The 82nd Annual Academy Awards Red Carpet Arrivals

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards took place last night at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The biggest night in Hollywood was a tremendous success for filmmakers and actors alike, but the first thing we saw last night was the fashion–and there is no event bigger than the Oscars to get celebrities to go all out, putting their best (and sadly, sometimes their worst) fashion foot forward.

You Said It: Every American Deserves the Right to Marry

An email was received regarding our post on the recent victory for the LGBT community in California, saying that denying lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgendered people the right to marry was unconstitutional.

In Every American Deserves the Right to Marry, a news article of the Million for Marriage petition put together by the Human Rights Campaign, received some negative feedback that I feel the need to address, especially considering the woman who sent this email did not leave her correct email address in order for me to reply personally and so, our ‘letter to the editor’ section, You Said It was born!

This, in conjunction with our first edition of You Said It, is an open call for letters from you, the readers, to express your positive and negative thoughts on anything that is posted or discussed on Woman Tribune.

Name: Denise
Subject: Protest!

Wow. You just lost me as a subscriber over your article about everyone having the right to be married in America. I can’t be a supporter of gay marriage or support anyone who does. I think we’re missing the bigger picture here. Yeah, it’s great that we have freedom in America but we’re still supposed to abide by God’s laws. He’s probably in heaven shuddering over what a mess this world is making of his intention for marriage. The Bible clearly states that “man” and “woman” should unite. Nothing else.

Denise,

I am very sorry that you feel the need to email me and express your outrage over the recent article on Million For Marriage. I am even more sorry that you are insanely close-minded and are not willing to give every American the basic right to marry the person whom they love and want to spend their lives with.

The aim I have always had for Woman Tribune, as a blog and as a community, is that it appeals to all women and that includes lesbian, bisexual and transgendered women; all of whom exist in America. If your god was so unhappy about this, why would he make such people to begin with?

Marriage, as it exists now, has changed a bit since the times of dowries and marrying a person whom your parents chose for you. Marriage today has a lot of other factors to take into consideration such as your life partner being in a hospital and you not being able to know about their condition or see them because you are not “family.” The same applies for funeral arrangements, tax purposes, health care benefits, and before you go getting your panties in a bunch over these facts–A man and a woman walk into marriage with the same intentions in mind.

Furthermore, I am not sorry in the least to have lost you, or anyone for that matter, as a subscriber. Woman Tribune is intended for all women and all women should benefit from the articles that are posted; however, I for one will never condemn a woman or tell a woman that she is wrong for simply loving and wanting to marry another woman.

Your god is most likely shuddering in whatever heaven you believe exists by the true hypocrisy that is coursing through the veins of his so-called followers; those who are Sunday believers or are religious when it is convenient as well as those who hold up a book that was written and can be closely compared to the telephone game–What once were “facts” passed down again and again and suddenly what was written may not even closely resemble the history. Thank you for your email, for you have just given me the satisfaction a million times over for simply expressing not only my views, but the views of so many other Americans today in posting that article.

Sincerely,
–Holly

Every American Deserves the Right to Marry

America came one step closer to achieving equal rights for all people when California declared that refusing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people the right to marry was unconstitutional. Since this remarkable day in LGBT history, many couples have been married and have shared in the experience of vowing to love and to cherish each other in front of their friends and families and for the first time in California, their marriage will be legal in the eyes of the law.

With every day that we celebrate this victory for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered couples, anti-LGBT have been working to deny benefits to LGBT couples on both state and federal levels. In order to make sure that ignorance and hate doesn’t win this battle over true equality for all Americans, the Human Rights Campaign has set up a petition with the hope of getting over 1 million names from people who believe in marriage equality for everyone.

The petition states:

“I do support the right of every American to marry, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples. I believe that marriage and other civil rights protections are essential to making all families safer and more secure.

By signing this petition, I agree to support efforts to make marriage equality a reality in our country, and to oppose any attempts to discriminate against LGBT couples and individuals.”

With 988,902 signatures so far, HRC needs more people to stand up for marriage equality. Sign the petition here.