Subject: Profile in Courage : Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake City,
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 11:00:49 EST

On the day that John McCain showed his real homophobic self to right wing 
voters in California by endorsing the antigay Knight Proposition 22 ,``I 
understood the question to be as to whether I would vote to legalize gay 
marriage. I would not and I would vote for Prop 22,'' an open lesbian elected 
Utah State Representative,  Rep. Jackie Biskupski,  took to the floor of the 
State Legislature and spoke directly to the bias of the Mormon Church's and 
Christian Right's antigay and Lesbian campaign to deny the right of lesbian 
and gay families to qualify as prospective parents in adoption procedures. 

An other Lesbian profile in courage ..... Please read and send her your a 
note of support. Her e-mail addres is:  [email-masked]

Note: The Mormon Church has been the biggest single contributor to those 
forces that fought and continue to support antigay legislation in Hawaii, 
Alaska and now in California.

Speech Text 2-23-000
   
 Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake City, delivered this Utah House floor 
speech on first substitute House Bill 103 on Feb. 23, 2000. The bill, which 
passed 49 to 19, would ban adoption or foster care placement of children with 
gay or unmarried couples.

   "We have received much literature that attempts to define who I am. I want 
 to start by speaking to it.

   I can tell you that the lesbian some see is not me. The stereotypes that 
people use to justify their hatred for me are not me. I am not all of those 
negative things you have been taught to believe about me.

   I am not less than human and therefore do not deserve to have my liberties 
taken away from me.
  
 I am a person who gives freely of my time to help others. I love my family 
and friends and they love me. I have hopes and dreams. I laugh and I cry. At 
times I feel that my faith in God is stronger than most.
 
 Please do not judge me, but look into my eyes, my heart and my soul and see 
me.

   This legislative session has been a difficult one for many of us, if not 
all of us, for one reason or another.
  
 Every day we start with a prayer asking for guidance, and we pledge our 
allegiance to this great country we live in. The words "liberty and justice
for all " touch most of us deeply as we or our ancestors have been persecuted 
unjustly and have had our liberties taken away.
  
 As a society we seem to be repeating our mistakes rather than learning from 
them.
   
When we take one point of view and determine it to be the only one that 
matters, we do so at the expense of others and ultimately end up fostering 
bias and hatred. To promote or elevate any one group over another is
disrespectful of all. Our common threads should be what we hold onto when 
faced with circumstances like this.
   
As state legislators we must be very careful about where we encroach on the 
rights of people. This legislation takes away the rights of parents to make 
decisions about their family. It is a dangerous place for us to allow 
government to go.
   
Our actions today should be about protecting the rights of parents and we 
should make certain we are providing the same legal and civil rights for 
everyone. We should also ensure that we are providing due process for all. 
Clearly, the language in first substitute HB103 does none of these.
   
This is not a personal attack, but rather a request that you look at this 
piece of legislation thoroughly so you can see how it allows government to 
take away rights from everyone. The reason you decide to vote for or against 
this bill is very important.
   Don't misunderstand what you are voting about. You can vote to protect the 
rights and freedom of the people or you can vote to allow government to take
them away.
   
This piece of legislation lacks one obvious element, which is one of respect 
for people as individuals. Putting people into categories in order to deem 
them to be unfit parents without personally knowing who you are impacting, 
reminds me of past acts of discrimination.
   
This is truly reminiscent of the days when the Jews, the African Americans 
and even the Mormons were categorized and persecuted unjustly.
  
Every time we have justified singling out a particular group and have chosen 
to take away their rights, for reasons that seem OK at the time, later 
generations have had to look back in horror and undo the wrong that has been 
done. Every time!
   
We do not have to go back down this road. We can choose to look at how 
complex this is rather than see it in terms of black and white.
   
May God grant us the ability to change our world so that we can move past our 
actions of inhumanity to men, women and children and onto a civilization
of freedom and justice.

Robert F. Kennedy once said: 'We must recognize the full human equality of 
all of our people -- before God, before the law, and in the councils of 
government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, 
although it is; not because the laws of God command it, although they do; not 
because the people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single 
and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do.'
   
I strongly urge you to vote against this piece of legislation.
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