Gay marriage ban goes down
Esther Kaplan printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 07:38:19 PM EST
The U.S. Senate voted 49 to 48 this morning to defeat the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment. Seven Republican senators--including two from New Hampshire who supported a similar measure in 2004--broke ranks to vote against the amendment. Two sorry Democrats, Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, supported the measure.

As the Campaign to Defend the Constitution notes:

This is the third time that religious extremists have pushed this Amendment to a vote in Congress. While once again the measure failed, the religious right is committed to continuing their campaign to violate the rights of gay and lesbian Americans.

Furthermore, the Federal Marriage Amendment is only one piece of their larger agenda. Their successful efforts to stop stem cell research, force bible classes into our public schools, and attack our children's science education leave no doubt that the religious right is on the warpath.

Tony Perkins, James Dobson, and other Christian right leaders immediately released statements vowing to continute the fight. "We and millions of other conservatives are committed to doing what it takes, for as long as it takes, to see that the great institution of marriage is protected from renegade judges," said Dobson. Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, blamed the Senate instead, calling it "grossly out of step with the American people." Christian right leaders like to point to the voting tallies in the 20 states that have passed gay marriage bans as proof that homophobia represents the will of the people; but of course these total bans mostly passed in sparsely populated red states and only represent the will of a few.




Display:
The RR folks will claim to have "lost the battle but be winning the war"...

The closeness of the vote will have them convincing their constituents that victory is just around the corner, the next time they get the subject back for a vote...

-Emily
emilywynn.blogspot.com

by EmilyWynn8 on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 08:21:21 PM EST

The more they lose, the further it seems they advance. It's a very odd thing, but I've been watching it for a few decades now. They're always losing, and you'd think they'd just give up, but now the US have a president who says we're a Christian nation and his administration just shovels out that "faith based" money to churches for God knows what.

by nonlinear on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 09:23:35 PM EST
Parent
Never underestimate the power of the religious right to twist defeat into either victory or an increased determination to 'win' at all costs. They see every critic and every setback as 'proof' that they are being oppressed and victimized, that people are 'persecuting' them, and use verses from Scripture, carefully de-contexted and cherry-picked to back up this perception of persecution.

They are constantly keeping their congregations at a high simmer of outrage, and constantly shaking the money pots for more money. And the fearful masses fill up the coffers, swarm the community, and continue the 'holy war'.

If their fear and subsequent anger could be extinguished, the hatred and intolerance and thrall to their misleading leaders could be dissolved, this might go about actually ending this cold civil war.  Until then, though, we must remain vigilant.

by Lorie Johnson on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 09:47:08 AM EST
Parent

Spin the loss: fuel the anger, demonize your opponents, inflate your importance and self-righteousness to a delusional degree and, most important, hit the airwaves to spread the word and build mojo.

Then pass the collection plate to "support this effort".

What a loss it would be for these folks if they were to win!

by Psyche on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 02:41:03 PM EST
Parent





Now for the New York Appeals Court's ruling. I feel like making a T-shirt that says "I'm a person, not a red meat issue" or "My love life is not your political issue", in rainbow letters.

by GreenEyed Lilo on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 10:33:28 AM EST
"My love life is not your political issue!"

That's great!

It's very similar to a sticker I created back in college:  My love life is none of your business

We had a fairly large and active GLBT group on campus that welcomed straight students who cared about equality issues... so the group ended up being roughly 50% GLBT and 50% straight....

We did basic awareness stuff and newspaper editorials until the year when Ellen Degeneris (sp?) came out on national TV, along with her TV character... we held this "coming out party" for her in one of the student lounges...

After that, a group of more conservative students was constantly trying to figure out who in the group was straight as compared to GLBT... They had some concept that they could "convince" the straight students to no longer support the GLBT group...

So we created stickers to wear that advertised that it was no one's business to try and figure out who in the group was GLBT or not...

-Emily
emilywynn.blogspot.com


by EmilyWynn8 on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 11:46:57 AM EST
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