Gay Marriage: September 2006 Archives

I read this thought provoking letter from The Capital Times (Madison, WI), and thought I’d share it with you.

Dear Editor: In her recent guest column, Julaine Appling expertly presented one of the driving arguments of the proponents of the anti homosexual marriage and civil union amendment. That is, if homosexuals are allowed to marry, what’s next? Polygamy? The breakdown of marriage as an institution? Indeed, the question of “what’s next” is a troubling one.

I would propose, however, that the question is being asked of the wrong side. If religious fundamentalists are successful in institutionalizing discrimination against homosexuals, who will be the next group they decide to attack? Who else fails to live up to their standards of moral hygiene? [...]

If we let them force their views on others in this way, how long before the rest of the Levitical laws start to be codified in our legal system? How long before people are no longer allowed to eat shrimp? How long before people are prohibited from planting vegetable gardens? How long before clothes made from more than one type of fabric are banned?

This issue does involve a slippery slope, but it is not the slippery slope the ban advocates would have you believe. It is a slippery slope toward theocracy. It is a slippery slope toward the loss of individual liberty and freedom of conscience. This state must stand against this trend and tell these fundamentalists to mind their own affairs, and leave everyone else alone. Sticking one’s nose into other people’s private lives is not an American value. (source)

To that, all I can say is, “Amen!”

For all intents and purposes, gay marriage is dead. Activists proclaimed that the Goodrich decision in Massachusetts was the end of the beginning of the struggle for equality, but in retrospect it was the beginning of the end.

Let’s check the standings: 44 states have laws that restrict marriage to the union of one man and one woman. Nineteen states have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage — 16 of those enacted since 2003. Six more states have constitutional bans on the November ballot that are expected to pass.

The highest state courts in New York and Washington recently ruled against same-sex couples claiming a right to civil matrimony, and a federal appellate court upheld Nebraska’s gay marriage ban. [...]

Gay leaders demonized opponents of same-sex marriage as hateful bigots and homophobes, completely ignoring the religious and social motivations behind the opposition. The reality is that marriage as the union of one man and one woman is our most basic social institution and deeply rooted in our culture. [...]

Instead of waging efforts to change hearts and minds, gay movement leaders have tried to bludgeon opponents and pursued a strategy where a very small minority would impose its will on a vast majority thought judicial fiat.

While activists relied on the courts for victory, supporters of traditional marriage took the debate to the ballot box and won every single time. A failed strategy appears to have put gay marriage out of reach for a long time to come. (source)

This from Jeff Gannon, former male prostitute escort who was, until his lurid past caught up with him, a member of the White House Press Corp. You remember him - the bald guy who always asked then White House press secretary Scott McClellan the easy questions?

Jeff, as usual in his right-wing mind set, along with many other right wingers, are missing the point on the gay marriage issue. I’ll try, once again, to make THE point of marriage (highlighted in blue).

In the United States, there is civil marriage, and there is religious marriage. When you get married in a church, you are also asking the state to honor that marriage. That is why the minister/pastor/priest MUST always say, “...with the authority vested in me by the state of [insert your state name here], I now pronounce you man and wife.”

I do ask that my state and my federal government honor my civil marriage, if I’m ever allowed to have one. After all, I’m paying for it in my taxes and I assure you, my tax rates are not second class!

These points are so simple to understand that even uneducated people, and even religious people should be able to understand them. I’m not saying that to look down upon them. I know that there are all kinds of people who have not had the opportunity of an education. But these are simple points. And, Jeff Gannon should be able to make these distinctions.

Marriage equality is not dead and it is not going to go away!

The only thing that will make this issue go away is if the state and federal government pass legislation to take away the hundreds of legal rights afforded heterosexual married couples. That should be no problem for all those protesting gay marriage on religious grounds, IF their motives are pure. But if you think I’m bad at bitching about this issue, watch all the straight married folks bitch when those marriage perks are taken away! You will have a revolution on your hands.

We may have lost many battles in the courts, and we may continue to lose. But that is not what is at stake here. This honestly isn’t about winning or losing in the court room. It is not about losing at the ballot box because our rights are put to a popular vote. If that had happened to school integration, there would to this day be states who would still have schools that were for black students and schools for white students.

This battle is ultimately about what America stands for. No judge can make that go away with a ruling. At the end of the day, this nation has citizens that it has legally afforded second class status to. That is spitting in the face of the United States Constitution. That reality shall not perish from the earth.

We will win this. Victory will be ours. It is as inevitable as the persistent droplet of water that eventually breaks through the boulder that is beneath it. I would pledge my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor on it.