V's Version

Welcome and Congratulations President Obama and Vice President Biden. Along with the majority of Americans, I am relieved and proud and grateful that you are on your way to Washington.

I am one of the only known survivors of a rare skin-blistering disease with underlying cancer so I know a little bit about over-coming adversity and how it inspires people and what pressure it is to be that inspiration. I also know what it is like to wage a massive financial campaign (as one of my medicines - gamma globulin - is $10,000 a day.)

I was telling my father (a life-long seaman currently serving on the USNS Laramie) about how we all campaigned here at home. My wife and son and I in California making calls in Colorado and New Mexico, my cousin in Chicago, an aunt who drove from Maine to Pennsylvania and my cousins in Atlanta. They were little brown boys going door to door to register people to vote with their mother. The youngest one didn't always get it right and said, "Have you registered for Obama?"

That little cousin's grandfather (my uncle Billy) was the Best Man at John & Cindy McCain's wedding and I am betting that maybe even he voted for you - being a progressive Republican.

We all share in your - our - victory.

You have such a road ahead of you and we promise to help in what ever ways we can to make this a better country. We see the big picture and what is at stake. We know that there must be priorities. So when I tell you the following vision, I realize that it is only part of the whole picture.

My wife, Dani and I want the following agenda to become a reality in our lifetimes. And if not in ours, then in our son's. We are urging you to do what ever you can possibly do to help us in this effort. Please remember the words of Abraham Lincoln:

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."

And, to paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by those who perpetrate it but the silence over that by the people who don't."

You may count on me to be part of your agenda for our country and it is with great sincerity and hope that I ask you to be a part of ours.

With the greatest admiration and gratitude for your service,

V Kingsley and Danielle Hope

The Real Gay Agenda:

1. Freedom from discrimination in housing and employment in all 50 states.

2. The right to visit our partners in the hospital and to take family leave.

3. The right of gay youth to grow up free from intimidation, bullying and violence.

4. The right to serve openly and proudly in the United States military.

5. The right to obtain health care benefits, pensions and Social Security through our partners and spouses

6. The right not to lose custody of our children merely because we are gay and the right to adopt.

7. Immigration rights for foreign partners and spouses of gay Americans.

8. Inheritance rights for our partners and spouses.

9. The right to marry.

10. Equality and respect for all individuals and their families.

(This list was compiled by two married lesbians in West Hollywood, CA who give permission to reprint in it's entirety for the purposes of furthering this agenda.)