Honorable Elected Official:

I am writing you today because of this cultural war that seems to have broken out regarding the marriage amendment. I have taken the time to speak with both extreme sides on the matter and the results are always the same and surprisingly consistent.

The deeply religious people always want, "to protect the sanctity of marriage and define it as a union between one man and one woman"; which is fine from a religious point of view. However if you look at and speak with homosexual people they say, "They want the same rights and protections as a married couple."

Both of these arguments are valid in the Liberties outlined in the Constitution, specifically the preamble. Where the opposition comes in is when the argument becomes one-sided. When you have the deeply religious pushing for an amendment and the homosexuals pushing for equal marriage rights you cause this cultural war. This is understandable if you take a moment to understand both sides of this situation.

The answer is simple. While passing this legislature to define marriage, also attach or push through legislature to protect the rights of homosexuals. If you don't want to call it a Religious Marriage and a Civil Marriage, you could just call one Marriage, and the other a Civil Union. The catch is, when it comes to legality the word marriage is already on all legal documents between two people, if you change the wording to Civil Union, all the documents have to change to accommodate the new status.

This is a topic that many people take sides on. I think if we all tried to understand each other and tried harder to meet in the middle agreements could be made to protect both. However, this could not be done separately. These laws need to pass together as one amendment, and need to be reviewed by both parties to ensure the wording isn't so loose that you could drive a bus through the loop holes. This is the same issue facing Virginia's amendment.

I ask everyone that reads this letter to put down the stones, take a deep breath, understand the deeply religious aren't going away, and the homosexuals are only growing in numbers. It is time to find a peaceful solution that makes everyone happy. Please remember that "respect does not require approval." We live in the United States of America; we must all start being American's first and everything else second. We need to treat everyone with respect and dignity despite if we agree or disagree with what they are asking for; as long as it does no harm to anyone else then there is no reason not to accommodate their liberties and equal rights under the law.

In memory of Coretta Scott King, please remember "justice is indivisible", not long ago she spoke on this issue and was very plain spoken about it; please work toward a solution that represents everyone, not just the majority in this case. Remember, what the homosexual people want doesn't hurt anyone; if it did, then pass all the laws you want to, but what they want is respect and liberty like every other American.