Posted by
Playful Walrus on Thursday, July 15, 2010 1:55:17 PM
In the
New Times of San Luis Obispo, Glen Starkey appears to be stuck in the twentieth century as he provides another example of
what I recently wrote about – ongoing attacks on Dr. Laura by fascists. He also talks about the California Marriage Amendment.
I’m still waiting for a cogent argument defending Prop. 8, the initiative that changed the California Constitution to limit marriage to a union between a man and a woman.
First and foremost, Proposition 8 doesn't need an argument defending it. It is law - part of the state constitution. The time to argue over Prop 8 was before it was passed by voters. Now that it has passed, the argument is:
It was duly adopted. If Proposition 8 was unconstitutional, no defense would be enough. That someone even asks for defense of Proposition 8 reveals that either they don't understand the Constitution, or they are fine with laws that violate the Constitution, as long as someone gives a
"cogent argument defending" it. As for me, I don't care if a law is a "good idea", if it violates the Constitution, then either the Constitution needs to be amended or the law really isn't a good idea because the negatives outweigh the positives.
The burden is on critics to show that Proposition 8 (the California Marriage Amendment, in effect now) is unconstitutional. They haven't presented a compelling argument that it is.
Same-sex marriage will lead to bestiality and pedophilia, you say?
I notice he didn’t include polygamy and incest. Does he not have a problem with those? I used to think the bestiality argument was silly, until I realize that Ivy League professors and some governments are pushing the idea that certain other mammals should have legal standing as persons (often by lowering the standing of human beings). If people have a fundamental right to a marriage license, how can we then deny one to a man and a gorilla?
It's Sunday, July 11, and I’m in Mission Plaza listening to Rick Jacobs, who heads couragecampaign.org, who noted that in the recent court case challenging Prop. 8, the defense brought only two witnesses to the stand. Two? That’s it? They could only find two people who had anything to say in defense of Prop. 8?
When the plaintiffs haven't proven their case, no defense is necessary.
As far as I’m concerned, the initiative is hateful, misguided, and ultimately doomed. Want to know why? Because gay people are just like you and me.
Yes, people who have a homosexual orientation are just like me before the law, and I believe they have just as much inherent worth as I do. But homosexual
behavior and brideless or groomless pairings are not just like heterosexual behavior and bride+groom pairings. That is objectively demonstrable. And people with a thing for animals are "just like you and me", too, yet you are apparently bigoted towards them.
Gay and straight, transgendered and bi—we all share similar hopes and dreams. The difference is, straight people are free to fully pursue theirs.
Wrong. All state licenses have certain requirements, regardless of anyone's sexual orientation, or their hopes.
The people around me right now, they want that same freedom, and they deserve it.
They have it already.
Some of us—gay and straight—are willing to fight for it, and speaking of fighters, there’s Janet Allenspach, who I met at Live Oak Music Festival. She’s excited to tell me about her smackdown with gay basher Dr. Laura Schlessinger,
Looks like someone isn't doing his research. Explain how someone who 1) takes calls from homosexual people and treats them with the same respect and by the same rules as she does anyone else; and 2) tells concerned friends and family that their homosexual friend/family member is not going to change and they and their partner should be welcomed as part of the family – is a "gay basher".
the talk radio maven who was in Morro Bay to hawk handbags she was selling to support our troops by giving 20 percent of the proceeds to soldiers’ families.
She could sell them and give
none of the money to anyone else.
“‘I have a gay niece who’s married, legally married, to a wonderful woman, and I feel they have a right to be happily married and to love one another without discrimination.”
Dr. Laura apparently didn’t like being confronted.
Confronted? Allenspach's statement doesn't contain anything Dr. Laura disagrees with. If either of you had bothered to do your research, you'd know that. Wow, someone who is making a fun public appearance and raising money for charity doesn't want to be harassed by an ill-informed snot - how mean!
“She said, ‘If you’re going to be impolite, please move away from my table.’ I said, ‘I’m not being impolite, but you used to be so liberal. What happened? Did you sell out for the money?’”
Yes, Allenspach was being impolite. Some marriage neutering advocates feel entitled to harass people even with embarrassingly faulty premises. As far as Dr. Laura’s changing views – she grew up and got more intelligent. Yes, there's hope. Just because you have it wrong now doesn't mean you're stuck being wrong your whole life.
“I also asked her why she was only giving 20 percent of the handbag profits, which didn’t seem like very much. I told her we support the troops, too; we just support them by not wanting them to be at war.”
So clever. Hey, genius, Dr. Laura promotes a charity where 100% of the funds go to military families. Either way, you don't have to buy one of her bags - people buy them voluntarily. And I support homosexual people, but I don't support homosexual behavior. That makes more sense than "I support the troops but I never want them to fight evil".
Dr. Laura needs a bodyguard?
Yes, there are a lot of crazy people out there.
Maybe it’s to protect her from swallowing her own tongue when she’s spewing her bile.
Examples, please? Preferably something from the last ten years?
He goes on to write about a poet who is proud that her son is attracted to other men. Proud about what gets her son sexually aroused? Do parents of heterosexual people ever say anything like that? "I’m so proud my son is attracted to women." Proud of a choice in a spouse, I can see. But c'mon. Fine - she's okay with it. Having
pride in such a thing is just silly.