The battle rages on...

So apparently, one of those bastard federal "activist judges" in Nebraska struck down that state's Constitutional gay marriage ban. Said it was basically illegal, un-American, unconstitutional, promoted tooth decay, and a bunch of other things. It was wrong and bad, get it? Well, even though I'm still waiting for someone to tell me what an "activist judge" is (because from what I can tell, it's simply a judge who doesn't cater to the religious right's every whim), you can bet that the anti-gay crusaders are having a complete conniption fit over this.

Here's where I get confused. Why are these people so unbelievably threatened by the prospect of two homosexuals committing to each other? How on earth does this "undermine" conventional (i.e., one man, one woman) marriage? Personally, I think heterosexual men and women do a splendid job of undermining marriage all on their own. Adultery, divorce, quickie marriages, annulments, bitter custody fights... yeah. On and on. Perhaps they need to look a bit more closely at their own marriages before trying to curtail the rights of others.

So this coming Tuesday, May 17th, will mark the one-year anniversary of gays and lesbians being able to legally wed in the state of Massachussetts. Has society in that state come grinding to a halt? Is the murder rate up? Are children being brainwashed into "turning gay"? Has the economy crumbled? The answer is a big, resounding "no." In fact, according to a Newsweek poll for their May 23rd issue, not only do 84% of voters in Massachussetts say the quality of life in that state is either better or unchanged since those damn gays started marrying each other, public support for allowing same-sex unions has actually risen over 20% (from 35% in April 2004 to 56% in April 2005).

The point is, my life is completely unaffected because a gay couple across town decides to marry. They deserve every right to happiness, as well as all the legal rights, as any straight couple. This business of objecting to gay marriage based on what people think the Bible says is crap, and totally flies in the face of separation of church and state, and indeed spits on the principles upon which this country was founded. People fled to this land specifically to escape religious intolerance and suffocating doctrine.

What these gibbering right-wing politicians who say "This should be left to the people!" just don't GET is that you can't hold a popular vote to withhold (or grant) rights to a minority group. What if there had been a nationwide vote 60-70 years ago to determine whether or not blacks could vote. Would that have ever passed? There was a time in the not-too-distant past where interracial marriages were actually illegal. What if that had been put to a popular vote? Had it been left up to the voting public in the 19th century (comprised entirely of men, mind you), women surely wouldn't have been granted their right to vote on the basis of a popular opinion poll of then-registered voters. No, the Constitution exists to protect the minority, and that these hate-mongers want to undo that key attribute and, for the first time in our country's history, write in an amendment that specifially takes rights away from a minority group -- well, that tells you all you need to know.

No, the reality is, homosexuals are the last minority that it's still semi-okay to discriminate against and ostracize. That's changing though, and in another 10-20 years' time, it won't be the case. What these religious zealots surely know is that they will ultimately lose. Gay marriage will be legal across the country, just as it is in several others, and American society will go on, unfettered.