Many can argue the case for or against marriage, but even with about 50% of all marriages ending in divorce we defend the right of individuals to get married. So why do many people spend their time fighting against the right for gay-Americans to get married?
What it comes down to, as is the case of other types of bigotry, is fear and control. Religious fanatics who fight gay rights are fearful humans who hold on to their bible as if it was the word of god or something. My favorite thing about these fanatics is that they ignore the parts of the bible that don’t suite them, like the “judge not” lesson in Mathew and go on judging gay-Americans who want the right to a legally binding civil union we call marriage.
From the Gospel of Mathew:
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Fortunately, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker saw through the lies about gay marriage and ruled decisively against the California marriage ban.
The basis of his ruling was that those defending the gay marriage ban had no evidence that gay marriage caused harm to anyone and thus bans on this practice for one targeted group curtailed individual freedom.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40663.html
And the judge is right of course. All fear mongering around gays marrying is just that. The ban on gay marriage is an argument looking for evidence. Yes, the people passed Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage, but then people also passed laws against miscegenation, but that didn’t make the laws constitutional. The tyranny of the majority, a fearful ignorant one at that, cannot be used to take away the rights of the minority.
Actions:
First, support yourself and all the gay and lesbian people in your life. Continue to write letters, phone, or email your Representatives and Senators to stop any amendments to ban gay marriage. If your Senator is a right-winger like Jon Kyl of Arizona, talk to his Libertarian side, and tell him that we have a budget crisis to worry about and that he should stop worrying about “them gays”.
Congressional switchboard 800-828-0498
Just ask for the office of your Senator or Representative
House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/house/house_comments.shtml
Senate: http://www.senate.gov/
Find your Congressperson here:
http://www.votesmart.org/official_congress.php
Next, go to all the rallies as a member, a friend or supporter of gay-Americans and gay rights.
Find out more here: http://jointheimpact.com/
Join PFLAG: http://community.pflag.org/Page.aspx?pid=803
In Tucson, join, donate or support Wingspan. Wingspan is an outreach programs for gay and lesbian (and transgender) youth to deal with issues around growing up gay and lesbian in the US. It does much more. Point is, the program saves lives. http://www.wingspan.org/
Support the Human Rights Campaign, one of the most inclusive organizations in the nation addressing gay and lesbian rights. http://www.hrc.org/
Keep fighting for rights of all people. If they take away rights from one group, even if you are NOT a member of that group, they will go after you next.
Finally, write President Ob… never mind.
Yours,
Tex Shelters
Tex Shelters Online 
I believe that you can sign up for comment alerts, Tex. I did – and I get them. For everybody’s comments.
Yes Leeza, I can. But it’s just as easy to come here and comment. And now that I have approved you once, you are approved for life. Isn’t that a great option?
Taq.
Peace,
Tex Shelters
Thanks for being such a great ally, my friend.
And thanks just for being you.
Thanks Little Sun!
Keep up the good work and promotion of equal rights and education for all!
Peace,
Tex Shelters
The message from the judge is a message that Independents understand —
“It’s the Constitution, the 14th amendment article 1 the last sentence clearly states the provision of equal protection under the law for ALL citizens..”
Bottom line…..you can’t make laws just because the public thinks its a religious moral issue!
For Republicans to squawk about the Prop 8 ruling puts them on the wrong side of Voters. That’s why I don’t think they’ll touch it; they desperately need Voters in November and and people are getting fed up with all the social conservative baloney.
The District Court Judge Vaughn Walker who wrote the decision did a wonderful job in showcasing the FEAR that social conservatives use to scare people and how that FEAR has zero basis in fact.
The pro-Prop 8 lawyers were given the opportunity to present FACTS to support the position that gay people are hazzardous to heterosexual marriage.
The pro-Prop 8 lawyers gave ZERO testimony to to support the position that gay people are harrardous to heterosexual marriage.
The judge gave pro-Prop 8 lawyers the opportunity to present FACTS to support the position that children are at risk in becoming gay if they are exposed to homosexual behavior.
The pro-Prop 8 lawyers presented two witnesses who the judge deemed NOT EXPERTS in the subject of homosexual behavior and it’s affect/effect on children.
The pro-Prop 8 lawyers were given the opportunity to show how society will be harmed if gay people were given the right to marry.
When asked directly by the judge on this question, the pro-Prop 8 lawyers repeatedly said. ” We don’t know….we don’t know…we don’t know!
Bigots are bigots and the Federal Judge in this case gave every opportunity for the pro-Prop 8 lawyers to give ANY evidence to prove their case. The pro-Prop 8 lawyers FAILED in every way possible.
Bigotry begets Fear which begets ignorance which begets INTOLERANCE!
The pro-Prop 8 lawyers screwed their clients…
big time…..
however the u.s. constitution is not a theocratic document nor is our nation.
When this case reaches the u.s. supreme court prop 8 will be totally eliminated and gay marriage will then be legalized in all 50 states.
Then it’s the law and the GOP can choke on it.
Great points in your blog Texshelters….Thanks to for the links….Later Keely!
KSGH,
That judge proves there is still hope in this nation. Can you believe he’s, or has been much of his life, a Republican?
I’ve never been a fan of Republicans, but now they are making an enemy of me as they attack me, my family, my friends, hell, the US of A and the world.
Thanks.
Peace,
Tex Shelters
I’ve signed up a profile with Gravatar and my SGH name was not available! So using my beach nickname instead! Anyway I didn’t see my previous message so I reapplied it…if I double whammed my bad…but it will not happen again…..sigh.
The message from the judge is a message that people should understand!
“It’s the Constitution, the 14th amendment article 1 the last sentence clearly states the provision of equal protection under the law for ALL citizens..”
Bottom line…..you can’t make laws just because the public thinks its a religious moral issue!
For Republicans to squawk about the Prop 8 ruling puts them on the wrong side of Voters. That’s why I don’t think they’ll touch it; they desperately need Voters in November and and people are getting fed up with all the social conservative baloney.
The District Court Judge Vaughn Walker who wrote the decision did a wonderful job in showcasing the FEAR that social conservatives use to scare people and how that FEAR has zero basis in fact.
The pro-Prop 8 lawyers were given the opportunity to present FACTS to support the position that gay people are hazardous to heterosexual marriage.
The pro-Prop 8 lawyers gave ZERO testimony to to support the position that gay people are hazardous to heterosexual marriage.
The judge gave pro-Prop 8 lawyers the opportunity to present FACTS to support the position that children are at risk in becoming gay if they are exposed to homosexual behavior.
The pro-Prop 8 lawyers presented two witnesses who the judge deemed NOT EXPERTS in the subject of homosexual behavior and it’s affect/effect on children.
The pro-Prop 8 lawyers were given the opportunity to show how society will be harmed if gay people were given the right to marry.
When asked directly by the judge on this question, the pro-Prop 8 lawyers repeatedly said. ” We don’t know….we don’t know…we don’t know!
Bigots are bigots and the Federal Judge in this case gave every opportunity for the pro-Prop 8 lawyers to give ANY evidence to prove their case. The pro-Prop 8 lawyers FAILED in every way possible.
Bigotry begets Fear which begets ignorance which begets INTOLERANCE!
The pro-Prop 8 lawyers screwed their clients…
big time…..
however the u.s. constitution is not a theocratic document nor is our nation.
When this case reaches the u.s. supreme court prop 8 will be totally eliminated and gay marriage will then be legalized in all 50 states.
Then it’s the law and the GOP can choke on it.
Great points in your blog Texshelters….Thanks to for the links….Later Keely!
Keely,
Well done summary of how the Prop 8 lawyers messed up the case. They thought righteous indignation could stand in the place of the law.
Oops!
Thanks!
Peace,
Tex Shelters
I see no reason why the gay community can’t be happy with a civil union as it does the same thing from what I understand, at the same time I have nothing against them getting married. It’s a non-issue to me even if my bible speaks down on homosexual acts. We don’t live in a theoracy and these people who invest all this energy and money into preventing gays from marriage, I just wish they’d focus half that effort on a cause that uplifts everyone, spend that energy helping people instead of trying to stop people from doing something because they think God disapproves of it.
Hetrosexuals can’t even keep a marriage together and there are many broken families out there. Gay marriage didn’t cause that.
I don’t even know why I am commenting, I really don’t care about the issue, it just takes time & attention away from more important stuff.
Separate but equal didn’t work out well the first time around, because separate isn’t equal. In this case, civil unions do not guarantee the approximately 1138 rights, privileges, and responsibilities afforded to marriage under federal law.
You advocate separate but equal and then go on to say that my basic civil rights don’t matter to you one way or the other. They ought to, but only if you value your own. If basic rights are not truly guaranteed to All under the Constitution and Bill of Rights, one never knows when the mob will decide to try to vote away one’s own rights…
Silly heathen that I am, even if I had some weird prejudice against you, I’d stand up for your rights (and think it a critically important issue), simply on the basis of that principle alone.
Little Sun,
Yes, and because I know that I am next in line after gays and blacks and Latinos to be put in jail for being me, I should care about the rights of everyone.
Besides, I agree with the love they neighbor part of some Christian churches, and I don’t pick and choose people by sexual orientation.
The fact is, the LBG (no T at the time) community was a big part of my life in San Francisco and there was no need for an us or them. Although, I did freak out the lesbians at work when I, a straight boy, kissed my male coworkers on the lips. Yes, I am a provocateur.
Peace,
Tex Shelters
Dogman70,
It’s about equal rights, equal opportunity, and equal access. Maybe we should abolish marriage altogether than no one would get divorced.
A “civil union” is not the same thing as marriage. There is also this thing called “separation of church and state” which means if a church wants to discriminate against some people and not allow them to marry at their church, fine. It also means the state cannot deny the opportunity to marriage for any humans based on religion and a few words in a book written by humans over 2000 years ago.
Peace,
Tex Shelters
You were nice to patronizing dogman70, Tex – I would have let him have it. You got further than I would have. Kudos.