The State of Florida should vote No on the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment in November.

There are three inalienable rights that binds America together: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And we the people have the duty to reject and condemn any law or policy that seeks to deny any American these essential rights. The Marriage Amendment or amendment 2 to the Florida constitution is a deceitful effort by conservative religious groups in the state of Florida to deny brilliant, artistic, caring, innovative, and friendly people the right to seek their happiness by denying them the most sacred form of expressing love to one another. I'm talking of course of these groups trying to deny homosexuals the right to marry in the state of Florida. Lets first start off by proving the advantages the LGBT community brings to a state. Michelle Garcia of the Washington Post reports that "the city council and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have increased police patrols, despite statistics showing that the area has one of the city's lowest crime rates." The area she is referring to is the Christopher Street part of the West Village in New York City. This area is not only a very large and almost all gay neighborhood, but also where the infamous Stonewall Riots that catapulted the Gay rights movement took place. Not only does the gay community consistently have lower crime rates but it also has a more culturally diverse and artistic culture. A glance at many of broadway male actors profiles will reveal a huge percentage of actors are gay and well represented in race, national origin, and age. Before I explain why we should not vote on this proposal, I will reveal the areas of Florida that will be particularly hurt and outraged by this amendment. In South Florida, we have in the city of Miami the gay area of South Beach. In the keys, Key West has a very large percentage of GLBT citizens. In Fort Lauderdale, there is Wilton Manors, parts of downtown Ft. Lauderdale, and Davie. And in Central Florida, Tampa, Orlando, and other areas will particularly be hurt. These people are tax paying citizens who wish to be able to one day say those two special words to the person they love, I Do. Moving on to the reasons why you should reject this amendment. Nadine Smith, Co-Chair of Fairness for All Families states, "it takes away legal protections from unmarried couples; gay or straight. It prevents civil unions, comprehensive domestic partnerships and removes existing legal benefits. There are about 360,000 unmarried couples in the state according to the U.S. Census Bureau, of which there are roughly 40,000 gay and lesbian couples." This shows that voting for this amendment will harm a significant group of Floridians that could otherwise by left unharmed by voting no. If you also look at what happened in Michigan people had said that they wouldn't go after domestic partnership and civil union benefits once an amendment very similar to this one passed. They immediately after the election starting removed health, medical, legal, and financial benefits. Smith also goes on to state, "this amendment is not taking away gay marriage, because the legal statues already do that. But what it does do is make it alot harder for us to care for the ones that we love. When Michigan took away domestic partnerships it didn't make married relationships any better, but what it did do is remove the benefits that gay couples had and made it alot harder for them to care for their families and the ones that they love." To protect the integrity of the Florida constitution and to reconfirm our commitment to ALL of our citizens regardless of their race ,color ,sex , national origin , and sexual orientation. I urge you all to vote NO on the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment.