Subject: IWG San Jose Mercury Letter Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 23:33:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Purdom The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 2 congregations, 5 religious organizations and 35 clergy from 12 faiths and denominations. If you are in the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in other areas. Visit the web page at http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/ or http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/religion/orgs/iwg/ August 13, 1996 San Jose Mercury News 750 Ridder Park Drive San Jose, CA 95190 Dear Editors: Your newspaper recently published an advertisement paid for by a group of people claiming that the overwhelming majority of Christians opposes same-sex marriage and Domestic Partnership registration. The United States Constitution requires the government to treat all religions equally regardless of their numbers, and to give all citizens equal protection under the law. And yet the signers of this advertisement would limit government recognition of religious marriages to those involving opposite-sex couples, and would deny sexual minorities access to the legal protections which marriage affords. In short, they are asking the government to reinforce their theology and definition of marriage. In light of this advertisement, we were very glad to read your editorial supporting domestic partnership and same-sex marriage. Legal recognition of the marriages of same-sex couples is not social engineering, it is a reasonable and long-overdue application of the Constitution. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators