The Republican Plague...Antidotes are Available

Here's something that might pique your interest. I've talked about it before here:

http://freadommeadows.blogspot.com/2007/09/defense-of-marriage.html

In Oregon, a group called The Defense of Marriage Again has just delivered over 60,000 signatures to the Secretary of State to get two gay rights amendments back on the ballot. They want to overturn the same-sex unions and also the anti-discrimination bill that passed last year.

What is wrong with these people?

Are they so insecure that they have to bash people who don't have sex with the opposite gender in order to make them feel better? Are they so homophobic that they have to put down gays in order to bring themselves up? This is facism in its purest form: denying rights to people based on who they have sex with. You know who also did this: Hitler. Now, I'm not comparing the two, per se, because these people have absolutely no chance of getting political power (that matters), but the fact that they are fighting an anti-discrimination bill is just beyond me.

This goes beyond what is considered moral by the Republican Party (yes, this is a right-wing nut group). This goes beyond what we as Americans think is moral. In the 1950's, we still had laws banning interracial marriage. This, in turn, was deemed unconstitutional. What's the difference with gay marriage?

People will cite the so-called "snowball effect." "If we let gays marry, what's to stop people from marrying their dogs?" What a crock of s**t. This argument has no basis in reality, because dogs are not people. And you know what? If you really want to marry your dog, there are places in Vegas that will let you do that. Are these marriages legal? Of course not. Do the people in these marriages know that? Of course they do. Is that affecting how we live our daily lives? No. So there's that argument shot down.

The current marriage laws state that marriage is between one man and one woman. In the 1800's, voting laws were "white males 21 and older, who hold property." (paraphrase, of course) So, if you were black but had property, you couldn't vote. If you were a woman, you couldn't vote. If you didn't own land, you couldn't vote. But all that changed, right? Why can't these laws change? The truth is that the Republican party is afraid of change. But change is good. Progressivism is good. We saw that in the 1920's, and the 50's, and 60's, and 70's. The parlence of our times is changing rapidly.

And, the most basic principle: these are human beings. They are American citizens. End of story.

-Anteaus