Jun 16, 2009

Wisconsin Marriage Ban Will Go

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And, but for the interference with his arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriage. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

- Judge's opinion defending state statute banning marriage between difference races, overturned in Loving v. Virginia (1967).

Sooner we hope but Wisconsin's ban on gay marriage will go the way of the state bans against blacks marrying whites.

Battles over banning gay marriage will mark the political culture this Summer-Fall with predictably dumbed-down news coverage carefully crafted not to offend bigots.

Several legal cases are proceeding.

In Wisconsin William C. McConkey v. J. B. Van Hollen challenges the gay marriage ban on a question of ambiguity of the GOP referendum that brought this ban into the Wisconsin constitution.

And make no mistake the gay marriage ban is a Republican project, supported by the religious right advancing their god-given "Judeo Christian principles and values."

Evaluating the arguments for banning gay marriage, honest observers agree the 'it's what I believe' statement doesn't count as a serious defense of a position, though that's the justification most often heard.

The plain truth is bigotry is behind the effort to ban gay marriage.

Many people and especially the Republican Party [at least those Republicans not yet out] simply do not like LGBT people, explaining their belief that raging hell fires await gays who will be punished by god.

Ignorance and delusion, that's the staple of the Republican Party.

In one federal case, to once and for all rid America of the lawful unequal treatment of gays under the law, the Perry, Stier, Katami and Zarrillo v. Schwarzenegger suit seeks a ruling guaranteeing gay Americans equal protection, due process and privacy rights just like every other American.

So, it's worth noting the God-wants-it-that-way argument was also advanced by bigots 42 years ago in the landmark Loving v. Virginia case overturning state statutes banning marriage between people of different races.

The same Equal Protection and Due Process argument in Loving v. Virginia are made in the Perry, Stier, Katami and Zarrillo v. Schwarzenegger brief.

And Wisconsin GOP's gay marriage ban efforts reflect the same ludicrous sentiments against gay marriage held by the bigots in defense of anti-miscegenation statutes.

In Loving v. Virginia, the opinion notes that the Virginia trial judge stated in accepting a guilty plea of a couple marrying in defiance of the ban of blacks and whites that:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And, but for the interference with his arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriage. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.
Anyone want to defend that nonsense?

Christian, Mormon, or just plain stupid, opposing gay marriage is a political exercise in bigotry and ignorance that ultimately will fail through the courts upholding civil rights or the legislatures upholding civil rights.

4 comments:

  1. Can two men or two women produce biological children together? That's what the purpose of marriage is. The reason you get certain rights in marriage is that you have certain responsibilities (having kids, caring for them, staying together so as to provide a stable environment for the kids). If people don't want to fulfill the responsibilities of marriage, maybe it's time to start taking away some of the rights... for everyone. Being able to visit someone in the hospital is a no-brainer. It should be easy to designate a partner that may visit you in the hospital. With a public option the health benefits would not be as important. As for the tax benefits, maybe get rid of those and use that money more effectively for what it's intended for- helping families raise children. You could put it into schools, child care, etc.

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  2. Alex, there are MANY heterosexual couples in this world who are not ABLE to have biological children, should marriage be limited then to couples who are fertile and in childbearing years? This argument is silly...
    Millions of elderly people find second love late in life and marry. No bearing biological children is NOT the purpose of marriage in our society.

    Yes, the benefits are important and can be gotten through other means and laws, for example, domestic partnership registries.

    But the purpose of marriage is ultimately about two people making a lifelong commitment to love each other, support each other, care for one another and enjoy life together. Whether or not they are able and willing to raise children is not in the equation and not a question on the license.

    Children are a bonus and can be added through so many natural and unnatural means (artificial insemination, fostering, adoption, family assistance, etc...) that to say the creation of them alone is the ONLY criteria to marry is ludicrous.

    Thank you Mal for this awesome blog! I have written from this perspective as well on my blog many times and find your sentiments right on as a person who is biracial and who's parents couldn't marry in 38 states when they married in Wisconsin in 1966. "What about the children? God doesn't approve. It's unnatural." were among the reasons given then for the anti-miscegenation laws. Sound familiar?

    This issue hits close to my heart.

    I say, let's repeal this insidious discrimination clause added to our constitution for purely political reasons and restore justice to Wisconsin.

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  3. Alex,

    Thanks for your thoughts. You represent well the bigoted forces of the religious right, though your reference to reproduction and marriage (as Crawford points out) is about as enlightened as the Virginia judge's grasp of plate tectonics and biology.

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  4. The LGBT movement can not be equated to the civil rights movement! GAY AND LESBIAN IS NOT A RACE...IT IS A CHOICE. I will agree that some individuals may be born with a pre-disposition to this sin but it is no different than a child born with a meth addiction or a pre-disposition to alcoholism. One may have to work his/her entire life fighting against the urges to participate in same-sex relationships, or avoiding drugs and alcohol but through Christ, all things can be accomplished. It may mean that an individual is asked to remain monogamous his/her entire life but God asks nothing different from a heterosexual individual who never has the opportunity to get married.

    I am both a Christian and a Mormon and I speak loudly to all now, the day that the majority of American's succumb to the evil designs of conspiring men and Gay Marriage is approved, practiced and considered "normal" in our society, is the day that God will forsake this country and we will be left to defend, protect and uphold ourselves. We will go the way of other great societies in history, lost forever due to our evil and carnal nature.

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