The problem they have is that this hateful belief is a religious one, and not a constitutional one. In fact, a federal judge in Tulsa has recently ruled that the Oklahoma ban on same-sex marriages violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution -- the amendment that guarantees all Americans equal rights under the law.
The decision is currently stayed from being executed because the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is considering a similar case from Utah, but that hasn't kept Oklahoma fundies from getting all bent out of shape. They simply cannot stand the idea of everyone having the same rights -- and to prevent that from happening in Oklahoma, some fundies have come up with a rather insane idea. They want to ban ALL marriages in that state.
The idea comes from State Rep. Mike Turner (R-Edmond). Rep. Turner (pictured above) has already written a shell of the bill, but is waiting for the appeals court decision before submitting it to the legislature -- but amazingly, there is some support from his fundamentalist brethren.
These idiots have obviously not thought this thing through, because banning all marriages would mean the state could no longer give certain advantages to any married couples -- same-sex or opposite sex (things like tax advantages, inheritance rights, hospital visiting privileges, etc.). Because to grant any of those things the state would have to define exactly what a marriage is (and that would put them back in the same situation they are currently in).
Also, that move would not mean the federal government wouldn't grant their benefits to married couples in Oklahoma, and those benefits would be the same to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. And all anyone would have to do to be recognized as being married by the federal government is to get married in a state where their marriage is legal. In other words, both same-sex and opposite-sex couples could just go to another state and get legally married.
This whole idea of banning all marriages to prevent same-sex marriages is nothing short of stupid. It not only won't work, but could cause problems for opposite-sex couples in the state. It just exposes the primary fundamentalist value as being "hate" -- a value that is the opposite of the only commandment given by Jesus (who they claim to be following). His only commandment was to "love" (both god and other people).
Personally, I find it amazing that these fundamentalists would be willing to deny the teaching of their savior so they could promote their own hate and discrimination. It makes their religious argument meaningless.
NOTE -- Even making marriage a purely religious function would not work, since there would be some liberal churches in Oklahoma willing to perform marriages for same-sex couples (and denying those churches that right would once again put the state in the position of violating the Constitution).
it seems as though many of these fundamentalist have forgotten what this country was founded for in the first place. the people of this land came to the americas and declared independence for one main reason. they sought to be allowed for all men to be able to be treated as equals regardless of their beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI'm honestly starting to believe that the hate harbored by these people is more important to them than either their country or their religion.
DeleteGAYDAR alert!
ReplyDeleteYou may be right.
Delete