Friday, November 23, 2007

Twisted Priorities: Marriage Amendment No. 1 Priority For Some

After a record number of mayors lost their bids for re-election this year due in large part to voter unrest about rising property taxes, the number one priority for the upcoming legislative session should be obvious to all, unless you are working for one of those religious right nonprofit groups which are constantly flaming the fans of bigotry. Sue Swayze of the Indiana Family Institute would be one of those people. After she writes about "Jesus Christ" being "back in the State House" because Sen. Dennis Kruse (R) delivered a prayer at the opening of the Senate's business invoking his name, she writes at Veritas Rex:

The marriage amendment is our priority. It has arguably more long-term impact on Hoosiers than property taxes, but both are paramount to the future- one for your pocketbook and one for your cultural norms. IFI believes that both can be devastating to Hoosier families in the wrong doses.

The marriage amendment to which she refers seeks to write into the Indiana Bill of Rights a constitutional amendment to ban recognition of any legal incidents of marriage to any unmarried couples, whether straight or gay. Never mind that Indiana law already bans same-sex couples from marrying, and that Indiana courts have already ruled our constitution does not guarantee any such right to same-sex couples. If Swayze is so concerned about the state of Hoosier families, why doesn't she figure out a way to prevent an alarming number of out-of-wedlock births, record numbers of divorces and rampant extra-marital affairs plaguing our predominantly, heterosexual society? Why does she reserve all of her animosity towards a relatively small group of society which is not contributing to any of these far more important problems threatening Hoosier families?

Swayze's boss, Curt Smith, is equally obsessed with what gays and lesbians are doing in their bedrooms. Smith uses the occasion of Thanksgiving to discuss what he describes as the gay community's "narcissistic sex." Smith writes at Veritas Rex:

Go ahead. Prove me wrong on this hallowed Thanksgiving Day. As the 50-year-old on our team at the Family Institute, I've noted for my younger colleagues that the posts that get the most comments on Veritas Rex, by far, are focused in some respect on homosexual marriage/gay unions/blah, blah, blah, blah. So prove me wrong today. Show me the gay community has a life beyond absorption with narcissistic sex. Show us you are truly "gay" as in thankful and happy.

Again, I ask that these folks take a look in their own backyards. The state of the heterosexual sex world isn't as well as they might like to imagine it is. Go to the Internet and the personal ad section of your favorite weekly alternative newspaper and you will find an endless number of married couples, unwed couples and straight individuals cruising for anonymous hook-ups to satisfy their latest sexual urges. Yet, the only illicit sex Smith and Swayze see taking place is their twisted perception of gay and lesbian people out cruising parks and public restrooms for anonymous sex twenty-four hours a day. And if Smith and Swayze look a little harder, they will both find plenty of people in their own midst engaging in the very behavior they condemn with such self-righteousness.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

What does marriage mean to firefighters? Evidently not much. Read the latest topic on indy flashover blog. How can FF possibly believe what they do is OK or normal. Tacpayers should not accept their animal behavior.

Anonymous said...

These people need to be politely shown to the exit door of the State House.
This damn marriage amendment took up nearly all of the last legislative session's time. It was time that could have been used contructively to deal with the property tax debacle that they MUST deal with this session.

Now as far as prayer in the Chambers go I couldn't care less. If they want to pray to a bottle of Jack Daniels for forgiveness let 'em have at it.

There's serious business that needs to be dealt with and this damn marriage amendment isn't one of them. Governor Daniels (no relation to Jack Daniels) needs to show these folks the door.
Enough's enough!
I sure as hell hope it doesn't eat up this blog like it did last year. Voters don't give a rip about this crap!

Sean Shepard said...

I believe there are a great many fiscal conservatives who are tired of Republicans being held hostage by the gay marriage issue.

For those that believe that marriage is a religious institution in the eyes of one's god and not one governed by politicians, it seems evident that government should get out of the marriage business and eliminate all benefits or inequities that ensue from such status.

Perhaps a counter-proposal should be a constitutional amendment banning pre-marital sex? Or maybe swearing? Certainly none that call for a constitutional ban are guilty of any of those perceived failures of morality?

I've heard several people state that government institutions first got involved in marriage after the U.S. war between the states as a way to regulate against marriages between people of varying pigmentation levels.

We have far more important things to worry about. Skyrocketing taxes, out of control government spending and crime are absolutely more important to most voters. Getting government out of the "licensing who you're supposed to be sleeping with" business would lead towards ensuring that nobody's tax dollars went to support relationships they don't believe are moral. End of problem.

Anonymous said...

Sean... I wish someone would tell this to that nut St. Rep. Cindy Noe. She need to go.

Anonymous said...

Sean,
Banning pre-marital sex is like NOT buying a car without a test drive.
Banning swearing???? Then what would we have to say to our stupid lawmakers, (D) or (R)?
You're right on with the fact the gov't. should get out of the marriage business. If 2 people want to marry, have at it.
There are pro and cons to both sides of the argument, but the state, and country for that matter, have much more important things to be concerned about.
War on terror, economic development, homeless children, unemployment, etc...
The marriage issue should be left to the God of your choice. If it wasn't suppopsed to be, one will get his/her answer on judgement day!

Anonymous said...

It's Kruse, not Kruze.

I despise the guy, but his name's plastered on a lot of things in my hometown of Auburn.

Sean Shepard said...

Anon 4:14 PM:

Understanding that politicians are often "playing to the crowd" when it comes to social policy, I have to admit to liking Cindy Noe very much, mostly because of her support for eliminating property taxes and assistance to The Fairtax folks in the past.

I completely understand others who might take issue with the social policy aspects of any politician though.

Anonymous said...

Sean, you can pick and choose your issues all you want, but...

Among anyone who knows much of anything at the Statehouse (admittedly a small crowd), Cindy is not among the geniuses.

During key votes, there's a quiet word out, for a staffer to keep track of Rep. Noe. Seems she sometimes forgets to vote, or doesn't know which way to vote.

I've dealt with her on school funding and health, one-to-one. It was a mind-numbing experience. She was frighteningly unprepared and ill-informed.

She's kind of the Republican caucus's answer to Bischoff. Or Cochran. You get the idea.

Or, as one lobbyist put it, when she pulls up to a stopsign, you can see her lips moving.

And that, ladies and gents, is our Indiana General Assembly. Harrison Ullman was right, God rest his soul.

Anonymous said...

These folks are obsessed with gays, sex and the marriage amendment - I suspect it is a titillation of biblical proportions for them in some respects. On a more sinister note, their efforts to enact state sponsored discrimination is nothing less than a less violent form of ethnic cleansing. If left to their own devices, a second Inquisition would be taking place.

Anonymous said...

Please don't paint Republican legislators with the Kruse brush. Have you ever heard of his "covenant marriage" bill he used to introduce every year? His constituents know exactly how far to the right he's firmly planted his wingtips, yet he's been in public service for decades. While there certainly remains a "God Caucus" in the legislature, most Republicans have grown weary of the issue and fully understand there are much more important problems to address.

Anonymous said...

Ok 8:50, even if I agree with your assertion that the majority of Repugs have abandoned the wedge whack on my friends and family, I'll have to SEE that in action. When they start the Senate with a Bible-thumping rousing "gotta praise Jesus Christ or it ain't a prayer" prayer, it doesn't give me much hope.

Look, I don't care who they pray to privately. But in the public space they should at least have courtesy to acknowledge that OTHER Hoosiers have the right to think and pray differently.

And when it comes to gays and marriage --it's already illegal and that law has been upheld by the courts. Let it be.. or it IS still the wedge-whack gay-bashing Repugs of old.

Let's see what Long and Bosma and Daniels ACTUALLY do rather than their whispered "we're tired of that shit" message they like to filter back door through the blogs and "insiders".

Words mean nothing.. ACTION DOES.

Anonymous said...

The "Jesus-thumping" scares me, too, anonymous 9:42 a.m., but an overheard comment on a Southwest Airlines flight back from Las Vegas to Indianapolis on a Tuesday several weeks ago by someone all Republicans in the state know well concerning how he really feels about the fundies still trying to push the marriage issue this time would make many faces red were it quoted.

David C Roach said...

make brain bosma blow a gasket- tell him you support lesbian sheep polygamy. we all should be allowed to marry whatever, or whomever, and as many as we can support- "spouses" that we want. Its not governments business.
Mary had a little lamb, a little girl, a little man. giggle!
After all, this Is Indiana. And weirder things have, and are occuring. witness the Guv's recent siging into a law outlawing bestiality. apparently this is such a problem in our find state that this new law was necessary. Or were the Dems pulling the wool over mitch? Evidently, someone was pulling someones wool.
how about our legislators focusing on something important, like jobs for hoosiers, and affordable health care, and higher education, so our youth and residents are preoccupied with passing classes, instead of sheeps asses..