Bigot Is As Bigot Does
(illustration by Chris Fahey at graphpaper)
Maria Newman, The New York Times
Bush Backs Gay Marriage Ban as Senate Debates
[…]
Some critics of the marriage amendment contend that it conflicts with the Republican Party’s avowed opposition to big government interference.
Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, said that while he believed marriage should be between a man and a woman, he said he would vote against the amendment to ban gay marriage because the matter was already being addressed by the states. He quoted the late Sen. Barry Goldwater as saying that government “ought to be kept off our backs, out of our pocketbooks and out of our bedrooms.”
“This is a matter which ought to be left to the states, and the states are taking care of it,” he said. “It’s a matter of privacy, it’s a matter of tolerance, two very, very highly placed values in our society.”
Another Republican, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, said that he would support the amendment, and that he was disturbed that some critics of it said the measure amounted to bigotry against one group in society.
“What people are trying to do here is make fundamental policy for the country on a fundamental issue, and that’s marriage,” he said. “It is not bigotry to define marriage as between a man and a woman.”
If that were the case, Mr. Brownback said, then people would have to conclude that people in the states that have banned gay marriage, as well as the many religious leaders who backed them, were bigots.
[…]
Bigots… yeah, that pretty much sums it up for me. In 40 years, we’re all going to look back at these discussions and think, “wow, those were some seriously unenlightened bigots making a big deal out of nothing.”
Because it isn’t a big deal.
People need to put down their crosses, start worrying about their own relationships and their own bodies and quit leaning on big government to set a “moral compass.”
The world is confronting issues of genocide, hunger and terrorism while this administration panders to the pet issues of a far-right constituency. It’s obvious and pathetic… and bigoted.
(h/t O Danny)
Tags: activism, Arlen Specter, Barry Goldwater, bigotry, gay rights, government, Kansas, marriage, Pennsylvania, politics, Republican Party, Sam Brownback, Senate.
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Political cartoons at their best!
fahey rocked this sketch… so good
The gay marriage issue is indeed “not a problem”, but only if your beleif in human liberty overcomes your bigotry. Many Americans are simply bigoted to their core, and they will support things like the FMA forever. But some are only a little bigoted while also having a faith in personal liberty, and many of these people haven’t yet thought of how these two beleifs should be balanced. I suspect many Americans love liberty for all more than they hate gay people, but that they haven’t thought of it that way.
It recently ocurred to me that “liberty” could be a major Dem campaign platform. “Let’s support liberty” is a positive, forward-thinking idea, while “don’t be a bigot” makes people defensive and triggers negative thinking. Many people, particularly those of libertarian inclination, are attracted to the GOP because they (mistakenly) think that the GOP is the party of personal liberty. But over the past six years, the government has expanded not only in size and cost, but also in terms of how much control and invasiveness it has into our private lives. If gay marriage, the NSA wiretapping, and even abortion can be framed as “government get off our backs!” issues, the Dems might get a few converts.
i agree. if the dems want a strong party of independent voices, they’d be smart to follow your advice. the underlying belief of most americans is freedom and liberty, and this administration has proven again and again to get into the personal business of our lives.
that move — if not just words — would probably convert me to a dem.