Skip to main content

Beware the slippery slope of marriage equality

Eclecta Blog puts forth fairly compelling arguments for non-traditional marriage (via Dan Savage):
In these instances, I’m reminded that the tradition of marriage is so sacred to many Americans that the notion of Republicans being allowed to marry can offend their very being. “Imagine,” their smoldering eyes seem to be screaming, “My dear, normal child being forced to sit in a classroom being forced to learn about Newt Gingrich’s belief that marriage should only between a man and a woman who doesn’t have cancer.”
I'm usually pretty tolerant, especially when it comes to issues of marriage. But I don't know about this one. What's next, letting Tea Partiers marry each other? Can you imagine it? Just...yuck.

Imagine if both of these guys were republicans. I know, right? Ew!

Personally, I believe we should let the states decide whether republicans can marry other republicans. That is, unless the states vote in favor of letting them marry. In that case, I believe in turning to state referendum, funded by rich people outside of the state, like with Prop 8. If that doesn't work, I believe in federal legislation outlawing it, and otherwise denying republicans basic rights such as the ability to visit a loved one in the hospital, or deporting their loved one if their republican "partner" is from another country (like with DOMA).

So in summary: Let the states decide, then referendum, then federal law. Whichever step prevents it. It's the way our fine country works when it comes to the rights of minorities.

In all seriousness, I think that any group who wishes to deny rights to another group must use arguments that cannot be applied back to them. It's the whole "do unto others" idea that that radical, progressive hippy guy advocated 2000 years ago.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

back-talk begins

me: "owen, come here. it's time to get a new diaper" him, sprinting down the hall with no pants on: "forget about it!" he's quoting benny the rabbit, a short-lived sesame street character who happens to be in his favorite "count with me" video. i'm turning my head, trying not to let him see me laugh, because his use and tone with the phrase are so spot-on.

The Long Con

Hiding in Plain Sight ESPN has a series of sports documentaries called 30 For 30. One of my favorites is called Broke  which is about how professional athletes often make tens of millions of dollars in their careers yet retire with nothing. One of the major "leaks" turns out to be con artists, who lure athletes into elaborate real estate schemes or business ventures. This naturally raises the question: In a tightly-knit social structure that is a sports team, how can con artists operate so effectively and extensively? The answer is quite simple: very few people taken in by con artists ever tell anyone what happened. Thus, con artists can operate out in the open with little fear of consequences because they are shielded by the collective silence of their victims. I can empathize with this. I've lost money in two different con schemes. One was when I was in college, and I received a phone call that I had won an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bahamas. All I needed to d

Reader Feedback: Whither Kanake in (white) Astronomy?

Watching the way that the debate about the TMT has come into our field has angered and saddened me so much. Outward blatant racism and then deflecting and defending. I don't want to post this because I am a chicken and fairly vulnerable given my status as a postdoc (Editor's note: How sad is it that our young astronomers feel afraid to speak out on this issue? This should make clear the power dynamics at play in this debate) .  But I thought the number crunching I did might be useful for those on the fence. I wanted to see how badly astronomy itself is failing Native Hawaiians. I'm not trying to get into all of the racist infrastructure that has created an underclass on Hawaii, but if we are going to argue about "well it wasn't astronomers who did it," we should be able to back that assertion with numbers. Having tried to do so, well I think the argument has no standing. At all.  Based on my research, it looks like there are about 1400 jobs in Hawaii r