The 323

DeBoer and Rowse

323 couples were issued marriage licenses and some 300 of those actually got to marry in Michigan before the stay went into effect.  These marriages are now technically illegal, so we’re going to hear a lot about sadness and disappointment.  There will no doubt be more pictures in the media of couples in tears and tales of depression and disillusionment, like the one on the left of DeBoer and Rowse.  [See yesterday's posting here.]

And anger, of course.  People have a right to be angry at the snakehandlers and child abusers in cassocks dictating how citizens not of their faith groups should conduct their lives.

But let’s remember that we knew this was going to be a long haul, that there were always going to be steps forward and steps backward.  And let’s not assume, either, that the stay will be the end of the story.  It could be lifted and this story could end well sooner, rather than later.  It will end well sooner or later.

What an amazing amount of work is going into these attempts to get the people of the United States to recognize that we put our hand on the Bible (if at all) and swear to uphold the Constitution, and not the other way around.  That animus toward gay people stems almost entirely from religiously motivated folk who lack the education or the decency to recognize we have a separation of church and state in this country.

And allow me a brief digression here.  I’m speaking in generalities, because there is no way to get through a discussion on how things work without letting a part represent the whole sometimes.   French make great lovers,  Russians support Putin, and the like.  When we observe that “the Russians have invaded Crimea,” we don’t stop to specify that not every Russian wears a uniform.  And when I refer to religious people as snakehandlers and cassock-wearing child abusers I’m being mean and sarcastic.  Most Christians are not snakehandlers or child abusers.

So maybe I should be more careful not to insult the majority of Christian folk by suggesting the outliers in their group represent them.

I’ll make a deal with the Catholic Church.  You stop officially designating gay people as “intrinsically disordered” and I’ll stop designating your kind as abusers in cassocks.  Most of us are normal healthy people.  No more disordered than the next guy.  So cut that shit out and I’ll temper my speech as well.

One thing is sure.  The animus behind the notion that gay people should not be allowed to form civil partnerships – and call them marriages – because it’s we who define language and not the other way around – comes from you.  You read your scriptures in such a way as to justify your classification of your kind as superior to my kind, and you cause us no end of misery in doing so.

We will get out from under this stay in Judge Friedman’s decision.  He declared that the right of gays and lesbians to marry is constitutional.  And he was right.  And the majority of Americans now agree with him.

So you religious people with religious reasons for being lousy human beings, do me a favor.  Stop being such bigoted dickheads.

photo credit: http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/politics/2014/03/21/michigan-gay-marriage-ban/6711035/