From: mjname@mail.nycnet.com (MJ Name)
Subject: Still Fighting In Ithica, NY
Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 19:46:01 -0400


Are the gay and lesbian political groups killing the gay and lesbian community?  Do they violate our individual rights? 

Phillip and Toshav Storrs say, "Yes."  Their story is a common one; they were buying a house in Ithaca and wanted to get married. The problem was Phillip and Toshav are both men. So they met with their mayor, and to their surprise, he actually wanted to help them obtain a marriage license.  Then they made the mistake of announcing this wonderful event to the Gay and Lesbian organizations, Empire State Pride Agenda and Lambda Legal Defense & Educational Fund. Both organizations immediately petitioned the mayor not to issue the license. The reasoning was that this would surely be challenged in a court of law, starting an event that ESPA & LLDEF did not want to be bothered with. With one action, ESPA and LLDEF blocked Phillip and Toshav's marriage license, their right to the pursuit of happiness, and the right to due process if a court case were to materialize. 

Only two years later, and this event has already affected the next generation and how they will integrate into the social structure of America.  I recently interviewed a young man recovering from a suicide attempt. I asked for his thoughts concerning the Storrs situation in Ithaca, NY. Jeff just looked at the ground, shuffled his feet uncomfortably and uttered the words, "queers, we do this stuff to ourselves." 

The problem reaches beyond the gay and lesbian community. Can America afford to set this precedence? The ongoing denial of basic legal rights erodes today's youth self esteem and sense of worth which translates into lower productivity and loss of tax dollars for America overall.  

America loses money, our youth continue to suffer from self-esteem problems, the Storrs still can't get married, but the LLDEF and ESPA just keep getting better funded. Phillip and Toshav Storrs are fighting back with education and outreach.  They have launched a website, http://www.nycnet.com/~name/storrs to help get information about their situation in the hands of the people.  There are so many young people like Jeff that need to know about this case. When discussing the issue of same gender marriage we are talking about equal rights and empowering people to pursue their happiness and set up institutions called families. They deserve the full protection of the law. Regardless of our thoughts, feelings, or beliefs about homosexuality--injustice to one is injustice to all.

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Contact:  Matthew James Name
More information can be found at
http://www.nycnet.com/~name/storrs
Storrs@juno.com