Homophobic city councilmen gets called out at meeting.

Homophobic city councilmen gets called out at meeting.

Tonight I addressed the Woodland City Council to ask for an acknowledgement of the intrinsic equality of all people and express my outrage at the actions of a member of that council. The council is supposed to speak for all residents, but one of them, Dr. William Marble, has decided which group he does not speak for. Even as a city councilmen, in his own name (and others), donated money to support prop 8. Herein lays the conflict of interest. This is not supporting a presidential candidate or a bullet train; this is actively working to demote a subset of your constituents to a legally inferior status. It doesn't make me angry that this guy hates the gays. It makes me angry that he is supposed to represent all of us and yet he shamelessly, in the full light of public scrutiny, works to hurt members of our city's populous. It seemed to me to fall on deaf ears but I hope at least I planted a seed in the minds of a few people there that intolerance among our elected members of government, at any level, is NOT OK.
If you too are bothered by this, then do no patronize William Marble DDS.
Below is the text of my address.


My name is Brad Townsley.
I am a PhD student at UCDavis and I represent only myself.
I am a life long resident of Woodland and a second-class citizen.
I am here to ask that our city follow many others and join the suit against proposition 8, the initiative robbing hundreds of thousands of their legal rights. I am also here to express my profound shock and disappointment that a member of the city council of Woodland has acted against the well being of residents of this city. The council members should act in the best interest of all of the many diverse and overlapping groups that make up our community, including its minorities. Councilmen Bill Marble has acted to hurt a specific minority group of our city’s population, in donating a substantial sum of money to support the ballot initiative which codified discrimination against a selected minority group into our states constitution.

Freedom to hold an opinion, even one which is offensive or prejudiced, is one of our most cherished and fundamental rights. This however was a tangible and calculated act, which was intended to do harm to members of our community. This action clearly communicates the sentiment by Councilmen Marble to many of us that, “I do not represent you because you are a lesser being, and undeserving the basic rights that I myself take for granted”.

Well, I do not view myself as a lesser being and I do not see others as needing protection from my civil equality. The foes of civil rights for gay and lesbian Californians espouse a position which veils itself in the flimsiest of sophistries. The justifications rest on false logic and words like choice and tradition. No cognitive scientist or neurobiologist will endorse “choice” as a hypothesis for homosexuality. And an argument resting on “tradition” is patently offensive. Can discrimination be justified solely by the fact that it already exists? Can its prior existence be taken as evidence of its rightness? “It is because it’s right, and it’s right because it is.” This is the same kind of circular illogic that relegated millions to slavery and apartheid. Or there’s the ever present reference to morality, which only means precisely whatever the person invoking it, wants it to mean.

I reject the bizarre rational that a slim majority has decided on the issue of denying equal rights to others. This cuts at the very heart of our form of governance. The purpose of a constitution and for a representative republic is, per the wisdom of our founders, to protect the rights of the minority against the whim of the majority. In 1948 California became the first state to strike down the anti-miscegenation laws barring interracial marriages, a freedom opposed by 9 in 10 Americans at the time. How many in 2008 would hold that the “whim” of the people then should have superseded this act of “judicial activism”. How many people now would not have their relationships recognized because their ethnicities differ. Hearts may not be changed, but minds can. Let’s do what we KNOW is right, however we happen FEEL.

I ask this council to support civil equality for all Woodlanders and Californians, and let it be known that disdainment against the minority is not a sentiment endorsed by this city. Join with other cities in denouncing inequality.

Thank you.



Pro proposition 8 contributions

Contributor name William Marble
Occupation Dentist
Employer WILLIAM L. MARBLE DDS INC.
City Woodland
State or country CA
ZIP 95695
Position Support
Amount $250.00
Payment type Monetary
Transaction date 8/1/2008
Committee name PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM - YES ON 8, A PROJECT OF CALIFORNIA RENEWAL

Contributor name William Marble
Occupation Dentist
Employer WILLIAM L. MARBLE DDS INC.
City Woodland
State or country CA
ZIP 95695
Position Support
Amount $250.00
Payment type Monetary
Transaction date 8/26/2008
Committee name PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM - YES ON 8, A PROJECT OF CALIFORNIA RENEWAL

Contributor name Sandra Marble
Occupation Receptionist
Employer WILLIAM L. MARBLE, DDS INC.
City Woodland
State or country CA
ZIP 95695
Position Support
Amount $4,500.00
Payment type Monetary
Transaction date 9/7/2008
Committee name PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM - YES ON 8, A PROJECT OF CALIFORNIA RENEWAL