRISTINE GREGOIRE!
TO THE STRANGER: You are spending so much time bashing Ron Sims over his stand on gay marriage, you are overlooking the fact that the one person who carries a real threat to reversing legislation is our current "front-runner" for governor, Christine Gregoire. She has taken a stand against gay marriage, yet you continue to attack Mr. Sims for not jumping out with his six-shooter blazing. Sims had it right when he declared that choosing which laws to enforce and which laws to ignore sets a dangerous precedent. We need to change an unjust law, not ask our leaders to break those laws. Your obvious bias against Mr. Sims is getting tired, and frankly, as much as I enjoy your paper, the opinion editorials that pass for news articles are getting a little old.
Tanya L. Bryant
BASH RON SIMS!
DEAR MR. SANDERS: Your article on Ron Sims' lack of support for gay marriage ["Ron's Simulated Support," March 4] was spot on, but you missed a damning point. While his spokesperson argues that "[Ron] has to uphold the law," Sims has not hesitated to break the law (passed directly by the citizens of Washington, no less!) limiting car tabs to $30. He continues to collect tax dollars from car tabs to support Sound Transit, despite a law that forbids his doing so and court decisions that have upheld said law. Given these facts, it seems apparent that Ron Sims is only interested in the governorship. History will judge Ron Sims harshly.
Joshua J. Hanson
DON'T BASH SAVAGE!
To the unidentified "gay rights advocates" mentioned in the Seattle Times on March 9 ("Officials worried gay editor would beat them to court," by Bob Young) and in The Stranger on March 11 ("My Marriage License," by Dan Savage), stop picking on Dan Savage. If it weren't for Dan's cage-rattling, nothing of significance would ever get done in this pansy-ass, process-oriented town. So, since Jamie Pedersen and those other "gay rights advocates" have positioned themselves as the morally superior spokespersons, keep this in mind: The U.S. Constitution calls for justice and equality for everyone. The hot issue of gay marriage is pushing for equal rights for all queers, not just the ones who make a picture-postcard family.
Neil Vora
SHE CALLED US JOURNALISTS!
TO DAN SAVAGE AND AMY JENNIGES: I can't believe you got a marriage license for you and Amy--that's one thing. But I REALLY can't believe it was YOU TWO (well really you four, but you and Amy)--two JOURNALISTS for Christ's sake--who had to push the gay marriage thing in Seattle! Your sex advice may not be worth a tinker's dam, Dan, but you MAKE ME PROUD, you rabble-rousing nuts.
Tonnvane
THANKS FOR SHARING, STRAIGHT FOLKS. NOW COULD you SHUT UP?
EDITOR: It's nice to have straight folks write about why they wouldn't get married ["Straight Marriage," Sean Nelson and Annie Wagner, March 11]. However, it's a bit like white people telling black people how much of a chore voting was back before African Americans could vote. I don't want to listen to someone who has this right tell us it is or isn't good for us. I would like the chance to find out if marriage is for me. After being with my girlfriend for over 14 years, I kinda think it will be swell.
Julia Kaplan
ONE LONELY LETTER THAT ISN'T ABOUT THE GAYS
EDITOR: The movie Monsieur Ibrahim may not arrive, as Charles Mudede states, "at cinematic greatness" [On Screen, March 4]. At least as likely is that Mudede will not arrive at competence, let alone greatness. The character Monsieur Ibrahim is a Turk not an Arab (as they make pains to point out in the trailer, for crying out loud), and they head to Turkey, not "the mythical expanses of Arabia." Bring back Barley Blair!
