Hmmmm. So we can put anything in the constitution?
The attempt to rule out gay marriage will be this little disclaimer: Warning! The rights in this constitution don't apply to everyone.
It would be similar to the breathless rapid voiceover in the pill commercial where they say that propecia can also cause you to bark like a dog or the erection pill also induces temporary psychosis. Just letting you know in case you thought everyone had the same rights.
We'll just say: The rights in this constitution--generally quite useful to ensure equal treatment before the law (particularly when the majority is prone to discrimination against some minority)--do not apply to everyone. Do not attempt to claim these rights for yourself if you belong to one of those minorities that a slim margin of the majority currently hasn't come fully to terms with.
Even when most of that slim margin of the majority's reasons are primarily driven by particular religious beliefs not shared by all.
It seems like we can! As crazy as that sounds! You'd think this loophole would have been closed by now, but I guess not.
That's what they're banking on, anyway.
Pictures for the cause: Don't amend the constitution
from Kafkaesque
I noticed lots of straight people like me support this cause. Lots of bloggers do, anyway. May I say that it isn't all political justice that motivates me but also relief at the possibility that a queasy sense of discomfort may soon be removed. It just doesn't feel right to get married when someone else wants to get married and can't. I remember my friends saying to me (about other weddings): I'm never going to another straight wedding again! I would say: "Right on!" And then when my turn came I was like: "Um...? Do ya hate me now?" They were way nice about it, though. To my face at least.
(Every once in a while--no actually, quite a lot lately--I think: Good lord! How bizarre! I actually got married and am having a baby. Could nothing be less in character than that? I swear if they'd had a contest: Least Likely To Get Married at any stage of my life I would have won it hands down.)
Even if it seems like a bit of a fluke, there are lots of stuff I get from being married. And any idiot can stumble into marriage at any time. I'm proof of that.
It's not all about not making my friends mad at me...I do have my own little dream of social justice utopia.
So I want the laws changed. Behind the self-serving desire to avoid the feeling like someone is getting screwed unfairly while I bask comfortably in privilege of course is a general discomfort with injustice. It's not just self-serving. I do think, though, that it's a powerful weapon to throw an injustice in someone's face and make them uncomfortable...When it stops making people queasy to rake in the goods while stepping all over someone else is when I start to worry. Obviously, I worry quite a lot. But I am somewhat heartened that plenty of people are OK with this undemanding, totally fair expansion of civic benefits (you don't give up anything--you won't even see it happen) even while I'm dismayed that everyone doesn't see it this way.
The Onion: I'll tell you what I'd do if I were gay..."If I were gay, I would make an excellent uncle. My kids know to stay away from me when I'm drunk or watching ESPN, but gay Uncle Keith would be totally different. "
Why does this seem absurdly true? Can anyone explain that?
The attempt to rule out gay marriage will be this little disclaimer: Warning! The rights in this constitution don't apply to everyone.
It would be similar to the breathless rapid voiceover in the pill commercial where they say that propecia can also cause you to bark like a dog or the erection pill also induces temporary psychosis. Just letting you know in case you thought everyone had the same rights.
We'll just say: The rights in this constitution--generally quite useful to ensure equal treatment before the law (particularly when the majority is prone to discrimination against some minority)--do not apply to everyone. Do not attempt to claim these rights for yourself if you belong to one of those minorities that a slim margin of the majority currently hasn't come fully to terms with.
Even when most of that slim margin of the majority's reasons are primarily driven by particular religious beliefs not shared by all.
It seems like we can! As crazy as that sounds! You'd think this loophole would have been closed by now, but I guess not.
That's what they're banking on, anyway.
Pictures for the cause: Don't amend the constitution
from Kafkaesque
I noticed lots of straight people like me support this cause. Lots of bloggers do, anyway. May I say that it isn't all political justice that motivates me but also relief at the possibility that a queasy sense of discomfort may soon be removed. It just doesn't feel right to get married when someone else wants to get married and can't. I remember my friends saying to me (about other weddings): I'm never going to another straight wedding again! I would say: "Right on!" And then when my turn came I was like: "Um...? Do ya hate me now?" They were way nice about it, though. To my face at least.
(Every once in a while--no actually, quite a lot lately--I think: Good lord! How bizarre! I actually got married and am having a baby. Could nothing be less in character than that? I swear if they'd had a contest: Least Likely To Get Married at any stage of my life I would have won it hands down.)
Even if it seems like a bit of a fluke, there are lots of stuff I get from being married. And any idiot can stumble into marriage at any time. I'm proof of that.
It's not all about not making my friends mad at me...I do have my own little dream of social justice utopia.
So I want the laws changed. Behind the self-serving desire to avoid the feeling like someone is getting screwed unfairly while I bask comfortably in privilege of course is a general discomfort with injustice. It's not just self-serving. I do think, though, that it's a powerful weapon to throw an injustice in someone's face and make them uncomfortable...When it stops making people queasy to rake in the goods while stepping all over someone else is when I start to worry. Obviously, I worry quite a lot. But I am somewhat heartened that plenty of people are OK with this undemanding, totally fair expansion of civic benefits (you don't give up anything--you won't even see it happen) even while I'm dismayed that everyone doesn't see it this way.
The Onion: I'll tell you what I'd do if I were gay..."If I were gay, I would make an excellent uncle. My kids know to stay away from me when I'm drunk or watching ESPN, but gay Uncle Keith would be totally different. "
Why does this seem absurdly true? Can anyone explain that?
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