Those of you voting “yes” on Measure 36 will be voting to protect the sanctity of marriage. You will be voting to keep your churches from being forced to marry fags, and you will be voting to protect hordes of children from being forced to live in a substandard situation.
Actually, no you won’t.
That was a lie – just a big, fat lie.
And the Defense of Marriage Coalition, who is pushing Measure 36, is full of big, fat liars. If this amendment is not passed, none of the horrors that those crazy Bible-thumpers predict will be any more likely to happen than Bush ascending to heaven on a pillar of flame.
Now, on to the issues, one at a time.
1) “Banning gay marriage would protect the sanctity of marriage.”
If marriage were a sanctimonious act, annulments would be impossible, and divorcees would be publicly stoned. Rush Limbaugh would not be on his third divorce, and Britney’s first marriage would have lasted more than 55 hours.
A government cannot sanctify anything anyway, being a secular organization. If we write religion into our constitution, we have abolished the separation between church and state. Some people believe this would be a good thing, but as I said above, they’re crazy fucks. They’re not really American.
2) “Voting yes will keep churches from being forced to marry fags.”
Voting yes or no has will not force a church to do anything. The issue is the secular, governmental rights of married couples; forget the churches. Gays want to be married in the courthouse.
3) “Children are proven to live better lives when raised by one mother and one father.”
The study that the DOMC uses to push this theory never said that. It said that children grow up better when their parents are MARRIED. They do worse if they have only one mother, or only one father, but they do better with two parents – regardless of their sexual orientation. Ironically, this study shows that single moms are more of a threat to a child’s upbringing than two gay parents are.
4) “Marriage has always been strictly between a man and a woman.”
A hundred years ago, marriage had strictly been between people of the same race. That is no reason to disallow the opposite, you Neanderthals.
5) “Radical judges will usurp the will of the people if we don’t vote yes.”
Judges, conservative and liberal alike, have looked at this issue around the country and could find no legal reason to deny some of our citizens rights afforded to others. Discrimination is just that. The bigots in favor of 36 have no legal ground to stand on, yet. If the constitution is amended, they will have legal ground – for a while.
If 36 passes, it will soon be challenged. It is at odds with every concept of freedom that this nation stands for. Some law-abiding citizens cannot be denied the rights of inheritance, benefits, and tax status that other citizens have. A lifelong gay partnership is different than a straight marriage in only one way: gender. Gender discrimination is illegal and unconstitutional.
6) “The Bible says gay marriage is wrong.”
So the fuck what? Our state is not run by the Bible.
7) “We cannot let fags destroy the institution of marriage.”
I got married this summer and so did two of my male neighbors. My marriage was completely unaffected.
8) “Stopping gay marriage is not discrimination.”
If I have a book that says you are an abomination, I can believe that book all I want. What I cannot do is write the provisions of that book into the constitution. That may work in archaic societies, but this is the land of the free, remember?
Voting no on 36 affirms your support for the freedom and rights of all Oregonians. Voting yes on 36 means you are a freedom-hating bigot. It’s just that simple.