In case you hadn't heard, on April 3, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. Citing as linchpins of the ruling, basic fairness and constitutional equal protection, the Des Moines Register reported this from the opinion:
"We are firmly convinced that the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective," the court said in an opinion written by Justice Mark Cady. "The legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification."
Opponents of the ruling have vowed to essentially nullify the ruling through constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man, one woman, which, if successful, could become effective in 2012 at the earliest. These opponents are urging the Iowa Legislature to pass legislation putting the issue to majority vote [always exciting having your rights decided by majority vote] and have established a website to propagate their talking points and message.
On their website, as justification for attempting to deny equal marriage rights, in a section perversely entitled "Motivated by Compassion" and under the headline, "Infidelity, Promiscuity and Insecurity within Homosexual Relationships," they say this [no, I'm not providing a link] :
In view of the evidence, homosexuals will not succeed at establishing exclusive relationships. Promiscuity is a hard habit for anyone to break, straight or homosexual. Promiscuous heterosexuals often fail to learn fidelity; male homosexuals are far more promiscuous than heterosexual males, and therefore far more likely to fail. Lesbians are more promiscuous than heterosexual women. There is little good data on the stability of lesbian relationships, but it is reasonable to speculate that their higher rates of promiscuity and various deep-seated psychological problems would predispose them to long-term relational instability. Existing evidence supports this speculation.
Seriously? The insanity of denying people the right to have their committed relationships legally recognized because they are supposedly incapable of committed relationships, not to mention the absurdity of the speculation making up the "supposedly," is enough to make you fling yourself off the ledge in exasperation. Seriously.
These insane and absurd claims and others are being countered by the Human Rights Campaign. Read, watch and sign here.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna step away from this ledge, crawl back into my cave and—having recently been delivered via messenger yak—burn buffalo dung for a while. Maybe see if I can't relocate my inner zen. [Sorry, 'less you're a Zebbie, you'll have no clue how hilarious that last bit was.]
That website is a freakin' trip, isn't it? There were two You Tube outtakes of the actors who 'starred' in the video from the Save Marriage from Clowns org. What's it called - oh, Natl Marriage Org .... they've been pulled and were within hours of surfacing by none other than the NMO, claiming some kind of publication violation.
MmmHm.....
Oh yeah, I was wrong - Passover was actually yesterday (started Wednesday) but the FULL MOON was last night.
Posted by: Wordsmith | April 10, 2009 at 09:31 AM
yeah, "freakin' trip" is a freakin' understatement... i was afraid my inner zen might be permanently damaged after that little trip to the crazy side.
zeb did howl about holy week quite a bit--at least one bit worth posting that i might get to at some point. not gonna tease you with it, however... ;-)
Posted by: MountainGoat | April 10, 2009 at 01:41 PM