Anti-gay marriage zealots are repeating the mistakes of 50-150 years ago. Their shaking fists raised in the air must be blocking the light of truth. Or, perhaps they’re not breathing well. Its really a small bit of insanity…or poor thinking.

1. One rationale in the founding of our country was religious freedom; its the 1st amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, to our United States Constitution. This same amendment also gives rise to the separation of church and state. This particular wording is from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists. These anti-gay zealots, are double-faced. Opportunists. Cheaters. Which is likely behavior which should be against their own religious rules. Why? Because our ancestors fought to keep religion out of the laws. And now, because they don’t like something, they want to not put religious dogma in our laws.The 14th amendment says,
   

   “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

   Yet here is California and many other states doing just that. Invading the private lives of homosexuals and depriving them of life and liberty; also denying equal protection by forbidding marriage which grants approximately 1,400 benefits and rights of marriage. Things like hospital visitation, inheritance, not testifying against your spouse…very core basic human rights.

   Given all that, I believe any reasoning or proof that includes reference to a deity or religious text should be dismissed. Why? Because our governmental laws (especially constitutions) should not codify religious dogma because of our separation of church and state, equal protection, and religious freedom.

2. Moving a bit more recent in history, slaves and interracial marriages were forbidden. Here’s just a few examples of our past stupidity. As you read these, substitute in same-sex marriages where you see interracial references.
   • After the Civil War, California chose to specifically prohibit “intermarriage of white persons with Chinese, Negroes, mulattos, or persons of mixed blood descended from a Chinaman or Negro from the third generation inclusive.”
   • In 1869, a Georgia judge blocked the marriage of a white Frenchman and a black woman by saying, “The amalgamation of the races is not only unnatural but is always productive of deplorable results.”
   • In the widely known 1959 Loving case in Virginia, Judge Leon Bazile sentenced a black man and white woman to prison for trying to circumvent Virginia law by marrying in Washington D.C. He said, “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Maylay and red, and he placed them on separate continents…And but for the interference with His arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriages.”

   Finally, on June 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court put an end to laws preventing interracial marriages. A unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Earl Warren ruled that Virginia’s “white supremacy” marriage law and similar interracial marriage prohibitions in 15 other states did indeed violate the 14th Amendment. Decreeing that marriage is a “fundamental” civil right, the court told the nation that “the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the state.”

   That was less than 50 years ago. Seems our zealots have a short-term memory. Or…perhaps they have selective memory because they don’t remember about separation of church and state, not casting stones, not committing adultery, rape victims that don’t cry out loud enough (Deuteronomy 22:23-24), and big ones like, “He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. (Exodus 21:17)”

3. Separate but equal doesn’t work. The propaganda that civil unions are an equal substitute for marriage is horrible. It would not give the 1400+ rights and privileges of marriage. Proven time and again is the abolishment of separate but equal laws, institutions, schools, buses, and bathrooms. They are never equal. They are unfair. They favor the ruling class (many times the majority). This Rosa Parks summary of separate but (non) equal transportation in the southern states captures the issue well.

I was born and raised in Alabama. I have seen past and current racial and ethnic discrimination; some from my own family. I deplore their behavior and offer correction when I hear it. Alabama is not the best educated state in the country. It has the 6th highest divorce rate in the nation and one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation. This is also the same state that four times elected George Wallace governor. In 1963, George Wallace stood in front of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in defiance of the Deputy U.S. Attorney General and said, “Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” Wallace was an idiot and a bigot. But a popular idiot and bigot elected four times by Alabama voters.

I’m not proud of the state of Alabama. However, I am proud of most of my family. My mother taught me about fairness and treating people well. My father was a helicopter pilot in the US Army where my parents and I traveled to Germany and Kentucky; I was exposed to different people and cultures. When my father left the army, I was nine. We moved back to Enterprise, Alabama where I remember going to a public school (rather than military) for the first time. One day, I was making friends with an African-American. Later that same day, a Caucasian kid pulled me to the side and asked me, “Why are you talking to that black kid? We don’t talk to them.” I was a little kid and didn’t really understand the weight of what he was saying.

What that kid said to me at nine was stupid. I ignored him and kept making friends no matter what their skin color. My early exposure traveling to different countries forever gave me a broader view of the world and possibilities within it; appreciating diversity. My mother then educated me about fairness. She wasn’t really exposed to homosexuality and we didn’t talk about it much in my youth. When it did come up, she always spoke fairly and with grace.

African-Americans in the 1900s were able to change the laws to officially end segregation and discrimination. They are a proportionally large group (13%) of Americans; the single largest racial minority in the United States. Homosexuals and others that desire same-sex marriages are at most 10% of the population. This is a small group of Americans that are being discriminated against, harassed, fired from jobs, denied hospital visitation rights, and some are even murdered in hate-crimes.

I am asking for those people that easily have those 1400+ rights and privileges of marriage to consider their own history, America’s past mistakes, and learn from them. If they would stop their mindless histrionics of hate for a few days, perhaps they can calmly gather all the facts and information and make an informed decision. Otherwise, its time for you to leave my country. If you want a religious zealot-based government, I hear of other places for you where they still stone their women.