Letter to the Editor

I sent a shorter version of this letter to the Denver Post tonight, in response to the paper's coverage of Monday's Palin event and our protest.

UPDATE - The Post says they're running my letter - look for it in tomorrow's paper!
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Dear editor:

While I appreciated Electa Drapers coverage of our protest of Sarah Palin's visit to Golden on Monday ("Palin wows the base at JeffCo Fairgrounds," 9/16/08), I was disappointed that she chose to include only my comment about Palin's rigid anti-choice position. Indeed, Palin would outlaw all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest. But this is only one of many reasons why she is a terrible choice as John McCain's running mate, and must not become our country's next Vice President.

As I told Ms. Draper, my friends and I organized Monday's protest because we feel Sarah Palin's selection is a slap in the face of all the American women who have worked so hard, for so many generations, to ensure progress for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren. Palin opposes providing all Americans with available and affordable health care. She opposes teaching sex education - other than abstinence only - in public schools, an approach that makes our daughters more vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. And in Alaska, even as Palin opposed both sex education and reproductive freedom, she slashed funding for programs that help teen moms.

Palin opposes measures to help working families in this country obtain safe, affordable child care, secure paid leave to care for new babies and sick family members, and earn a living wage. Her running mate has repeatedly voted against raising the minimum wage, and against measures to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work.

Palin has little respect or use for science. She supports teaching creationism in the public schools, believes that dinosaurs and humans walked the earth together, rejects the notion that human behavior is responsible for global climate change, and advocates removing endangered species protection for Alaskan polar bears. She clearly has no intention of making sure that our children have clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, and green spaces to explore.

For these, and many more reasons, Sarah Palin is the wrong choice for women, and the wrong choice for America.