Claim: Bette Midler pens letter chiding President Bush for his stance on gay marriage.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2004]
Dear President Bush, Today you called upon Congress to move quickly to amend the US Constitution, and set in Federal stone a legal definition of marriage. I would like to know why. In your speech, you stated that this Amendment would serve to protect marriage in America, which I must confess confuses me. Like you, I believe in the importance of marriage and I feel that we as a society take the institution far too lightly. In my circle of family, friends and acquaintances, the vast majority have married and divorced - some more than once. Still, I believe in marriage. I believe that there is something As a father, I'm sure you have faced these same concerns and difficulties in raising your own daughters. Therefore I can also imagine that you must understand how thrilled I have been over the past few weeks to come home and turn on the news with my family. To finally have concrete examples of true commitment, honest love, and steadfast fidelity was such a relief and a joy. Instead of speaking in the hypothetical, I was finally able to point to these men and women, standing together for hours in the pouring Look instead at the joy in the beautiful faces of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon - This morning, however, my joy turned to sadness, my relief transformed into outrage, and my peace became anger. This morning, I watched you stand before this nation and belittle these women, the thousands who stood with them, and the countless millions who wish to follow them. How could you do Don't speak to me about homosexuality, Mr. President. Don't tell me that the difference lies in the bedroom. I would never presume to ask you or your wife how it is you choose to physically express your love for one another, and I defy you to stand before Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon and ask them to do the same. It is none of my business, as it is none of yours, and it has nothing to do with the "sanctity of marriage". I'm sure you would agree that marriage is far more than sexual expression, and its high time we all started focusing on all the other aspects of a relationship which hold it together over the course of a lifetime. Therefore, with the mechanics of sex set aside, I ask you again - what makes a marriage? I firmly believe that whatever definition you derive, there are thousands upon thousands of shining examples for you to embrace. You want to protect marriage. I admire and support that, Please, for the sake of our children, for the sake of our society, for the sake of our future, do not take us down this road. Under the guise of protection, do not support divisiveness. Under the guise of unity, do not Bette Midler |
Origins: Open letters to those in power have been part of the landscape of democracy for many a year. Freedom of speech means the freedom to soapbox, with citizens of every stripe (celebrity and
done.
We first saw this e-missive attributed to singer and actress Bette Midler in March 2004. Such is the power of celebrity that almost overnight from our first receiving a copy of this
Yet purported celebrity author to the contrary, the piece was not written by Bette Midler. It is the work
of Stephanie Finnegan, who posted it to her blog on
How Bette Midler's name came to be associated with the article is a mystery. It is a telling commentary on how we perceive celebrities in that during the days before the Divine
Barbara "the rose" Mikkelson
Last updated: 13 September 2007