Can I just vent for a few minutes?
This whole gay marriage thing is so out of control in this country. That people want to deny gay couples the same legal benefits as straight married couples is infuriating enough. But even worse than that is the attitude that being gay makes you less of a person, undeserving of a healthy, committed relationship, unfit to raise children, emotionally not right, just a little dirtier than the rest of us. It makes me profoundly sad that so many people actually believe this. It makes me profoundly angry that the president wants to back a Constitutional amendment, for crying out loud, to make this kind of hateful bigotry public policy.
But just in case the ban doesn't make it into the U.S. Constitution, plenty of individual states are going ahead with gay marriage bans on their own. Wisconsin will have a gay marriage ban amendment on the ballot this November. This is not because we suddenly have a rash of gay couples trying to get married here or because Wisconsinites suddenly started thinking "Hey, I know gay couples can't get married here already, but gosh darn it, we need an amendment that outlaws civil unions, too!" It's largely because our democratic governor is up for re-election in the fall and the Other Party, which already controls both parts of the legislature, wants the gov's office, too, and this is how to get their constituents out to the polls. I think that's the same reason some politicians are pushing this so hard, not because they really care about the private lives and rights of gay people, but because they think it will get them votes. It's sickening that they are willing to do such a thing at the expense of so many people who are already on the margins of society in most places.
It's also upsetting that this issue is taking energy away from the things that public officials are supposed to be working on. Of course, I'll fight like hell to keep this amendment from passing, but I don't think gay marriage is, overall, as important or relevant to society as, for example, laws that allow companies to pollute the water we drink and the air we breathe. Or laws that keep the minimum wage so low no one could live on it even when they work 2 full-time jobs.
Harumph. At least Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling are going to jail.
OK, I'm done with my rant.
But just in case the ban doesn't make it into the U.S. Constitution, plenty of individual states are going ahead with gay marriage bans on their own. Wisconsin will have a gay marriage ban amendment on the ballot this November. This is not because we suddenly have a rash of gay couples trying to get married here or because Wisconsinites suddenly started thinking "Hey, I know gay couples can't get married here already, but gosh darn it, we need an amendment that outlaws civil unions, too!" It's largely because our democratic governor is up for re-election in the fall and the Other Party, which already controls both parts of the legislature, wants the gov's office, too, and this is how to get their constituents out to the polls. I think that's the same reason some politicians are pushing this so hard, not because they really care about the private lives and rights of gay people, but because they think it will get them votes. It's sickening that they are willing to do such a thing at the expense of so many people who are already on the margins of society in most places.
It's also upsetting that this issue is taking energy away from the things that public officials are supposed to be working on. Of course, I'll fight like hell to keep this amendment from passing, but I don't think gay marriage is, overall, as important or relevant to society as, for example, laws that allow companies to pollute the water we drink and the air we breathe. Or laws that keep the minimum wage so low no one could live on it even when they work 2 full-time jobs.
Harumph. At least Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling are going to jail.
OK, I'm done with my rant.
Comments
Shannon at Peter's Cross Station wrote a great essay on this, though to say it's just about gay marriage wouldn't be quite accurate. It's very worth reading.
http://lilysea.blogs.com/peterscrossstation/2006/06/why_were_agains.html