Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

You know, its been awhile since I posted a letter to the editor – that’s partially due to the major fail on the part of the search engines for the Trib and the Post-Gazette. 

Brandon Mitchell of Greenfield shares his optimism in response to President Obama’s affirmation of marriage equality.

I cannot express the feelings of fulfillment that I was granted when President Barack Obama announced his view for same-sex marriage (“Officials Differ on Pa. Effect of Obama Gay Marriage Endorsement,” May 10). It is an extreme jump forward as he is the first president in the history of our nation to openly endorse same-sex marriage.

This is a huge accomplishment for the LGBT community, which I am a part of. I would love for nothing more than to one day be able to marry and watch my fellow LGBT members recognized with their significant others as “married.” Even the statistics in this article prove that we are moving toward this. For example, in 2009, 50 percent of people surveyed were for same-sex marriage.

The goal in the end, however, is to get noticed not just in states but on the federal level for marriage equality. As the Human Rights Campaign states in an article titled “An Overview of Federal Rights and Protections Granted to Married Couples,” “there are 1,138 benefits, rights and protections provided on the basis of marital status in federal law.” This article, at www.hrc.org, goes in-depth about everything you get through a marital status, which is still defined as one man and one woman.

This means even if each state were to pass the acceptance of same-sex marriage, the true fight is for federal status. So hopefully in years to come, with youth and government, there will be no more discrimination.

I love when people take time to populate the letters to the editor page even if they are relegated to the print edition.  Brandon did his homework to demonstrate that his sentiment is shared by many, many if not most Americans. He also wisely has faith in the inevitable march of time and tolerance.