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Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 23:10:44 -0400 (EDT)
To: improvetheworld &AElig umich.edu
cc: Kaushal Gupta <kg1974 &AElig aol.com>
From: Daniel Reeves <dreeves &AElig umich.edu>
Subject: speech about gay rights, and civil rights in general
Status: O

Below is the text of an award-winning speech by my friend Kaushal.

Civil Rights, Part 2

by Kaushal Gupta

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and
he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with
his arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that
he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."

Mister Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters and welcome guests, those are the
words that the judge told Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter in 1959.
Their crime?  Being married.  Their punishment?  Banishment from the state
of Virginia.  Before that decision was overturned 8 years later, another
couple, Curtis Woolbright and his lover, Karen, fled from Texas to
California.  They did this because California's Supreme Court had, in a
very controversial decision, declared anti-miscegenation statutes to be
unconstitutional.

We hail the California decision as a victory for civil rights, as we
should.  But the progression of civil rights, it seems, is not without
irony.  You see, Curtis and Karen Woolbright now have an adult son, Curtis
Woolbright, Jr.  And they have to struggle for their son's right to marry
today, just as they did for their own marriage decades ago.  Not because
their son is in love with someone of a different race, but of the same
sex.

Why struggle?  Why do people get married anyway, when the divorce rate is
so high?  There are lots and lots of reasons.  Spousal privilege, custody
rights, property division, protection against domestic violence, hospital
visitation rights, family leave benefits, joint tax filing, inheritance
rights, Social Security benefits, veterans' benefits, health insurance,
pensions.  Did you know that according to the U.S. General Accounting
Office, there are actually 1,049 Federal benefits you get just by being
married?  And, depending on where you live, you get all these benefits for
$50 or less, the cost of the marriage license.

But most couples get married without even knowing about those 1,049
benefits.  They get married simply because they want to be married.  It is
a dream people have pursued and achieved for thousands of years.  It is
the reason Curtis and Karen Woolbright fled to a different state.  It is
an experience that they want their son to have in life.  And earlier this
year, they won their victory in court.  Not only that: California's
Supreme Court, in another very controversial decision, declared anti
same-sex marriage laws to be unconstitutional.

I see all this not as a radical change in our society, but as a natural
continuation of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.  Do you disagree?
Let me tell you about another man named Bayard Rustin.  He was a civil
rights activist who not only helped to win equality in the South, but came
to the aid of Japanese Americans who were imprisoned during World War II.
He also protested on behalf of the peoples of South Africa and India who
were choking under British rule.  In fact, it was he who counseled Martin
Luther King, Jr. on nonviolent civil disobedience.  Without his influence,
the March on Washington may never have happened.  If you've never heard
the name Bayard Rustin before, do not be surprised.  Even the NAACP would
not allow a gay man such as himself to receive any credit for his
contributions, much to King's own regret.  As I said, the progression of
civil rights is not without irony.

I will end this by acknowledging that many are opposed to same sex
marriage due to deeply held spiritual convictions.  But many same sex
couples are also spiritual people, and want to be married in a church, by
their pastor, with their friends, families, and God as witnesses.  Whose
interpretation of faith is correct?  Is that a question we want our
government to answer, again?

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and
he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with
his arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that
he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."


-- 
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves  - -  google://"Daniel Reeves"