a letter a day to governor schwarzenegger
David on Aug 13th 2007
When we came across California resident Jim Smith’s story, we knew we had to share it with all of you. Here’s what Jim has been doing in the Golden State - in his own words.
My ‘same-sex domestic partner’ and I moved to California almost ten years ago and had twins by surrogacy five months ago. When the legislature passed AB 849, the “Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act” in 2005, I called the Governor’s office several dozen times, but each conversation ended when the call was digested into a tally mark.
When I heard that he might be getting another chance this September, I wanted to do something more substantial – something I could share with other people and the press, and something that might actually get through to the Governor. If he knew me and my family, it would be a lot harder to veto us. So I started to send a brief letter to the Governor every day, asking him to sign AB 43 for a different reason. Some are typewritten, some I do by hand, and occasionally I slip in a picture of my family for him to contemplate.
I’ve been keeping copies and documenting the process on my blog. I have only received one reply – a form letter – which gave me fodder for July 28 that you can read here.
I’m not sure where this will take me, but I do know that it has helped build my debating and writing skills along with my knowledge of the issues. For instance, before I started, I didn’t know what to say to staffers who said signing it would be illegal, or even the gay community’s concern that we will just get backlash. I know that the simple answer to both of those is that if the Governor vetoes this bill, he is telling the people of California that discrimination is OK. We can’t have the Governor emboldening the Opponents of Equality right before a petition initiative. Spending fifteen minutes a day trying to figure out how to get him on our side seems like a small investment to make for some big payback later.
Feel free to contact me through the blog comments or email me at signab43@gmail.com
