So I voted here in Florida yesterday. Of course, one of the big ballot initiatives was Amendment 2, "defining marriage as the union between one man and one woman." For that side of the story, here's some folderol from John Stemberger's Open Letter to Opponents of Amendment 2, posted on Yes2Marriage.org:
The opponents of Amendment 2 in Florida want to talk about anything and everything except what the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment is all about. They want to talk about hospital visitation, benefits, domestic violence, social security, tough economic times, health care, Michigan, domestic partnerships, more benefits, putting government into your private life, alleged campaign violations and any other number of contrived focus group tested themes. But they absolutely refuse to discuss the driving force behind why 27 states amended their state constitutions by overwhelming majorities – to protect the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. In fact, I can’t find a homosexual activist anywhere in this state that will debate the policy question of whether same sex marriage is a good idea for Florida’s children and families.
Well, John, how about the argument that kids with gay parents seem to turn out just fine? Or how about the argument -- one that your ilk stubbornly refuses to meet -- that a couple of gay dudes getting the same insurance benefits as straights in no way affects you or your kids?!?
As a straight guy with many gay friends, I am so tired of these wingnuts acting like "the gays" have some radical fabulous agenda to secretly infiltrate the straight community and turn everyone into gay-bar-frequenting, Bravo-watching, good-fashion-sense-having homosexhuls!!
It's typical Religious Right nonsense: "We want the government out of people's lives only as regards our right to own guns. Our right to love whomever we choose, however, should be legislated." Fear. Unreasoning fear is all this is, and I am deathly afraid that there will be enough fearful Floridians to pass this shameful amendment. Can't let the gays get too uppity. After all, gay is contagious.
It's not contagious. They don't recruit. I'm active in the theater, which has brought me many gay friends, and none of them has ever tried to flip me. Full disclosure: Like many people, I briefly flirted with the idea of same-sex relationships when I was younger. It didn't take long to decide it wasn't for me, although I was and am glad I was open to it. At no point did some brigade of gay banditos force me into that, although I'm Stemberger and his ilk would say that I was temporarily corrupted by the hidden homosexual agenda.
Well, I say I made my own decision. I made my own decision to discover something about myself, and then I made my own decision to live out the life that discovery pointed me toward.
And that's what the Stembergers and the Dobsons out there want, ultimately: to deny an entire group of people -- an essentially harmless group -- the same God-given rights to self-discovery and self-actualization the rest of us enjoy. Stemberger says Amendment 2 is about a single issue: same-sex marriage. Well, I say it goes deeper than that. It's about whether to accept or reject the idea that every human has an essential right -- and responsibility -- to live the truth as he or she knows it. That's a responsibility Stemberger wants extended only to people he deems worthy. Well, he must be more confident than I; assigning that worthiness would be an awful lot of pressure.
Floridians: Vote No on 2.