Thompson,
a black, Christian woman, stung a nation with her
words, but failed to move a backward legislature. After
she spoke, they passed the amendment.
Here’s
some of what she said:
Members,
this bill is about hate and fear and discrimination ...
When I was a small girl, white folks used to talk about
'protecting the institution of marriage' as well. What
they meant was if people of my color tried to marry people
of Mr. Chisum's color, you'd often find the people of
my color hanging from a tree ... Fifty years ago, white
folks thought interracial marriages were 'a threat to
the institution of marriage’ … now that blacks
and women have equal rights, you turn your hatred to homosexuals,
and you still use your misguided reading of the Bible
to justify your hatred.
This
is obscene ... The prejudices exhibited by members of
this body disgust me … I have listened to the arguments.
I have listened to all of the crap ... I want you to know
that this amendment [is] blowing smoke to fuel the hell-fire
flames of bigotry.
America
is older, but in some states, no wiser.
The
Christian/republican vs. Gay/democrat screaming match is
old. It’s so old, that it’s new again, and like
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, worse the second time around.
Here’s
an idea: Let’s look at history, and decide not to
repeat it.
Let’s
focus on where we’re going, instead of where we are.
If we did that, we’d discover some interesting things,
not the least of which is that reason will, eventually,
prevail.
Consider
what C. W. Nevius wrote in the San Francisco
Chronicle just two days after the California Assembly
voted: “Social conservatives in California are feeling
pretty cheerful now … But here's some advice: Enjoy
it now. It isn't going to last … it seems clear there
is a general shift toward support of committed relationships
between same-sex partners.”
Nevius
quotes Assemblyman Mark Leno, the San Francisco democrat
who wrote the same-sex marriage bill. “Those over
65 oppose same-sex marriage,” Leno says. “But
those under 35 support it — and more strongly than
those over 65 oppose it.”
“It
isn't just that the under-35s are moving up while the over-65s
are moving out,” Nevius adds. “The real problem
is that if the anti-gay marriage faction can't count on
people being shocked and horrified by gays, they really
don't have much to fall back on. There's no economic or
public safety reason to keep two people who love each other
from getting married. It just comes down to ‘I don't
like the idea so you can't do it.’”
He
also notes that “Gay-Straight Alliance clubs, once
a focus of controversy in high schools, have become commonplace
… there are some 3,000 chapters nationwide.”
Kids
aren’t buying into the horror that Lopez purports
is on every corner. One reason for that is because accurate
information is easier for kids to get their hands on than
a Big Mac. More importantly, they have gay classmates and
friends with gay parents. They’re meeting gay people
and respecting them. No one is being harmed; no one has
turned into a pillar of salt.
Thanks
to the Internet, the news media, the entertainment media
and good ol’ fashioned honest conversation, there
aren’t many people left in the dark or the dark ages.
The future looks bright and accepting, not apocalyptic.
The
right’s main arguments are flawed and more
and more people are realizing that. The notion that homosexuals
aren’t born gay is archaic, and holding that belief
in modern times is as silly as believing the world is flat.
Many also aren’t buying into the claims that homosexuals
are sexual predators and morally inferior to heterosexuals.
If
straight people have cornered the market on morality, some
of them haven’t gotten that memo. Perhaps Rush Limbaugh
left it at the rehab. Or maybe Bill Clinton tucked into
Monica Lewinsky’s thong. More likely, though, Bill
O’Reilly slipped on it while reaching for the loofa
in Andrea Mackris's shower.
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