Posted on 12/18/2010 12:36:57 PM PST by tricksy
In the wake of the new Republican majority in the New Hampshire Legislature, some social conservatives want to turn back the clock on same-sex marriage. What a waste of time in a country and a state more rightly focused on righting our economic ship.
According to exit polls last month, voters overwhelmingly care about jobs and the economy, followed by taxes, terrorism and health care. Same-sex marriage is not even near the bottom of this list; it is at the bottom. It's hard to imagine that New Hampshire legislators would spend an ounce of time on a settled matter.
Nonetheless, the Washington, D.C.-based National Organization for Marriage, the nation's leading anti-gay organization, is lobbying the State House to support repeal legislation in January. NOM's president has declared, after spending nearly $1 million in an unsuccessful push to defeat Gov. John Lynch, "We will now fight for a vote on a constitutional amendment and a repeal of same-sex marriage in New Hampshire."
This is the same D.C. lobbying group whose leadership is on record saying being gay is a "sexual disability" and should be a criminal offense. Yes, a crime.
Since Lynch, a centrist Democrat who initially opposed marriage equality, signed the bill into law, more than 1,000 committed gay and lesbian couples have been legally married.
And since that time? The sky has not fallen. Clocks have not stopped. Straight couples' marriages have not been threatened. In fact, same-sex marriage here has been a non-event.
One of those first couples to wed was Linda Murphy and Donna Swartwout, together for 19 years. At the time, Murphy said their marriage "was a reaffirmation of our love and our commitment, and a legal acknowledgment from our home state. Some day this will not even be a news story. It will just be a part of life."
That time has come. Marriages between committed same-sex couples no longer make the nightly newscast as some novelty or out-of-the-mainstream event. People in this state, and across the country, know that marriage is the only sure way to protect families. It is part of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
People are moving in the direction of basic equality, not away from it. More Catholics and political independents, says the Pew Research Center, approve of the freedom to marry than disapprove. Fifty-five percent of people in a University of New Hampshire survey support marriage equality.
What is also telling about the mood here is that after Lynch signed the marriage bill into law, NOM tried to launch a grassroots repeal of it. According to Granite State Progress, 80 towns rejected NOM's local ballot initiative, and 37 percent of New Hampshire towns didn't even consider the petition. To us, that says let's move on already.
Bravo to Republican Senate President Peter Bragdon, who knows voters don't really care about same-sex marriage. He said right after the election, "The economy, jobs and taxes. That will be our focus. I doubt there will be any marriage legislation introduced into the Senate."
There is always the slim possibility, however, that some will make this an issue. So brace yourself for the hollering coming from a tiny but vocal group claiming the gay couple in Cornish is somehow a danger to the Smith family down the street. Let's remember that the fear spread around last time around didn't ever pan out.
It was near the bottom of the list as it was being passed into law so that really isn't much of a reason not to push for a repeal.
I see how it works. When the Dems in DC are in lame duck and the country is hurting economically the gay agenda comes first. But in the gay Northeast lets just move on from the whole social issues and focus on the economy.
When the gay couple adopts the Smith family’s children, after the state determines the Smith’s have an unsafe environment due to their religious beliefs, we’ll have this discussion.
“Same-sex marriage is not even near the bottom of this list; it is at the bottom.”
Whose bottom?
But seriously, folks. When courts and a State legislature overrule the will of the people, to force a perverse agenda down their throats, it is to the people to kick them out of office and reverse their schemes, with the selection of new representatives.
While a healthy economy is important, if you cannot trust your representatives to be your representatives, then they cannot be trusted for other issues as well.
“....near the bottom of this list; it is at the bottom....”
My sense is that is what the issue is all about.
It is important because it is a moral issue our Congress has no business being involved in it.
Was gay marriage at the bottom of the list when these guys fought for it? Or only when decent people try to repeal it?
YES IT IS. ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS GAY MARRIAGE IS SICK. AND, IN MY OPINION, VERY UN-AMERICAN.
Now that the Military accepts faggots and dykes, this will get cited as Precedent, and Lawyers will take the Gay Rights bullshit right to the Courts to get Gay Marriage, Partner Benefits, etc., etc. all over the USA. This opens the floodgates for depravity to be the Law of the Land, folks.
Watch and see......
: )
Eeeewwww!
There is a whole Pandora’s Box besides the education front that is opened if this issue is “legitimized”, including “spousal benefits” (how much do the AIDS cocktails cost?), the “gay divorce” issue which has already reared its ugly head in court (how is custody treated when one is a biological “parent” and the other isn’t?), and how do you deal with any religious organizations (or any groups)that continue with the natural law? (by demonizing them, of course, and using the IRS as your “big stick” to punish them).
a zillion gay/military harassment lawsuits later, and we’ll see the cost, among other things
Always. Once the left has pushed the issue until they’ve passed it, it’s always time then to drop it and focus on the material issues. That’s how they marginalise issues after they ignored jobs and the economy for two years while pushing to fight for those very same issues they say don’t matter once they’ve prevailed. They do this every time.
Exactly. The latest example of Margaret Thatcher’s ratchet effect.
That's insane.
Pro-homo troll.
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