February
13 ,
2004
MHC
Faculty Opposes Protection of Marriage Amendment
On February 5, the Mount Holyoke faculty
sent the following letter to state leaders regarding a proposed
amendment to the state constitution that would bar same-sex marriage:
Dear Governor Romney, Speaker Finneran, and Senate President
Travaglini:
The statement that follows represents a sense of the meeting of the Mount Holyoke
College Faculty on February 4, 2004. This resolution passed by a secret ballot
vote of 86 in favor, 4 against and 3 abstaining.
We are writing to add our voices to the many other citizens of Massachusetts
who oppose H. 3190, the so-called “Protection of Marriage Amendment.”
This proposed constitutional amendment, and others like it, are not designed
to protect marriages but are instead intended to undermine the rights of same-sex
couples and their families in Massachusetts. Our state constitution guarantees
liberty and equality for all its citizens, specifically barring the creation
of a subpopulation of second-class citizens. The proponents of this amendment
seek to limit the rights of a group of individuals based on their sexual preference,
a proposition that amounts to codified discrimination. Passage of this constitutional
amendment will in no way “promote the stability and welfare of society
and the best interests of children” as stated in the proposed amendment.
Amending the constitution of our commonwealth is a serious matter and should
not be undertaken lightly. One of the purposes of constitutions is to protect
the rights of citizens from bias, prejudice, and favoritism, and to guarantee
that the government treats each of its citizens equally. Our state constitution
was specifically written in such a way as to prevent citizens and politicians
from exercising prejudices that deny to some the civil guarantees offered to
others. The act of amending our constitution to specifically single out a group
of people in order to deny them the same rights and protections as other citizens
is worse than ill-considered: it undermines the moral basis of constitutional
democracy itself.
We believe that all people are morally equal, and that it would be deeply wrong
to amend the state constitution so that gays and lesbians are relegated to second-class
citizenship, awarding them a fraction of the basic civil protections afforded
to others. Please do not deface our state constitution with this ill-considered
and discriminatory amendment. he
un
he
counter is
672
|
