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Open Letter to Josh Mandel, Republican
Candidate for U.S. Senator from Ohio
Dear Josh,
Candidate for U.S. Senator from Ohio
Dear Josh,
Four years ago you came into our family. We still remember the excitement surrounding your wedding, and how happy our family members were as they described it afterwards. So we were deeply saddened when you announced during your October 18th debate with Senator Sherrod Brown that you believe only some people should share this right to marry the person they love, while others should not.
Your cousins, Ellen Ratner and Cholene Espinoza, are among the many wonderful couples whose rights you do not recognize. They were married almost eight years ago in Massachusetts, at a time when it was the only state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage. Their wedding, like yours, was a beautiful and happy occasion for all of us in our family. It hurts us that you would embrace discrimination against them and countless other loving couples in Ohio and around the country.
We are equally distressed by your belief that gay men and women should not be allowed to serve openly in the military. Like you, Cholene spent many years in the armed forces. A graduate of the Air Force Academy and an accomplished pilot, she became the second woman in history to fly the U-2 reconnaissance plane. And yet, you have argued that she, like many gay and lesbian soldiers, should be forced to live a life of secrecy and lies.
Josh, as you know, our roots are deep in the Cleveland area and we have friends and family we love throughout Ohio. This family is sprawling and diverse, but it has always believed strongly in the values of equality and inclusiveness. Your discriminatory stance violates these core values of our family. Nevertheless we hope that over time, as you advance in years and wisdom, you will come to embrace the values of inclusiveness and equality as well.
Your cousins,
Michael Ratner, Bruce Ratner, Karen Ranucci, Pamela Lipkin, Rebecca
Ratner, Elizabeth Ratner, Patrick Markee, Jacob Ratner, Ana Ratner
Follow up from the Jewish Week of NY below:
Your cousins, Ellen Ratner and Cholene Espinoza, are among the many wonderful couples whose rights you do not recognize. They were married almost eight years ago in Massachusetts, at a time when it was the only state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage. Their wedding, like yours, was a beautiful and happy occasion for all of us in our family. It hurts us that you would embrace discrimination against them and countless other loving couples in Ohio and around the country.
We are equally distressed by your belief that gay men and women should not be allowed to serve openly in the military. Like you, Cholene spent many years in the armed forces. A graduate of the Air Force Academy and an accomplished pilot, she became the second woman in history to fly the U-2 reconnaissance plane. And yet, you have argued that she, like many gay and lesbian soldiers, should be forced to live a life of secrecy and lies.
Josh, as you know, our roots are deep in the Cleveland area and we have friends and family we love throughout Ohio. This family is sprawling and diverse, but it has always believed strongly in the values of equality and inclusiveness. Your discriminatory stance violates these core values of our family. Nevertheless we hope that over time, as you advance in years and wisdom, you will come to embrace the values of inclusiveness and equality as well.
Your cousins,
Michael Ratner, Bruce Ratner, Karen Ranucci, Pamela Lipkin, Rebecca
Ratner, Elizabeth Ratner, Patrick Markee, Jacob Ratner, Ana Ratner
Follow up from the Jewish Week of NY below:
Jews are famous for in-law jokes, and Ohio State Treasurer and GOP Senate candidate Josh Mandel is in a prime position to make one, but he probably isn't laughing.
With 45 percent of the vote, Mandel lost the election to incumvent Democrat Sherrod Brown, who garnered 50 percent, according to the New York Times.
Nine of Mandel’s cousins on his wife’s side took out a paid ad in the Cleveland Jewish News attacking him for his stance against gay marriage and gays in the military.
When he got hitched, Mandel might have thought he’d married up. His wife’s family are the wealthy, connected Ratners of real estate fame.
But Bruce Ratner, an owner of the Brooklyn Nets and a builder of the Atlantic Yards, signed the letter, which said he and his co-signees were saddened by Mandel’s views given that his cousins, Ellen Ratner and Cholene Espinoza, were married eight years ago. Espionza, the letter went on to say, is a graduate of the Air Force Academy and the second woman in history to fly the U-2 reconnaissance plane.
“This family is sprawling and diverse,” the cousins wrote in the letter. “But it has always believed strongly in the values of equality and inclusiveness. Your discriminatory stance violates these core values of our family.”
Mandel’s campaign told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he has never met any of these cousins.
helenatjewishweek@gmail.com; @thesimplechild
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