Washington state’s gay and lesbian community scored a big win last week with the passing of Referendum 71. The community in Maine, however, was not as lucky. It’s time for everyone to join the 21st century and recognize that everyone deserves equal rights.
Referendum 71 was designed to keep the domestic partnership law that provides legal protections for lesbian and gay couples and seniors who are in committed relationships.
The protection of gay and lesbian freedoms is known to be anathema to Bible-thumping conservatives—something Washington is not exactly lacking. The fact that the referendum passed is a very good thing. The fact that it passed with scarcely more than half the votes gives this writer cause for concern.
The core issues involved here are the rights of gay and lesbian couples, including the right to cover their partner under a health plan from work or take care of a critically ill loved one without the risk of being fired from work. In other words, the same rights legal family members currently get around the country. Unless, of course, they happen to be of the same sex.
This referendum is also a very important step towards state-approved, bona fide gay marriage, something any reasonable person not blinded by personal bias can support. This vote is also important because of its proximity to the wonderful state of Oregon, where domestic partnerships are currently allowed, but for who knows how long.
The opposition’s stance is, predictably, that gay and lesbian couples are an affront to their religious beliefs and should not be officially recognized, or granted rights, by the state. Not surprisingly, this is their only platform, and no rational arguments can be made against gay marriage that wouldn’t also apply to heterosexual marriage.
The official mouthpiece of the anti-gay marriage crowd for Washington is Protect Marriage Washington. They claim that redefining marriage to include same-sex unions poses significant threats to the religious liberties of people who continue to believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman.
If you fail to see any logic in this whatsoever, you are not alone. An honest attempt to find some sort of organization against gay marriage that didn’t have a religious argument as their main platform yielded no results.
What is most disturbing is that this outdated and irrational platform was still able to garner 48 percent of Washington’s votes, while Maine’s “marriage protectors” were able to win with 53 percent.
This “threat to religious liberties” stance neglects not only the fact that what other people believe doesn’t actually affect one’s own personal beliefs, but that church and state are expressly separate—at least, that is the presumption we currently operate under. Perhaps if one were to claim that gay marriage was part of their religion, it would magically become respected.
The gay and lesbian community has become victim to the tyranny of the majority. Apparently, for some people, freedom means the ability to deny others their fundamental human rights, openly based upon the fact that said others are a minority whose practices are offensive according to the book of Leviticus. The mind boggles while trying to comprehend how this is possible.
Winning Referendum 71 in Washington was a huge step for America’s gay and lesbian community and undeniable progress for all of society. This win, however, was only one of many in a series of obstacles that must be overcome. We cannot let superstition and blatant hatred become acceptable platforms for public policy.