In response to the Editorial “A Free Country?” in the Florida Agenda, Sept.
29.
DEAR EDITOR,
I totally agree with your views. I am a German-American who grew up speaking German and English. I went to live in Germany. What a different view Germans have of sexuality! For more than 10 years Germans have had what they call the Homo-Ehe (gay marriage). My then-time boyfriend and now husband and I visited Germany last year. We were treated like a couple in all the hotels and organizations that we visited. Then, this year, he took me to meet his family in Brazil. Brazil has gay marriage, too, even though it is not called “marriage” – it carries all the same rights. So we got married on August 3rd. At first I thought that this was just a lark.
But as the public notary read us a very long list of our rights and obligations to each other I grasped how this would change our lives.
Unforntunately, my fellow countrymen here do not recognize our marriage. So we are planning on moving to Brazil within the next couple of years. What really bowled me over: everyone, but really everyone congratulated us. When we got to the customs check at the airport to leave Brazil, the official asked for our documents. I gave her my American passport and my new Brazilian ID card. She asked me why I have a Brazilian ID card. I told her that I had just married the man standing next to me. “Parabems!” she exclaimed (congratulations!) with a broad grin. We had to pay a lawyer in the US around $1,000 to draw up papers protecting us here. It cost us around $25,000 to get my husband his green card and then citizenship. Straights don’t have those fees. Furthermore, as a state employee, I am not allowed to put him on my healthcare. I wish that my fellow countrymen could grow up and finally see that we should be treated equally as we are in most of Europe, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, parts of Mexico, and Canada.
Robb Kvasnak, Ed.D.
Please send all your comments and letters to Editor@FloridaAgenda.com