Oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment
(Originally posted to Queer at EraBlog on Wed, 11 Feb 2004 23:48:38 GMT)
George W. Bush, after months of hinting that he would support the Federal Marriage Amendment, has endorsed it. He’s desparately trying to change the subject from whether he was AWOL from the National Guard in Alabama.
The Human Rights Campaign is urging everyone to oppose this. They provide a sample letter to send to your representatives, but I threw it away and wrote my own (below), which has been sent to my representatives, via the HRC Action Center.
The Bush Administration pisses me off on so many levels. I’m particularly infuriated about Bush’s support for the Federal Marriage Amendment. After hinting that he’d support it for the last few months, he’s now trying to change the subject from the charges that he was AWOL from the Air National Guard.
The FMA is a rabble-rousing exercise cooked up by the likes to Donald Wildmon to invigorate the religious right. Once again, the know-nothing bible thumpers are demonizing gay people. I’m sick of it.
Specious arguments about the sanctity of marriage fall flat when you consider that 50% of marriages end in divorce and Britney Spear’s frivolous prank has more legal standing than a gay couple that have been together for decades.
The federal government has no business interfering in marriage. That’s the states’ prerogative.
Several commentators have argued that not only would the FMA forbid gay marriage, it would also void any civil unions legislation that some states may pass.
We should be following the example of most Western European nations and decoupling the civil and religious aspects of marriage. The state and only the state can marry you. A religious wedding has no legal significance. I don’t expect this to happen in the US anytime soon. So much for the Separation of Church and State.
I fully expect you to vigorously oppose the FMA.
I would very much like for you to support gay marriage, or at least civil unions.
My representatives are Rep. Jim McDermott, Sen. Patty Murray, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, Jim McDermott is very liberal and needs no urging to oppose it; Cantwell and Murray are fairly liberal, but it does no harm to stiffen their spines. Or for me to vent.