We'll Have a Gay Old Time...Not!

Despite the political blog links on the right, I try to keep out of political discussions/ arguments; however, this is one that I've just gotta say something about. Looking at the amendments made to the US Constitution over the years (I'm ashamed to admit just how little I've looked at this document in my life), I'm struck by just how ludicrous President Bush's proposed amendment is. The US Constitution has been amended 17 times in the 200 years since its original publication. Of those amendments:

• 2 deal with Prohibition (enacting and repealing it)


• 1 deals with the clean-up of the aftermath of the Civil War


• 7 deal with purely procedural issues (elections and successions)


• 5 expand rights and give protections to different groups


• 1 grants states limited immunity from lawsuits

and one gives the federal government a power that it didn't have before (Number 16, allowing Congress to levy a national income tax).

Now, apparently, we need a second such amendment, giving the Federal government the right to tell the states what they can consider "marriage." Apparently, marriage, despite being an essential social stabilizing force, is such a fragile one that making it more inclusive to a minority population will completely ruin it.

Three-plus years ago, I received the most wonderful gift that I could ever ask for. Someone agreed to join my life permanently and accept the responsibilities of sharing my future existance, in exchange for my doing the same for her. My family loves me because that's part of their responsibility. My wife chose to love me and make my struggles and despairs a part of her life, and still thinks she got a good deal. To think that anything anyone else does will somehow diminish the staggering magnitude of that reduces the divine to a matter of competition.

Yes, I am an Orthodox Jew. Yes, I believe in the divinity of the bible, and yes, I've read Leviticus. I have many beliefs which are not reflected in American society, and Bush's amendment isn't based on the morality of homosexuality anyhow (I'd have much more respect for him if it were... I might disagree, but at least there would be some consistency in his arguments). Marriage might well need defending, but it needs it from those who break it, not those trying to join it.

The woman who first told me to marry The Lovely Wife(tm) has been together with her partner for decades now, and they've supported each other through difficult times, insane working hours, and a trans-continental move. They're a couple, have chosen each other, and deserve whatever benefits TLW and I have. Period.

I'm liable to edit this thing to make some more sense at some point, but that's gonna do for now.