Date:         Tue, 13 Feb 1996 22:30:13 -0500
From: Mary Ann Murphy <mamurphy@igc.apc.org>

Following is this month's sample issue on  lesbian/gay/bi issue it is to be sent to
Senator Lockyer his email address is senator.lockyer@sen.ca.gov


                                                                     February 15, 1996



The Honorable Bill Lockyer
President pro Tempore
The California State Senate, Room 205
Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: Opposition to AB 1982

Dear Senator Lockyer:

AB 1982 would prohibit the recognition in California of marriages between people of the same gender, even if those marriages occurred legally in another state. This is bad legislation. Our nation's Declaration of Independence says that all people are endowed with certain unalienable
rights and that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Surely, the decision of whom to marry is central to the pursuit of happiness. If the government interferes in so personal a
choice, then the assertion made in the Declaration of Independence is meaningless. Government should not seek to place restrictions on that choice.

A number of the more conservative churches have been saying that same sex marriages are immoral and the state should ban them. Many of those same churches condoned the enslavement of black people during the eighteen hundreds. They were wrong then and they are wrong now on the issue of same sex marriage. The Catholic church teaches that using contraceptives
is immoral, and in the past, several states actually criminalized the use of contraceptives. These laws were eliminated when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Connecticut ban on contraceptives in the 1970's.

Now, of course, we realize that such moral decisions are purely religious in nature and the state has no business imposing one church's moral teachings on all of society. Whom to marry is a purely personal decision.  The only people who should be involved in making that decision are the
individuals who are considering marriage.

Therefore, I urge you to use your influence within the Senate to defeat AB 1982. Please make sure this offensive legislation never leaves the Senate.

Sincerely,