Subject: oppose "Marriage Protection" amendment to DC appropriations bill
To: "The American Civil Liberties Union" <belmonte@mit.edu>
From: "The American Civil Liberties Union" <belmonte@MIT.EDU>
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 08:41:58 -0400 (EDT)

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Representative Capuano
Message text follows:

Matthew Belmonte
[address]


July 14, 2004

[recipient address was inserted here]


 [recipient name was inserted here],

I urge you to vote against any amendment to the D.C. 
appropriations bill that would deny D.C. residents the right to decide the 
marriage issue themselves, and reject the so-called "Marriage Protection 
Act" and any other attempts for Congress to discriminate by meddling in 
marriage decisions made by states.

The Marriage Protection Act would attempt to limit the role of the 
judiciary in interpreting constitutional rights as they pertain to 
homosexual marriage.

Congress should not use its control over the District of Columbia to 
impose restrictions that no state has to bear.  Marriage equality in the 
District of Columbia should be an issue to be settled amongst the 600,000 
residents of the District of Columbia, and not dictated by the federal 
government.

Once again, I urge you to vote against any amendment to the DC 
appropriations bill that would deny DC residents the right to decide the 
marriage issue themselves, and also to reject the so-called `Marriage 
Protection Act' (HR 3313) and any other attempts for Congress to 
institutionalise unfair sex discrimination by meddling in states' marriage 
decisions.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this matter.

Sincerely,


Matthew Belmonte