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Volume 26, Issue 27, February 26, 2004

Opinion

Offensive Marriage Act

Joel Tagert
Columnist

The crash of a door exploding inward suddenly awoke the gently sleeping Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public.

Into their bedroom burst four lavishly costumed, but bare-chested men. One was dressed as a cowboy; another as a fireman; still another as a biker; and the last as a construction worker. From their belts hung a variety of multicolored dildos.

Quickly the men seized the innocent couple and bound their hands and feet with duct tape.

The two screamed for help, but to no avail.

Mrs. Public they tied to the bed for someone to find later, but Mr. Public they pulled up and began dragging out of the room.

At the doorway they paused. “Say goodbye to your wife,” said the fireman. “Because this heterosexual marriage is over!”

“What?” cried Mr. Public. “Are you going to kill me?”

“Nope,” snarled the cowboy. “You and me are going to San Francisco to get hitched! So saddle up, big boy, ‘cause you got a long ride ahead of you!”

* * *

To arms! To arms, fellow patriots, because this could happen to YOU!

Already, roving bands of homosexuals have taken over San Francisco. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah?

It’s only a matter of time until God wreaks His vengeance on these perverts and destroys the city in a rain of fire.

Or, maybe God will speak to George Bush once again and have him hurry the destruction along with some cruise-missile strikes.

I’m sure it’s what some of these wingnuts would like.

Our almost-elected leader has warned us: gay marriage is a threat to our nation serious enough to warrant a Constitutional amendment forbidding it.

Not since the days of anti-miscegenation laws (forbidding interracial marriage) has the GOP adopted such a stance of intolerance and hatred. Not since Jim Crow has the Republican Party so sought to deny a group equal rights.

My roommate, P., is a lesbian. She is a mature, wise woman in her early 40s who works as a doctor and owns her own home.
She is scrupulously law-abiding and works continuously to help the people around her.

But, the GOP says she shouldn’t be allowed to marry the person of her choosing. In fact, these homophobes go further, equating her lifestyle — as in an op-ed by Armstrong Williams in the Denver Post last Sunday — with “bestiality, pedophilia, etc.”

This kind of demonization is offensive in the extreme. Bestiality and pedophilia are illegal because they are abusive; that is, they are nonconsensual.

They have absolutely nothing to do with a loving relationship between two consenting adults.

Such comments reveal the spirit of hatred that the right has, unfortunately, embraced.

Underlying the talk of “cultural institutions” and “moral codes” are the shrill voices of Biblical fundamentalists. They may couch their intolerance in mild language, but their basic argument is this: the Bible says that God hates gays, so gay marriage should be illegal.

Like slaveowners who used Bible verses to support their abuse, these fundamentalists ignore the true spirit of Christianity in favor of discriminatory views that have no place in our pluralistic society.

What ever happened to “Love thy neighbor as thyself”?

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom hasn’t forgotten Christ’s injunction. He obviously recognizes that these couples just want what we all want – public recognition of their relationships, and the rights that attend that recognition.

It’s heartening to see a man of conscience stand up for the rights of the people he represents.

Nor has our own Mayor Hickenlooper forgotten what compassion is, speaking out in favor of equal rights for gays and against Marilyn Musgrave’s hateful amendment at a Valentine’s Day rally.

Denver’s Rep. Diana Degette also deserves recognition for speaking up.

These leaders recognize that it’s not government’s place to dictate lifestyles, but rather to extend equal rights to all citizens, and to protect them from hatred and violence.

By all accounts, an amendment banning gay marriage has little chance of passing.

The proposal is just a sop George Bush is throwing to the far right to prop up his election-year prospects, but it’s one more mark of shame on a party with a dirty, shameful history.

With the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage and Newsom’s courageous action, civil rights have taken a step forward.

Let’s hope this progress continues so that soon all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples will enjoy the same rights the rest of America has.