Senator Basnight,

Thank you for your reply. I am thrilled that you feel so strongly about defending the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. Thank you for such a clear, public acknowledgement!

I appreciate the details of your position, but one opinion out of fifty Senators does not make a majority. I would like my own State Senator to be able to discuss this subject on the floor in an open debate about it's merits and then vote on it! If this were some obscure topic with little to no popular support, I would understand your position in not allowing it to be debated on the floor of the Senate, but it isn't.

• As you know, polls taken statewide show very strong public support for a marriage amendment.
• People by the thousands were willing to drive to Raleigh from all over the state to support this amendment at last Tuesday's rally. A crowd that large supporting any issue has not been seen in Raleigh for years, if ever.
• 13 of the 15 states in the southeast have passed a marriage amendment and the 14th, Florida, is likely to do so next year. These amendments have been passed by an incredible average of 75%.

I am simply asking that you allow our form of government to work. I believe it is wrong for you or any other legislative leader, of either party, to use their power to short-circuit a fair discussion and vote on a matter that is of great importance to millions of fellow North Carolinian voters. The people's business must be allowed to go forward. The people's voices, and those of their elected representatives, must never be silenced.

Please allow this bill to the floor for discussion and vote. Please don't short-circuit our representative form of government.

Respectfully,
(your name here)