Trestin Meacham believes that actions speak louder than words. Which is why he is on day 15 of a hunger strike that began when U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby ruled on December 20 that Utah's gay marriage ban is unconstitutional.
Meacham, a 35-year-old former Utah state senate candidate, believes that "the homosexual movement is designed to destroy freedom of religion" and the First Amendment. Which is why he's decided to take such an extreme religious/patriotic stand: someone must act to defend this country's freedoms.
Currently on a water-and-vitamin-only fast, Meacham claims to have lost 25 pounds to date. He also claims that he will die for his cause, in the tradition of history's most profound martyrs:
"You can start a blog and you can complain on social networks until you're blue in the face and nothing will happen but actions speak louder than words and I'm taking action."
[...]
"My hunger strike will stop when [gay marriage] ends or I am dead."
While on his hunger strike, Meacham has complained that media coverage of his heroic efforts to save Utah from the federal government has portrayed him as dense and stupid. It's a battle he has countered by trying to let the world know what he believes and feels.
Below are some choice nuggets:
"This is what happens when Washington decides that a culture and way of life is incompatible with what it decrees. People of faith everywhere need to wake up, what they did to the native Americans, they are now doing to us." [FB]
"The effects of gay marriage? I'm pretty sure a cake maker and handful of photographers, who exercised their right of religious freedom can tell you about the harmful effects of gay marriage. It basically means the end of the first Amendment." [FB]
His last run for the state senate, as a member of the venerable Constitution Party, netted Meacham a 73-point loss to District 24's current State Senator, Republican Ralph Okerlund.
But after this powerful stand to protect America from the gays? Meacham's next run will surely be more successful. That is, if he survives.
With Utah appealing to the Supreme Court to overturn Judge Shelby's decision, Washington and the federal government may be Meacham's only hope - two entities he loathes.
At least irony's not dead yet.
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, just out from Oneworld Publications.