Well, you have to hand it to our opponents: they’re getting creative with their insults. You may recall that a fringe candidate for Governor in Oregon said that marriage equality is as bad as murder last week. Lorraine Mae Rafferty is easy enough to dismiss, but she wasn’t the only one making wild leaps about the freedom to marry: an attorney for antigay clerks in Virginia filed a brief claiming that if gay people can get married, it’ll lead to relatives getting married.
Yeah. Okay. Sure it will. Of course, we’ve had marriage equality in Massachusetts for over a decade and nothing of the sort has happened, but maybe they do things differently in the south.
You can expect similarly apocalyptic claims in Utah on Thursday. The Sixth Circuit will hear oral arguments in that state’s marriage lawsuit. Back in December, a judge overturned the marriage ban in Utah, and this is the one and only chance for lawyers to make the case orally on appeal. Once we have a ruling in Utah, the next stop is the U.S. Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, couples in other states aren’t waiting for Utah (and a handful of other states) to work their way to conclusion. Two couples in Florida separately sued the state last week — that makes four suits in Florida alone.
How about we take this to the next level?
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jonjct
my two straight marriages were awful enough, now that i’m gay i am not in a hurry to make that mistake a third time. in fact when the whole marriage push started in earnest a few years back i was kinda shocked thinking who in their right minds would want THAT? given the disposable nature of gay relationships in general i’m guessing that gay divorce will make a whole lot of lawyers a whole lot richer than they are right now. sad to think that money being wasted on attorney fees when it could be spent on beer and poppers. 🙂
Ben Dover
To open up a can of worms on this one – I was shocked to learn that in Massachusetts, it actually IS legal for first cousins to marry! I had thought that stuff only happened in Appalachia. Who knew? Of course, that law predated the s/s marriage law by about 350 years or something (those colonials were pretty wacky & a little inbred), and I bet it hardly ever happens nowadays, but there it is.
@jonjct: You sound like quite a catch!
hyhybt
Is the story at about 2:30 Nevada or Nebraska? The video says one and the audio the other.
As for polygamy… today’s “Hagar the Horrible” supports the idea, so if it comes along any time soon, don’t blame gays, but cartoonists 🙂
@jonjct: Sad you think gay relationships are somehow inherently disposable.
LubbockGayMale
@jonct: My favorite response to straights opposing gay marriage… if you truly wish to defend marriage as an institution, outlaw divorce first! They don’t get it for some reason….
Alfredo
HATRED IS AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE. WHAT IF EVERY GAY AND LESBIAN PROTECTED HIM/HERSELF WITH A SECOND AMENDMENT, NRA APPROVED MACHINE GUN? LET’S BLOW SOME KNEECAPS! (THE LIVING END).
Stache99
@LubbockGayMale: Yes that would be logical but the whole marriage battle is a red herring with them anyways. Now that their losing some like NOM and FRC are taking their product ie hate over to other countries and getting what they really want which is long prison terms or executions.
manjoguy
@Alfredo: Only Americans hate? I’ve seen hate all over the world. Sadly, I’ve seen some pretty hateful things posted on this site. If we want tolerance from others, we gays have to be tolerant ourselves.
Pix
Many antigay states already allow first cousins to marry. Likewise, 27-year-old Edgar Allen Poe married his 13-year-old cousin back when gay marriage was considered unthinkable. Plenty of Islamic states believe homosexuality deserves a death sentence (and may have it encoded into law) but can marry children. Despite this, slippery slope fallacies keep being applied to allowing gay marriage, just as it was for interracial marriage.
But as this is a politician it’s hard to say whether she’s really that stupid or if she’s just trying to capture the very valuable stupid vote.
Pix
@Alfredo:
Not sure if you serious, sober, etc…it’s so hard to tell on the net! But shooting someone for insulting you isn’t considered “self-defense.”
Now if you’re actually assaulted by people saying they’re gonna make you the next Matthew Shepherd then by all means, go nuts with your machine gun (tip: avoid shooting any in the back after they turn and run). 🙂
jonjct
@Ben Dover: I am quite a catch … just, briefly. hahahaha.
Harley
@Pix: Yes. Conservatives definitely court the “stupid” vote. Why else would middle class people vote to protect the rich. And, in Florida all one has to do is look “menacing” to get shot dead in the streets. All you have to do to get away with murder is claim you were “threatened” and you can invoke the “stand your ground” defense. License to kill, 007.