Thursday, July 05, 2007

The Sky Isn't Falling- Experience may be trumping hysteria over gay marriage.


Today's Washington Post has a gay-supportive editorial on gay marriage (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/04/AR2007070401384.html) that largely points out the obvious. Full marriage rights for sam-sex couples has not resulted in any of the dire consequences predicted by the lunatic Christianist fringe. In fact, Massachusetts continues to have the lowest divorce rate in the country versus the far high rates in Bible belt gay bashing states. Here are some higlights from the editorial:

WHEN THE high court of Massachusetts ruled in 2003 that the commonwealth's constitution gave same-sex couples the right to marry, detractors railed against "activist judges" who were "imposing" their will on the people. Only the people, through their elected representatives, should decide something so fundamental, they said. Thus began an effort to amend Massachusetts's constitution by referendum to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Four years and about 10,000 same-sex marriages later, here's what the people have said: never mind.

Despite dire predictions, the institution of marriage didn't crumble under the weight of homosexuals seeking the rights and responsibility that come with it. The sky didn't fall in Massachusetts. Nor has it buckled in the District of Columbia and the five states that offer civil unions or domestic partnerships to gay couples. Washington state's domestic partnership law goes into effect next month. Oregon's domestic partnership law and New Hampshire's civil unions take effect in January 2008. Acceptance of gay marriage is by no means widespread. Marriage is restricted to one man and one woman by constitutional amendment in 26 states and by state law in 19 others. But the tide is slowly changing. Opinion polls show growing acceptance of gay rights.

As an interesting aside to the editorial, check out John Arivosis on AmericaBlaob as to why the term "homosexual," consistently used by the anti-gay Christo-facists, is out dated (and derrogatory) See: http://www.americablog.com/2007/07/dear-washington-post-please-stop.html

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