Monday, May 17, 2004
They Just Don't Get It, Do They?
And once again, the right has their panties in a wad as same sex marriages are now legal in Massachusetts. And I still don't get their outrage. Gay couples getting married does absolutely nothing to harm, deter or detract from straight marriage. Absolutely. Nothing. And if family is such a holy idea in their minds, isn't it better that we create more families by being inclusive? Or would they prefer that gay people remain officially single, legally immune from commiting adultery, and so able to go out there and bang anyone they wanted? Seems counterproductive. Since some whacko rightwing elements seem convinced that homosexuals perpetuate themselves by recruitment, marriage might just be the way to stop all that stuff happening. (And, wow. Heterosexuality must be a very tenuous lifestyle choice if it can be abandoned instantly as soon as someone of the same sex bats their eyes and smiles...)
But, again, the rightwing's hypocrisy shows, because the party that is normally screamingly in favor of states' rights dumps that platform as soon as a state grants a right they don't like. On many other issues, they insist that it should be up to individual states to decide. But not this one. Not gun control. Not abortion rights.
Over all, though, anyone who'd call for a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage just doesn't understand what the Constitution is for. That document does not and never has existed to dictate the behavior of the People of the United States of America. Rather, it exists solely to tell the government what it cannot do to us. Remember Prohibition? It was the one previous attempt to use the Constitution to prohibit a behavior by private citizens, and it failed miserably.
Then again, this Administration is no lover of the Constitution. They've done everything they can at every turn to shred that document. And if I remember correctly, one of the major points of the Presidential Oath is an agreement to uphold and defend the Constitution. On that point alone, W deserves to be impeached faster than you can say "blue dress."
I'm hoping that Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter decides to run to Massachusetts and very publicly tie the knot soon. But, of course, she won't. And more's the shame. 'Cause the funny thing is that quite a lot of the middle American God 'n Country crowd just gets over the gay thing as soon as they realize that they do know gay people, and they happen to like them. I can cite my own parents as an example of that. Yeah, I was raised by a bigoted Republican and a sexually repressed Catholic. But -- the Republican had a work friend who was very gay and very out, and so as a young child, I was dragged along to several dinner parties with Jack and Lloyd. And while my mother would bitch about "The Queers" in private, she also seemed to love these guys. Second, my much older step brother was gay, and he and his partner were always part of every family gathering, and while no one ever explained it to me as a kid, I just understood that Jimmy and Phil were together, and "Uncle" Phil was a pretty cool guy. Even took me to a baseball game once and, for the record, no, he did not try to molest my college-age ass.
And I'll be forever stuck with the paradox of my parents speaking over the kitchen table about their disdain for queers, niggers, kikes and commies -- even as, among their best friends they counted... at least four homosexuals, two black people, too many Jews to count, and... well, okay, we never really had commies in this country. That was just Joe McCarthy's wet dream. As for me -- I went to a high school that was 75% Jewish, and so I've been an honorary non-goyim since at least 15. Yeah -- kikes and fags? I think I have about three friends who don't fall into either category. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
And, to spin it back to the original topic -- once upon a time, everyone thought the world would end if inter-racial couples were allowed to marry. It didn't when they were. (And, frankly, I think my father's mother's parents were guilty of that "crime.") And if you want living proof that inter-racial marriage is just about the best thing on the planet -- just take a look at the people of Brazil. They've been mixing races for three hundred years -- Europeans, Africans, Natives, Asians. Bang, bang, bang. And y'know what? Brazil happens to have the most beautiful people on the planet. Why? Because most of them have been born of love that knows no prejudice.
Love that knows no prejudice. Like gay marriage. And why the rightwingers have their panties in a wad over this, I will never understand...
But, again, the rightwing's hypocrisy shows, because the party that is normally screamingly in favor of states' rights dumps that platform as soon as a state grants a right they don't like. On many other issues, they insist that it should be up to individual states to decide. But not this one. Not gun control. Not abortion rights.
Over all, though, anyone who'd call for a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage just doesn't understand what the Constitution is for. That document does not and never has existed to dictate the behavior of the People of the United States of America. Rather, it exists solely to tell the government what it cannot do to us. Remember Prohibition? It was the one previous attempt to use the Constitution to prohibit a behavior by private citizens, and it failed miserably.
Then again, this Administration is no lover of the Constitution. They've done everything they can at every turn to shred that document. And if I remember correctly, one of the major points of the Presidential Oath is an agreement to uphold and defend the Constitution. On that point alone, W deserves to be impeached faster than you can say "blue dress."
I'm hoping that Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter decides to run to Massachusetts and very publicly tie the knot soon. But, of course, she won't. And more's the shame. 'Cause the funny thing is that quite a lot of the middle American God 'n Country crowd just gets over the gay thing as soon as they realize that they do know gay people, and they happen to like them. I can cite my own parents as an example of that. Yeah, I was raised by a bigoted Republican and a sexually repressed Catholic. But -- the Republican had a work friend who was very gay and very out, and so as a young child, I was dragged along to several dinner parties with Jack and Lloyd. And while my mother would bitch about "The Queers" in private, she also seemed to love these guys. Second, my much older step brother was gay, and he and his partner were always part of every family gathering, and while no one ever explained it to me as a kid, I just understood that Jimmy and Phil were together, and "Uncle" Phil was a pretty cool guy. Even took me to a baseball game once and, for the record, no, he did not try to molest my college-age ass.
And I'll be forever stuck with the paradox of my parents speaking over the kitchen table about their disdain for queers, niggers, kikes and commies -- even as, among their best friends they counted... at least four homosexuals, two black people, too many Jews to count, and... well, okay, we never really had commies in this country. That was just Joe McCarthy's wet dream. As for me -- I went to a high school that was 75% Jewish, and so I've been an honorary non-goyim since at least 15. Yeah -- kikes and fags? I think I have about three friends who don't fall into either category. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
And, to spin it back to the original topic -- once upon a time, everyone thought the world would end if inter-racial couples were allowed to marry. It didn't when they were. (And, frankly, I think my father's mother's parents were guilty of that "crime.") And if you want living proof that inter-racial marriage is just about the best thing on the planet -- just take a look at the people of Brazil. They've been mixing races for three hundred years -- Europeans, Africans, Natives, Asians. Bang, bang, bang. And y'know what? Brazil happens to have the most beautiful people on the planet. Why? Because most of them have been born of love that knows no prejudice.
Love that knows no prejudice. Like gay marriage. And why the rightwingers have their panties in a wad over this, I will never understand...
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