My True Soul

Just one more reason for me to love Saul

http://WWW.JOHNSAUL.COM
A Message from John Saul

Heretofore, all of my e-mails to you have concerned book-related topics of one sort or another: notice of a new book coming out, movie deals pending, or appearances involving writing in one aspect or another. Today, however, I'm writing to you about the upcoming election.

I am asking all of my readers to make a special effort to get to the polls
this year, and I am also asking them to consider supporting the Kerry/Edwards ticket. Never before have I used my position as a novelist in support of one candidate over another, but this year I find I'm compelled to ask for your help in changing the administration of our country.

If you are a staunch Bush supporter who is disinterested in hearing a
dissenting point of view, then there is no reason for you to continue
reading this message. I appreciate your being fans of my writing, I hope you will continue to read my books despite our political differences.

On the other hand, if you are still not sure for whom to vote (or are merely curious about what I have to say) please continue reading:

This election has become very personal to me, in that our current
president is the only president in our history who supports amending the Constitution for the specific purpose of denying rights to an entire class of American citizens; in short, making me a second class citizen. He wants to change the constitution to insure that I would, as a gay man, never have the opportunity to marry my partner of nearly thirty years, and that I would forever be denied the benefits that most couples take for granted, from little things like paying extra for one of us to be listed as a driver on a rental car to far more important things, like being denied the right to visit my partner when he was hospitalized. I know first hand what it is like to be denied a room in a hotel or be told I can't bring my partner to an event where other spouses routinely attend.

Mr. Bush, by his support for an amendment to the Constitution to forbid same sex marriage has made his position clear: he wants gay men and women to be made second class citizens of the United States. While it is true that Mr. Kerry does not support gay marriage, he has very publicly supported guaranteeing the same rights for domestic partners that married couples enjoy, and he is against using the Constitution to make all of us second class citizens.

I am also extremely concerned about the future of our country if this particular administration continues for another four years. While I am not opposed to Republicans per se, having voted for several of them in the past, in recent years I have seen the Republican Party pander more and more to the religious right. Religion is, and should be, a very personal thing and I am very concerned that four more years of the Bush administration will mean our country will be influenced more and more by religious dogma. While it is true that the founders of our government were predominantly Christian, it is also true that they were very wary of institutionalizing any form of religion in government. Hence, the principals of separation of church and state upon which our country was built. The current president seems unaware of the perils of any government embracing one religion over another, and while he decries the influence of fundamentalist Muslims in other governments, he seems not only complacent, actually complicit in the growing influence of fundamentalist Christians in our own. If we, as a society, are going to decry the power of fundamentalist Muslims in Middle Eastern countries, we must equally decry giving undue power to Christian fundamentalists (or any others).

Finally, with the appointment of people to the Supreme Court whose
loyalty is to his personal religious beliefs rather than to the protection of all members of our society, Mr. Bush could jeopardize all the advances we have made as a secular society that believes in equal rights for all.

I trust those of you who have read this far have taken this letter in
the spirit in which it is intended-as a plea for fair play for all American's, and a vote for a man, John Kerry, who supports that concept. No matter how the election comes out, I will continue writing thrillers for you to read, but just this once I felt compelled to ask you to consider supporting a candidate I feel should be voted into office. Again, please consider voting for John Kerry.

All best,
John Saul


(I love the man even more.... and I had absolutely no clue he was gay... wow... but... I love him so much more now)