[Please see the update below]
Last week, I questioned whether or not Michigan Senator Joe Hune is actually intelligent enough to be a senator. Today, that question is just as pertinent as we learn that Senator Hune is adamantly opposed to marriage equality in Michigan, despite the sea change happening in the opinions of Michiganders. In a recent article in the Livingston County Press & Argus, Hune made this remarkable statement:
State Sen. Joe Hune, R-Hamburg Township, maintains that marriage is strictly between one man and one woman. Hune said his constituents — who extend into the more liberal Ann Arbor area — have expressed little interest in overturning Michigan’s ban on gay marriage.
That would suggest that we here in “the more liberal Ann Arbor area” need to make our opinions known to the man who “represents” us in the state senate. So, I’m asking you to do so. Here’s a map of the 22nd Michigan Senate District:
If you live in that area, Senator Hune needs to hear from you. Many of us our new constituents because, until the last redistricting, the good senator represented the tea party stronghold of Livingston County almost exclusviely.
Please contact his office as soon as you can. Let him know that you are a constituent and that you support marriage equality for ALL Michiganders, not just straight couples. While you’re at it, let him know that his stance on stopping Medicaid expansion in Michigan is counter to everything you believe in and that you are appalled that he is hurting as many as half a million of our fellow Michiganders.
You can email Senator Hune at SenJHune@senate.michigan.gov. You can phone him at (517) 373-2420. You can fax him at (517) 373-2764. His mailing address is:
Senator Joe Hune
P.O. Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure he’s going to listen to us, his new constituents. In the same article, Sen. Hune said this:
Philosophically, I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I don’t think my opinion will change on that anytime soon.
That sounds like a man not interested in hearing opinions other than those he agrees with and a man using the fact that he hasn’t (yet) heard from us as an excuse to continue to hold on dearly to his bigoted views.
But we must try and we must be as loud as the tea partyers that have his ear right now. Please, contact him on both of these issues. If you know others in the 22nd Senate District, urge them to contact him as well. You can be very certain that his tea party pals are filling his email inbox and his voice mail every day on these and other issues and, unless we fight back, that’s all he’ll ever hear. Let’s not give any excuse to ignore us and to continue his failed efforts at “representing” us.
Please share this post on Facebook, Twitter, and by email with anyone you know that lives in the 22nd Senate District. If we do this together, we may actually be able to make a difference.
Thanks.
UPDATE: My friend Jennifer from Chelsea contacted Senator Hune’s office this morning and was informed that the new senate districts do not take effect until after the 2014 election. On one hand, this is good news: Rebekah Warren is still my state senator! This doesn’t, however, mean that Senator Hune shouldn’t hear from us. He is up for reelection in the new district in 2014 and needs to be made well-aware of the fact that his potential new constituents are watching his actions very closely and we will hold him responsible for them in 2014. So, please, make the call.
