Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 07:11:49 -0500

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

By now you know Maine voted yesterday to eliminate the law that had given our family only last May the same legal rights and protections marriage automatically confers on other couples and their children.

It was difficult news for all of us to wake to yesterday morning, particularly for the children. But we were able to get through the day, and we'll get through today, tomorrow, and the next day, thanks to you. You stood with us to win the fight in SoBo, and that means the world to Anna, our kids, and me. We may have lost the statewide fight, but our hometown decisively rejected Proposition 1, 56% to 44%, a margin of 12 percentage points. Our gratitude to you for helping secure a local victory buoys us against any despair we might otherwise feel about the state vote.

Anna reminded me this morning of an Eleanor Roosevelt quote that is so befitting today:

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home--so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home,we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.

Tuesday's vote was disappointing, but it has also reminded us how much we have to be proud of and grateful for in South Berwick. Thank you for all you do to make our town such a safe, loving place for all families. Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?

With deepest gratitude,

Vicki Boyd and family

Thank You for Saving our Marriage

Mon, 2 Nov 2009 21:11:27 -0500

An open letter to our friends and neighbors in the greater Maine seacoast.

I'm writing to thank you for the warmth and support you've provided my children, my partner Anna , and me all the years our family has lived in seacoast Maine. We love our town, our schools, and the greater seacoast community, because so many of you, in your own way, have welcomed our family into your lives and helped us make a home here. You've lovingly coached or taught our kids; generously invited them to your children's birthday parties; cheered with us in the basketball and baseball stands, on the t-ball field, and in the gym at school concerts, dance recitals, and kindergarten graduations; roamed the school halls with us at open houses; and browsed the shelves alongside us at school book fairs.

It would be impossible to express the depth of gratitude we feel toward each of you, specifically, and toward the greater community, in general, which your everyday acts of kindness and generosity have helped to create.

Now, my family faces a critical moment, and I'm asking, for the first time, for the kind of support you've always given our family so freely in the past.

November 3, 2009, Maine voters will decide whether to reject the law the Maine state legislature passed by a wide margin last May that permits Anna and me to legally marry. The law is critical to my family because the right to marry guarantees our two children, ages 6 and 10, the rights and protections marriage grants automatically to a married couple's children. Over 400 rights and protections exist for the children of married couples, but the critical ones for our family include:

The right to health insurance benefits that aren't taxed as additional income (Many people are unaware that health insurance provided via domestic partner benefits are subject to income tax.);
The right for either Anna or me to make critical decisions on our children's behalf in medical emergencies without the worry of whether hospital or other medical professionals will honor those decisions;
Our children's right to inherit property upon Anna's death without bearing the burden of heavy inheritance taxes;
Our children's right to survivor protections (pension and retirement income, accidental death and disability benefits) should Anna die or suffer disabilities that prevent her from returning to work.

Anna and I have been in a loving, monogamous relationship for 20 years. We bought our first home together nearly 12 years ago, adopted our son, now a 5th-grader, in 1999, and or daughter, now a 1st-grader, in 2003. we attend church at St. John's Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, NH, where Anna is a member of the vestry, I'm on the altar guild, and our children are active in the Sunday School program. Our lives and our children's lives look so much like yours. But unfortunately, if the right to marry is taken away from Anna and me, our children will lose the status and protections their friends have whose parents are free to marry.

Please help us keep the same rights and protections for our children that other married couples' children can take for granted. Vote no on Proposition 1 on Tuesday and encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Many, many thanks for your love, respect, and support all these years

Vicki

Vicki Boyd's Open Salon Blog

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?

Thank You for Saving our Marriage