Thursday, May 20, 2010

You can protect marriage or be anti-gay

Rand Paul, newly elected GOP Senate candidate from Kentucky (and son of Ron Paul), declared that we no longer need the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Let the market decide the best way to treat black people. Alas, the wisdom of the market fails when many businesses are run by bigots. We still get tyranny of the majority. You can thank the Tea Party for this one. Post-racial America? Not yet.



Enough people believe we should have recognition of gay couples that it's only a matter of time before some type of recognition is available in all states. Alas, that recognition won't always be marriage. Which means things will likely backfire on those "protecting marriage." That's because, based on studies in Europe, many straight couples will decide they want the less binding unions or partnerships that gays are allowed to have. We wouldn't want to discriminate against the straights, now would we? So you're faced with a choice -- save marriage or be anti-gay. You can't have both.



Blogger Daniel Gonzales heard about the rejoicing from a couple because their lesbian daughter broke off a 22 year relationship and became Christian. It made him think of the book, 101 Frequently Asked Questions About Homosexuality. I don't recommend it. Consider this scenario: A man tells his parents he has finally accepted he is gay and has never been happier. What's a parent to do? The book counsels to tell the son it isn't too late to turn back. In the meantime, the parents should pray the son becomes as miserable as possible. So the loving thing to do is to make someone miserable? I don't buy that brand of Christianity.



Andy Tobias, treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, has listed 30 things Obama has done for gays. John Aravosis is not impressed. The big reason is Obama has said a lot of words and has done very little. In particular, Obama has expended no political capital. Out of those 30 things…

One was a lie (it had already been done 15 years ago).
One wasn't actually gay related.
Ten were mere words, hot air apparently signifying nothing.
Six were tiny bits of action such as awarding Presidential Medals of Freedom to two gay icons.
And twelve were actions to the good, including a hate-crimes bill (Obama signed, but made no effort to get it passed).

Missing is any action by Obama on the gay community's big issues: the gay military ban, defense of marriage, employment non-discrimination, bi-national couples, cabinet level positions.


Coupled with that is another blogger lamenting we're tired of Obama ignoring us. I've seen comments that the GOP sweep to power in November is no longer a sure thing. Voters are annoyed with incumbents, but of both parties. However, Obama might be making things worse for Dems by getting gays so upset with him they sit out the election.

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