Proposal in Maryland to restrict men's rights to contact foreign women

Solwalt · February 12, 2010

Proposal in Maryland to restrict men's rights to contact foreign women

3 Weeks Ago

John Dias

Established Member Rep Power: 202049

Proposal in Maryland to restrict men's rights to contact foreign women permalink

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The following is a letter to the editor in the Cumberland Times-News, a newspaper in the U.S. state of Maryland:

Government wrong to regulate love letters

Cumberland Times-News - Government wrong to regulate love letters

January 21, 2010

How far out of touch with reality are Maryland legislators anyways? That’s exactly the question being asked by citizens (women and men) regarding a proposed bill in the Maryland General Assembly, that would restrict men’s rights to use dating sites to meet foreign women.

Delegate Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio (R-Talbott),vice president of the women’s caucus is leading 35 other delegates (all women) on a campaign for passage of HB 65, that would shockingly require Maryland men to submit their fingerprints and other background information before they can initiate communication with a foreign woman if they use an “International Marriage Broker”.

The bill is littered with false, misleading, and inaccurate information. Nobody is being traded or sold as the title, “Regulation of Marriage Brokers”, deceptively implies. The truth reveals these are merely dating sites that provide names, addresses and phone numbers so that a Maryland citizen can initiate communication (as in saying “hello”) with a foreigner. Punishment for violations of the law include $12,000 fine and or up to one year imprisonment.

The drama that has unfolded since the controversial bill was introduced reads like a war script. The attack was announced on Jan. 4 in a AP news release, “MD lawmakers push for restrictions on mail order brides.”

“The battle for Maryland, round 2” has begun, stated “Bronxman” who posted his comments along with a chilling image of a fingerprint on the website “Online Dating Rights,” a group opposed to the law.

Then the controversial law caught the attention of WBAL (Baltimore) Radio’s popular talk show host, Shari Elliker who asked Delegate Jeannie Haddaway- Riccio to be on her program, Jan. 6. During the program, the Maryland delegate seemed to be reading from a script.

After citing a few cases of foreign women abused and treated like commodities, a caller (David) cast doubt on her assertions by stating “… You have anecdotal evidence that this or that might be happening, and I don’t believe anybody is actually purchasing a human being.” The host repeatedly criticized the bill, stating the government should not be regulating these types of things (dating and communication).

The delegate appears to be nothing more than a parrot for the same special interest groups that successfully promoted the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005, a similar but less obtrusive Federal law. The promoters of both the federal and state laws have made sensational claims that American men who date foreign women are rapists, wife beaters, “many are premeditated torturers,” even though a 1999 INS study shows the abuse rate in International marriages is one-seventh the abuse rate in domestic marriages.

Promoters also have suggested that American men are purchasing foreign brides through the Internet, another hoax.

The Maryland law requires male matchmaking clients to provide an array of personal and criminal information to a foreign woman, making them vulnerable identity theft, blackmail and other crimes. Also, the law fails to protect American men from immigrant spouses who often file false charges of abuse in order to obtain citizenship.

So what exactly is the mindset of Maryland women legislators who are going after fictitious “marriage brokers” surreptitiously masking the reality of a law that regulates men’s communication, and land them in jail for a year — just for writing a love letter?

Let it be known that writing a letter — including a romance letter, is a legitimate activity and the government has no right to enact laws that place restrictions on relationships and communication occurring across international boundaries.

Fonte: http://antimisandry.com/discrimination-sex...omen-27669.html