Letter to the Editor

The Breeze neglects to mention gays' wedding plans

Dear Editor:

When my fiancé and I first opened The Breeze to the focus section of the Feb. 5 issue, we were initially excited to see an article about students planning their weddings while still in school.

We easily could relate to this, because we currently are planning our 2005 wedding as well. However, we soon were dismayed by the article because we quickly realized that all the couples mentioned in the article were heterosexual.

You see, we are a lesbian couple planning our marriage. It would have been nice to see The Breeze represent some diversity by including gay and lesbian couples getting ready to make that big pledge to each other as well.

Gay and lesbian couples have just as devoted relationships as heterosexual couples, and many seek to publicly show their love and commitment to each other in civil commitment and marriage ceremonies.

Although technically we only can be legally married in one state — and that isn't even finalized — the public display of devotion to friends and family is very important to many gay and lesbian couples for approval, recognition and support.

Our society is so heterosexist that when we hear marriage and weddings many people don't even consider gay and lesbian couples — this includes wedding planning services.

While much of the planning of a commitment or marriage ceremony for a gay or lesbian couple is much the same as a heterosexual couple, there are many unique challenges that gay and lesbian couples face.

When we first went to a bridal show, we had to ask if each service provider still would offer services to same-sex couples before assuming they were an option.

We also can rule out holding our ceremony in a large majority of churches or places of holy worship. Many of you planning your wedding can sympathize with the trouble of finding a cake topper that accurately portrays both you and your fiancé; however, finding an interracial same-sex cake topper doesn't even compare.

We also have the unique challenge of negotiating our official commitment after the ceremony. We must decide whether we want to fight our places of employment if our spouse isn't recognized as eligible for domestic benefits afforded to heterosexual married couples.

We have to draw up special documents allowing our partners rights to visit us in the hospital, access to our property if we die, the right to make decisions for us if we fall ill, and we don't have the option for family medical leave benefits.

My fiancé and I gave ourselves longer than most couples do in order to plan our wedding because we were aware of the challenges we were going to have to tackle.

Finally, through all this, we also are still in college and finishing our careers here at JMU. However, we still are keeping on track and negotiating what comes first in our lives during this busy and hectic time.

It would have been comforting to know that our school newspaper reflected the ideas and lives of a variety of students at the school including the incredible Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community here. We deserve acknowledgement while going through all the same processes as heterosexual couples to cement our relationships as legitimate in the eyes of our peers and at large in society.

Just as The Breeze article reminded us all at the end, the main point behind all this planning is the love shared between two people who wish to spend the rest of their lives together.

Amylee Ray
senior, Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Letter from the Editor

The Breeze neglects to mention gays' wedding plans

Dear readers:

Our Feb. 5 issue included a focus story titled, “Unveiled: Engaged students balance planning perfect day with already busy schedules.” Some readers criticized the writer for only using heterosexual couples as sources in the story.

On a campus of about 16,000 students, there are a number of students with different sexual preferences. Organizations such as Harmony — which supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, have done a good job spreading awareness and educating in order to bring about social change.

Neither the writer nor The Breeze was excluding same-sex marriages or couples. In the Jan. 15 issue, an advertisement appeared on page 15 asking students who were planning their weddings while still in school to respond by e-mailing the style editors.

Of the many responses, all were from heterosexual couples. In addition, 80 percent of the responses that were received then were used in the story.

All sources came from the e-mail responses to the ad.

I hope this clarifies that The Breeze did not intend to exclude any couple from the story, whether they are heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.

Drew Wilson
editor in chief

Letter to the Editor

Judge Roy Moore allows personal bias to taint speech

Dear Editor,

As a believer raised and schooled in the Christian faith, I walked away from Judge Roy Moore's speech with mixed feelings. First and foremost, Moore made an excellent argument for the protection of religious beliefs under the Constitution.

In fact, about 85 percent of the speech included brilliant quotes from Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and a video excerpt of Allen Keys, which clearly spoke of a government obligated to protect all forms of religious expression.

Near the end, however, Moore — perhaps unknowingly — expressed his personal bias and bigotry when he implied that the God he was defining was his view of the Christian God. He even went as far as to say that in a court of law we must swear on a Bible, not a Koran — drawing applause from the crowd.

At that point, I thought of the Christ I was taught to emulate, who, although raised in the Jewish faith, offered comfort to a Samaritan woman and healing to the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman, both natural enemies of the Hebrews.

If we are to exist as one nation under God, we must obey the principles of acceptance and tolerance, or become no better than Henry VIII, or the Taliban.

Frank Viscomi
JMU Sr. Mechanical Engineer