LETTER: 'No' vote was a disservice

Way to go, Pete. Another disappointing vote from you.

Sen. Pete Campos has voted against Senate Bill 12, the Domestic Partnership Bill. He was quoted as saying the decision was difficult because he had “a genuine desire to have equal rights to share personal holdings and be able to make end-of-life decisions for loved ones and lifetime partners.” But then he said that the California court decision on same-sex marriage prompted him to vote against it.

Again, way to go, Pete. So basically you chose your own fear of same-sex marriage, which this bill wasn’t even about, over the basic civil and human rights of committed couples living together.

So people like Bob Wallace and Betty Quick, respected elders in our community (a committed couple in their 80s), don’t get to have the same equal rights that you and your wife have. Bob was recently hospitalized for a serious stroke, and in one instance, Betty was not even allowed to know his blood pressure. How would you feel if that was your wife in the hospital, and you were denied access to her health status or even decisions about her care?

In choosing your apparent homophobia over equal rights, you have seriously erred. I hope you think about this and realize what you have just denied to thousands of older committed couples in New Mexico, including those right here in Las Vegas.

Carole Silon

Las Vegas