Gay unions are THE issue for Christian Right
Published February 13, 2004
If other state courts take the same stance, the proposed amendment will be meaningless.
Leaders of the movement met with presidential advisor Karl Rove recently. They say they were told President George Bush is fully behind their proposal. However, signals from the White House have continued to be cautious, not echoing the strident tone of the activists.
So far, however, the president has yet to publicly fulfill Mr. Rove's private assurances. In a statement after the Massachusetts court affirmed its ruling last week, Mr. Bush called the decision "deeply troubling" but again offered only conditional support for an amendment. "If activist judges insist on redefining marriage by court order, the only alternative will be the constitutional process," he said, without using the word "amendment."
In addition to the proposed constitutional amendment, opponents to gay marriage in states that permit a form of it, Vermont and Massachusetts, and soon, California, can appeal to the the U.S. Supreme Court. It seems doubtful that the Court will choose to wade into the issue, though. Traditionally, states determine the rules of relationships in the domestic sphere.
The most significant change in American political scene during the last decades was the emergence of the GOP's Southern Strategy. It encouraged the exodus of working and middle-class white Americans from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. That in turn, resulted in conservative dominance of federal politics. The GOP has also increased its share of governorships and other state offices. If the Christian Right has its way, the opposition to gay unions will bolster the gains made by the Southern strategy. But, will Bush stick? The answer to that question may determine whether gay rights will be the dominant domestic political issue in this decade, as opposition to civil rights legislation was during the the 1960s.
Note: This entry also appeared at Mac-a-ro-nies.
- Gay unions are THE issue for Christian Right
- Published: February 13, 2004
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- Section: Politics
- Writer: Mac Diva
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Comments
Shark, I am glad you mentioned that. I forgot about that episode. These are not people that I need deciding anything for me. EVER.
Was cocaine even popular when they created the Mighty Mouse cartoons?! I remember that episode too. Now did you hear about "Puff the Magic Dragon?"........
Bush is no fool. He knows as well as everyone else that gay marriage will one day be accepted across the United States. Generation by generation, this will become more of a non-issue. You're always going to have the crazy Southern right frothing at the mouth while holding the Bible in hand.
As shown with the civil rights legislation in the 1960s, old habits and old generations die hard.
re: Mighty Mouse and Cocaine;
The producers said the heroic mouse was sniffing flowers, but Wildmon never lets reality get in the way of a PR ploy for his Inquisition.
Possible bumper sticker:
"Stop imaginary drug abuse by imaginary creatures!"
chris kent:
i love that line....crazy Southern right frothing at the mouth while holding the Bible in hand.
can i steal it?
jack e. jett
Please do.....let's make it into a bumper sticker.
Well, they won. And, I mean the hardcore -- the ones who hated the compromise. This issue really could be the top domestic one of the decade. In a way, I think it could displace terrorism. Terrorism is sort of intangible. Yes, Ashscroft and company will warn here and accuse there, but the number of actual terrorists who have been identified is tiny. Gays, on the other hand, are obviously present - easy to make into a domestic enemy.
Wasn't there also a claim that Barney, the purple dinosaur, was bad, bad, bad by some people in the Christian Right years ago? I don't remember the specifics, but wasn't there something?
Maybe you're thinking of Tinky Winky, the purple Teletubbie who carries a purse?
(Giggling.) The fact I don't have children shows, doesn't it? Hey, I knew it was something purple-:). Do you recall what that was supposed to be about? What I remember is that it was supposedly another assault on the minds of those people's offspring.
Yes, it was that he was purple/lavender and supposedly male, but effeminate in name, manerisms, and wardrobe accessories. You know, he was gay and promoting homosexuality to the under-3 crowd.
"Gays, on the other hand, are obviously present - easy to make into a domestic enemy."
Good point Mac Diva, but my gut tells me most politicians are genuinely worried about their ever-important "LEGACY." And any politician worth his weight in salt (or is it gold?!) knows full well that to go against the rights for gay couples to marry will one day historically tarnish their legacy. You are correct in making the correlation with the 1960s civil rights movement. It is a similar issue. My personal opinion is that the issue will be more easily decided than say, abortion rights.
Gay people are here to stay (did they ever leave?), and they deserve rights as much as anyone else. This is an issue which I think most people will eventually accept. And rightly so.
Are you feeling well, Chris Kent? You've been nice to me all day. Which is just fine. I'm willing to give you the benefit of a doubt, too.
Thanks for the info, bhw. When I was a kid, purple was my favorite color. I had no idea of the implications some people would attach to it later.
Hmmmmm....now I see it, playing with gender identification, are we MD? "Mac," clearly a male signifier. "Diva," clearly a female signifier.
And now we hear about the purple love of childhood.
Jerry Falwell would have a field day over here!
Funny column in yesterday's Dallas Morning News written by Steve Blow. It kind of touches on what you've mentioned. Here's an excerpt:
"News stories never spell it out. They just talk about the politics. So this week, I went to see Kelly Shackelford for the specifics.
He's president of the Plano-based Free Market Foundation, an organization that vigorously opposes same-sex marriage and was instrumental in the passage of Texas' new Defense of Marriage Act.
I asked Kelly to spell it out for me. And first, the good news: My marriage is safe.
"I don't think anyone who is already married would be impacted," he said.
Now the bad news: Society will collapse in the not-too-distant future if gay marriage is approved.
"I think we will have chaos," he said. "I don't know how long it would take. But this kind of stuff tends to snowball.
"I think marriage - what marriage currently is - is the foundational structure of any society. If you take that away, I think it's just a matter of time until that society will collapse."
Strong words. But I still didn't understand how we get from my safe marriage to the collapse of civilization.
"You can't change marriage. You destroy it," he said. "To call other relationships marriage is kind of like saying there's a round wheel and a square wheel. I mean, it's not really a wheel if it's square, but that's what is happening here. If you call same-sex relationships 'marriage,' you haven't changed the definition of marriage, you have destroyed the definition of marriage."
I hated to be dense, but he still had me scratching my head."
You're not the only one Steve......
Thanks, Chris. I hope you are blogging that item, too. If you do, send me the URL and I will link to it in future entries on the topic.
I'm also scratching my head over why someone who appears to be a libertarian (Free Market Foundation) would be in a tizzy about gay unions. Wouldn't a pure libertarian position be not to care about what people do in their private lives?



In the late 1980s, Mr. Wildmon and the American Family Association made headlines when they accused CBS of promoting ILLEGAL DRUG USAGE to children.
Mighty Mouse was apparently sniffing cocaine in an episode of the CARTOON.
I'm not making this up.