The Jon Blog

Surprise, Surprise

So Bill Frist (R-TN), the Senate Majority Leader, opposes gay marriage. I don't have a problem with him personally opposing gay marriage. People are entitled to their personal opinions. But I do have a major problem with his targeting gay rights in the political arena.

#1: He "said the Supreme Court's decision last week on gay sex threatens to make the American home a place where criminality is condoned." (AP - see the article)

#2: "I very much feel that marriage is a sacrament, and that sacrament should extend and can extend to that legal entity of a union between -- what is traditionally in our Western values has been defined -- as between a man and a woman. So I would support [a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage].''

Well, here's what I have to say to you, Mr. Frist:

Wake up and smell the coffee, you facist son of a bitch. Legalizing a means by which hundreds of thousands of Americans personally express themselves - in the privacy of their own homes - has nothing to do with criminality. Heck, even when they don't do it in their homes, as long as it's in an appropriate place, how on earth is that criminal? How does that even come close to selling crack, or prostitution?

Marriage may well be a sacrament, but if it is, then it should have absolutely nothing to do with the government at all. Sacraments are part of Church rites, and one thing which has been part of the constitution for over 200 years is the separation of Church and State. If you want your church to ban gay marriage, go for it. But before you just go and say that gay marriage is tantamount to the coming of Armageddon, go meet a couple gay people.

Find out who they are. Find out that they love their partners just as much, if not more, than so many straight (married) couples do. Be decent. Allow these people the common dignity to make legal and medical and personal choices for their spouses, because that's what they are, spouses, the same way that any straight couple could be. Allow them to adopt. There are caring, loving gay men out there who would make better parents than 90% of the stupid heteros who only have to have sex to get to have a baby. Just because straights biologically can, doesn't mean that they deserve. But look at the people who do deserve, and who want so deeply to be able to share their lives with a child.

Think about the gay people who have contributed to our nation; to our arts; to our society. Think about the gay people who will contribute more in the future. And perhaps, most importantly, don't you, Mr. Frist, as the Majority Leader of the Senate in a country with crises in foreign policy, in medical and health management policy, in domestic issues from education to homelessness, don't you have more important things to worry about than the fact that two people may choose to express their deep love for each other in a way that didn't occur to you or your church? Don't you have better things to do?

Posted by Jon at June 30, 2003 01:43 AM | TrackBack