By Joshua Daniel Hershfield 11/06/06
On November 7, eight states will vote on whether or not to
ban gay marriage. The justifications for
such blatantly discriminatory legislation runs the gamut of “protecting the institution
of marriage” to outright violent hatred of queer people.
George Bush, in calling for a constitutional amendment to
limit marriage to something that occurs between “a man and a woman” said, “The
union of a man and a woman is the most enduring human institution, honored and
encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith.” Apart from being absolutely false,
generalizing, and ridiculous, this statement is also a distraction from the
point of the issue of gay marriage. The
point is that if gay people are prevented from doing something that straight
people can do, then that is discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The United States advertises itself as a country of equal
opportunity, a country that does not discriminate, but honors all its citizens
as equals. Nevertheless, it took years
of protest and civil disobedience, and endured brutality and abuse, for women
to get the right to vote. Police beat
and killed workers with bullets and batons for demanding an eight hour work
day. The civil rights movement fought
against murderers, rapists, Christian fundamentalists, and an entire political
apparatus, for the equality of people regardless of color. And still, people and politicians in the United States
in 2006 think it’s alright to discriminate against people because of who they
love. What arrogant madness.
What’s interesting – and enraging – is that the people
trying to prevent gay marriage use the same arguments as the people who tried
to prevent integration. If this was 1860
they would be talking about “protecting the institution of slavery.” They are the people who believe that
“traditional values” are good, even if they include keeping people of color “in their place,” or women “in their place.”
Banning gay marriage is just another way of keeping gay people “in their
place.” In other words, oppressed as second-class citizens.
Furthermore, the Bush administration and all their fascist,
right wing, fundamentalist supporters, aren’t going to stop with banning gay
marriage. How long do you think it will
be before gay clubs are illegal? What
about gay rights groups? How long until
homosexuality, or any sexuality other than stringent heterosexuality, is
against the law?
People did not vote on the issue of women’s right to
vote. We did not vote for the end of
segregation. We did not vote for the
eight hour work day. We hit the
streets. We shut down our
workplaces. We shut down our
schools. We occupied news rooms and we
shouted in the face of our society. We
lifted our heads to the politicians and priests and police and we said, “This
ends here and now.”
On November 7, eight more states may join in the
discriminatory gang of twenty that have already banned gay marriage. As this regime’s attacks on people based on
sexual orientation increase, we are determined to fight for equality.