I was just watching the Democratic Presidential Debate, which was very informative, and I found myself a little sad and frustrated. First of all, anyone who knows me will tell you that 1.) I am very Liberal and proud of that word; 2.) An avid supporter of a progressive mindset; 3.) A proud supporter of future President Hillary Rodham Clinton...which will be a topic of a later blog entry, I'm sure. But I digress...The one thing that frustrates me with the majority of the Democratic Candidates is their open support for Civil Unions with equal rights as heterosexual, "traditional" marriage and NOT across the board marriage for gays and straights. As we all know, the United States Relgious Machine has very cleverly and successfully convinced the average American that Gay marriage with somehow corrupt the 'sanctity' of marriage. I'm not even going to waste your time or my finger strength typing how ridiculous this school of thought is given the divorce rates and other statistics. However, I will say that I don't believe that we will see Congress or ANY President make Gay Marriage legal. Why? Because of ignorance of Americans. As harsh as it sounds, the vast majority of Americans who vote(aka...older Americans) have had the Big Religion lip service corrupt their commonsense. In our society, where we have always taken what our 'religious superiors' say at face value, the average American doesn't know how to critically question the status quo...especially when it doesn't necessairly affect them...such as Gay marriage to a straight couple.
The Democratic Party seems to have fallen victim to the apathetic approach to equality in the law. By accepting the mindset that giving the LGBT community something that isn't quite marriage...but 'equal' in the letter of the law is insulting to me as a Gay man.
As a politically charged person who loves American history, I think the answer to the Gay Marriage debate is extremely simple...and it also explains why I believe that Congress will never legalize gay marriage. The reason is because my belief that History repeats itself. Pretty simple, huh?
One of my favorite Supreme Court cases and decisions is Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education. The case took on the notion put forth by Plessy v. Ferguson that, in education, separate but equal was legitimate. This basically legalized segregation in public schools and institutions. Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education with the help of the Progressive Warren Court said in essence that separate can never be equal in public education or government institutions.
This historic decision is the basis of the 'duh' factor I mention in my title. Dems and many gays are settling for Civil Unions with 'equal' protections under the law as married straight couples. I call bullshit. Marriage is NOT a religious institution anymore. Why???
1. Tax breaks for married couples
2. Marriage is only legal with a signed license issued by a State
3. Atheists can be married legally...and God is obviously not a factor in that
These are only a few reasons why marriage is a public institution and not a religious one. So, let's level. The U.S. Supreme Court has already said that Separate can never be Equal in a public/government institution...which marriage really is. So how can giving the LGBT community something SEPARATE from Marriage be EQUAL to marriage...DUH...It CAN'T!
I do not think that Congress or any President will, in the near future, allow Gay Marriage to go through. It is going to take those dreaded "Liberal Activist" judges to make progressive changes and provide the Checks and Balances that the Framers of the Constitution set in place to protect ALL Americans. The same kind of "Liberal Activist" judges that said that blacks and whites can go to school together, swim together, and drink out of the same water fountain. Personally, I am thankful that our country has had these "extremists" on the bench, regardless of what Big Religion might try to get us to think about their Liberal agenda.
WOW...that was a rant and a half!!!
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1 comment:
But a rant we need to hear! Too many are just content to do the "this doesn't effect me" routine and be content with that. We need more people to get upset, and not just the glbt population. When just the glbt population gets upset, it is easy to write it off as "their" problem. When the rest of society starts to call it unjust, then maybe people will start to look.
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