To the Editor:
I am writing to encourage Senators Todd Young and Mike Braun to support for the Respect of Marriage Act and request that they in turn lend their support to ensure the passage of the bill in the Senate. While I am not currently their constituent, as my and my husband’s careers have led us to leave our home in Indiana, my family and my heart still reside in the Hoosier state.
Like our senators, I have dedicated part of my life to representing Hoosiers as a public servant. From 2017 to 2021, I represented the people of Johnson County as a county councilman. That period in politics, of which I am sure the senators are keenly aware, magnified the ideological differences that existed in our counties, states and nation to the fever pitch we now find ourselves. Despite this nearly irreparable divide, I am reminded of an interaction that I had with a voter when I first started campaigning.
In short, the voter asked me a single question, the answer to which would decide his vote. That question was ‘How will you vote when an issue comes before you that pits your beliefs against your constituents?’ My answer remains as it was at that time. Namely, as a representative of the people of Johnson County, I would endeavor to put their voice above my personal ideology. I earned that man’s vote that day with that answer and I believe that the senators can also win support from voters with this same philosophy as public servants.
No matter their personal beliefs regarding the Respect of Marriage Act or the people of the LGBTQ+ community, I and many of their constituents support this measure to protect the rights of same-sex attracted couples, interracial couples and simply people in loving relationships. I ask that they listen to those people, put aside their personal ideology and be the elected voice of the people that they are by supporting this measure coming before the Senate. I thank them for their service as Senators and to the people of the great State of Indiana.
Joshua (Turner) Reyes
Fayetteville, Georgia
