[Equal Marriage] Email sent to MassEquality: A "Hello" from the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party

[Colby E.Peterson]

I sent the following email to MassEquality.org very hastily because one 
of their partners, the Freedom to Marry Coaltion endorsed Deval 
Patrick. The GRP must no longer remain silent on this, and I took the 
initiative to send this. The letter appears below:

- Colby

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Colby E. Peterson
Communications Director
Green-Rainbow Party
saphron at verizon.net
cell: 978.895.0650
home: 978.840.1588
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Please forward this message to the appropriate people. Thank you.

Greetings friends,

My name is Colby Peterson, and I am the Communications Director of the 
Green-Rainbow Party. The Green-Rainbow Party is the Massachusetts state 
affiliate of the Green Party of the United States, and like our Green 
comrades from around the country, we here in our unique Commonwealth 
are fighting to make and now keep marriage equal for all couples. The 
reason I am contacting you is because I want to tell you about what the 
Green-Rainbow Party is doing to help ensure equal marriage here in 
Massachusetts, and I want to extend our resources to your aid. I am 
contacting you at this very moment because we believe that the Freedom 
to Marry Coalition, while making a good choice in their endorsement of 
Deval Patrick for Governor, was a hasty choice because not all 
political parties had made their candidate's platforms (or even their 
candidates) known. In an effort to offer more choices in the debate and 
to allow for MassEquality to make a more informed decision, I want to 
introduce you to our efforts. I believe that you will be especially 
impressed by our stance on this pivotal human rights issue.

I believe it to be true that while many candidates from either the 
Democrats and Republicans may be pro-equal marriage, the Green-Rainbow 
Party (and ALL Green Parties) has ALWAYS been pro-equal marriage and 
always will. The Democrats (as a party) failed to make a unified 
statement in support of this issue and the Republicans are under the 
control of the religious-right. These parties will not offer the clear 
cut message that the Green-Rainbow Party has and will continue to 
deliver: ALL of our political candidates must support equal marriages 
rights, otherwise they are not in alignment with our values. The 
Green-Rainbow Party has always and always will be in favor of equal 
marriage rights. No other political party can say that. And because 
Green parties refuse corporate contributions of any kind, unlike the 
major two parties, our stance will never change as political and 
economic fads come and go.

At the October 15th Green-Rainbow Party State Committee meeting in 
Springfield, I was pleased to introduce a proposal with my colleague 
and friend Owen Broadhurst that put into action the Green-Rainbow 
Party's stance on what I believe history books will consider to be one 
of the most important civil rights battles in the United States. The 
proposal first and foremost ensures that we continue to support 
initiatives and candidates that are on the side of marriage equality. 
It is now impossible for any candidate to receive the Green-Rainbow 
Party's nomination unless they support equal marriage. Secondly, it 
would create a task force to investigate ways the GRP could support 
efforts to maintain, particularly here in Massachusetts, the equal 
status of marriage. I am pleased to report that the proposal passed 
with full consensus from the decision-making body. The proposal now 
mandates for the new Equal Marriage Rights Task Force to protect the 
SJC's decision by maintaining the current status of marriage in the 
commonwealth by working with non-partisan groups- this is where our 
relationship comes in.

The Green-Rainbow Party and its candidates will be working for and 
speaking out for equal marriage this entire electoral season and 
beyond. On March 4th, the Green-Rainbow Party will be having its 2006 
Nominating Convention in Worcester, where we will choose whether to run 
a slate of statewide candidates and who those candidates will be (e.g. 
governor, lt. governor, etc.). I have already had the pleasure of 
working on one of those candidates' campaigns myself- but because of 
our differing nomination structure (i.e. we will not have a primary 
ballot like the Democrats), our candidates have not revealed themselves 
to the media.

What we ask now, in light of our past, ongoing, and future efforts is 
your patient and prudent support if you decide to endorse candidates. 
We will be fielding multiple local state representative candidates this 
year as well, and we urge you to look into our candidate's platforms, 
which must support equal marriage. We can guarantee that none of our 
candidates will ever vote in favor of restricting civil rights, or 
taking away civil liberties.

If you wish to talk more with us, I can be reached through the contact 
information listed below. I am available to talk any time, so please do 
not hesitate to call or email.

Yours in the struggle,
    Colby E. Peterson

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Colby E. Peterson
Communications Director
Green-Rainbow Party
saphron at verizon.net
cell: 978.895.0650
home: 978.840.1588
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