Today the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee posted a call-to-action on their official Facebook page, asking people to sign their name in support of marriage equality.
What is, sadly, not surprising is the number of people who took time out of their day to express their ignorance of Constitutional law (the Bible is not the Constitution), grammar and common decency. It is one thing to argue intelligently against something. It is another thing to expose yourself as a fool.
In an effort to educate people on what is and isn’t appropriate discourse, here are a few highlights from the page’s thread:
Wayland, in general, LGBT people are not “mentally retarded”. No doubt there are some, as there are some developmentally disabled heterosexuals. Heterosexuals with developmental issues are not prohibited from marrying, so why not let developmentally disabled LGBT individuals get married?
This is vulgar and has nothing to do with the debate. I only include it here to expose the full ignorance of some of these individuals.
Hatem’s first question has an obvious answer. The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution dictates that the states must provide all people equal treatment under the law, hence, all individuals are to be treated equally and if they are not, there is a violation of equality – a right determined by the Fourteenth Amendment.
For those that insist that God is against marriage equality and that the Bible says it is an abomination, well, then I invite you to read Jennifer Wright Knust’s piece in The Washington Post. Ms. Knust is a biblical scholar, historian and Baptist pastor and she attests that using the Bible (and hence God) to debate this issue is “misguided and destructive”. She states: “If we do take the time to read the Bible, we are likely to discover that the biblical writers do not agree with us, whatever version of sexual morality we are seeking to promote. Written more than 2,000 years ago at a significant historical and cultural distance, the Bible gathers together a diverse collection of ancient books, edited over time, not a coherent, divinely inspired set of instructions that can easily be applied. Tracing even a few, limited topics from one biblical book to another can make the point: If one book forbids marriage between foreigners and Israelites, the next depicts such marriages as a source of blessing, not only to Israel but to all of humankind. If one insists that women are saved by childbearing, the next recommends that women avoid childbearing altogether in order to devote themselves more fully to God. If one suggests that sex with a relative, the wife of another man, or with a male lover will certainly lead to the nation’s downfall, the next depicts heroic kings engaging in precisely these forms of sex. And these are just a few examples. Is it any wonder, then, that the Bible has failed to settle current debates about what a divinely sanctioned sexual morality might look like? Perhaps it is time to stop pretending that it can.”
Aside from that, the Bible has no bearing on Constitutional law. The First Amendment provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” This amendment effectively created the separation of church and State. The Constitution cannot favor any one religion over another. The Bible, in whichever edition, translation, or interpretation you choose, cannot be the basis for any law in a country where anyone can follow (or NOT follow) any religion he or she chooses.
Also, to Jonathan Garcia, if you can’t think about gay people without thinking of “butt love”, that’s your problem.
The American Academy of Pediatrics supports marriage equality and adoption for gay couples. According to The New York Times article linked above, “A large body of evidence demonstrates that children raised by gay or lesbian parents fare as well in emotional, cognitive and social functioning as peers raised by heterosexuals, the academy stated.”
The vicious comments continue on the DCCC’s Facebook page. I encourage you to sign the DCCC’s support petition and join the thousands of supports of marriage equality by turning your Facebook profile red. You can also follow the HRC on Twitter (@HRC) and at www.hrc.org/blog for live-updates from the first day of Supreme Court hearings. Make sure you wear red to show your support for marriage equality!
Tommy Karr 