Still waiting for the change I voted for
I love this letter to the editor:
To the Editor:
Re 40 Years Later, Still Second-Class Americans, by Frank Rich (column, June 28):
As a 19-year-old gay American who cast my first ballot last year for Barack Obama, I read Mr. Rich’s column with great interest. I voted for Mr. Obama because I hoped that he would act, in his own words, as a “fierce advocate” for gay Americans. So far, he has failed to live up to that promise.
Under current American law, I am not allowed to serve openly in the military; I am not allowed to marry in most states; and I cannot receive many health, Social Security and tax benefits available to most Americans.
So far, I’m still waiting for the change I voted for. And gay Americans will keep waiting - and keep struggling - until we are recognized fully as citizens, afforded the rights guaranteed to us by the Constitution.
Peter W. Fulham
Edgartown, Mass., June 28, 2009
To the Editor:
Re 40 Years Later, Still Second-Class Americans, by Frank Rich (column, June 28):
As a 19-year-old gay American who cast my first ballot last year for Barack Obama, I read Mr. Rich’s column with great interest. I voted for Mr. Obama because I hoped that he would act, in his own words, as a “fierce advocate” for gay Americans. So far, he has failed to live up to that promise.
Under current American law, I am not allowed to serve openly in the military; I am not allowed to marry in most states; and I cannot receive many health, Social Security and tax benefits available to most Americans.
So far, I’m still waiting for the change I voted for. And gay Americans will keep waiting - and keep struggling - until we are recognized fully as citizens, afforded the rights guaranteed to us by the Constitution.
Peter W. Fulham
Edgartown, Mass., June 28, 2009