News

2004-10-08

Dale Duncan's Letter to President Bush

ATM letter to President Bush from Dale Duncan

Dale Duncan

From: Mr. Dale Duncan Founder Boycott For Equality To: President George Bush October 8, 2004 White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, I am the founder of “Boycott For Equality”, a gay and lesbian civil rights group here in Atlanta.

Today is our one-day national economic “walkout”. Enclosed is a receipt from my local ATM. I, along with thousands and possibly millions of other Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) citizens and their straight allies are withdrawing $80 today from their ATM account today. This amount symbolizes the 17 million LGBT citizens (Forbes.com) who contribute $1.4 Billion per day to the national economy (Witeck-Combs). We are keeping our money in our pockets for the day.

Tomorrow, we will mail the receipts to the political leader of our choice and spend the money at an LGBT friendly business. Many people have also chosen to stay home from work, avoid purchasing anything and avoid cell phone use. I chose to send my ATM receipt to you. I did so because you spurred my partner of 10 years and I into action late last February when you stepped up to the microphone to announce your support for the Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage.

After you did that, we became activists. We had never done anything like this before. We spent countless hours and thousands of dollars of our own money, and we organized a national event to show our economic power in this country. It is the first of many more that we plan to organize to fight against the discrimination that you want written into the Constitution.

We are going to fight against the fact that we can be fired in 36 states just because we are gay. We are going to fight against the fact that heterosexuals can get married at a drive thru window in Las Vegas to a total stranger (just like ordering a Big Mac), yet we cannot get married at all.

As a result, I cannot inherit my partner’s survivor benefits of $1,600 per month if he dies before I do. And you want to keep it that way. I have a question: My I legally stop paying taxes since I don’t get equal benefits? I look forward to hearing from you. Dale Duncan

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