victory!

The Federal Marriage Amendment was defeated in the Senate today! The margin was narrow — 50 against, 48 for. Two senators abstained — Kerry and Edwards, and I think that was a dumb move on their part. I wonder if they thought that it would hurt their election chances if they took a stand one way or the other on the issue. I think that it would only HELP their election chances, since the majority of Americans are not opposed to gay marriage.

However, I am heartened that six Republican senators voted against the amendment. As Brett reminded us, conservatism and Republicans don’t always go hand in hand. The heart of true conservativism is the belief that government should stay the hell out of our business as much as possible, while the vast majority of Senate Republicans voted to allow the government into the most intimate part of our lives. So there is definitely some disconnect there.

Anyway, I’ve been doing the Happy Dance all afternoon since I heard.

At the urging of the Human Rights Campaign, I did write a note to “President” Bush and my senators yesterday (yes, basically at the eleventh hour), not because I believe that e-petitions actually do any good, but I was hoping that the sheer volume of mail that they might receive telling them that they were out of their minds if they planned to vote for that crazy-ass amendment, might have some impact. Here is what I wrote:

TO: President Bush, Senators, and Representatives
FROM: (Your Name and Email)
SUBJECT: Marriage Equality
__________

Dear President Bush, Senators, and Representatives:

I am emphatically AGAINST the Federal Marriage Amendement. Same-sex marriages IN NO WAY devalue heretosexual marriages. It is heartbreaking to watch my friends and family be denied this basic equality, this public expression of love and legal committment to their lives together.

I suggest that America follow European tradition and completely separate church and state. The government should issue “domestic partnership licences” to any couple (same-sex or opposite-sex), functioning as a couple’s legal registration and affording them with all the civic and legal rights and responsibilities. Don’t even call it marriage — get government COMPLETELY out of the marriage business. And then churches and other religious insitutions can perform religious marriage ceremonies for whomever they please, since many of them won’t consider the couple truly married until they go through the religious sacrament.

I mean, really, that is what it’s all about isn’t it? People have mixed up the legal/secular requirements and the religious sacrament. They can’t see that they are two separate things. If a church doesn’t want to perform the marriage sacrament to same-sex couples, that is their right not to do so. But they have no business instructing the government to change the constitution to fit their beliefs. The government doesn’t dictate who can be baptized or ordained or have a bar mitzvah; why should they be able to dictate who is allowed to get married?

Please do not continue to try and distract Americans from the real issues as if we were a herd of stupid sheep. Most of us can see right through you. We know what is going on, and we don’t like it.

I urge you to reject the politics of hate and division.

Everyone has the same rights. There is no place in America for a Constitutional amendment denying marriage equality to anyone.

Sincerely,

Katy Scott

*****

I also heard today that David Bowie had a heart attack of some sort last week. Apparently he’s doing better now. Shocking. I had no idea. Guess I’ve missed a few episodes of Entertainment Tonight or something (har). Maybe he’s not an immortal after all.