They're called "rights" because they're ineligible for votes.

For the record, I'm not talking about marriage as a religious institution. I'm talking about the LEGAL RIGHT itself. That being said...

Whenever you engage in a discussion over social issues with conservatives, they typically tell you that they want limited government, that big government is a bad idea, and that the government shouldn't be running our lives. "I don't want the government telling me what I can and can't do," they say. This usually has to do with laws like gun control (the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution grants every American the right to bear arms). So, that's where conservatives stand: "I don't want the government telling me what to do; that's [pick one] un-American / Socialism / Communism, and we're a democracy!" Really? You don't want the government telling us what we can and can't do? Then why do you support a law where the government tells people whom they can marry? Because, that's what DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, does.

President Bill Clinton signed DOMA into law back in 1996. It pretty much left gay marriage up to the states. They could decide for themselves if they would ban it or not. Since DOMA, most states have banned gay marriage. Few have permitted it. But DOMA also gave states this provision: You don't have to recognize another state's gay marriage license. In other words, if a couple guys got hitched in Massachusetts, and moved to Texas, then Texas (thanks to 2005's Proposition 2) wouldn't recognize them as a married couple, even though in the state of Massachusetts, they're legally married. According to the equal protections clause in the 14th amendment of the US Constitution, that's unconstitutional and illegal.

(Sidenote: Clinton's view on gay marriage has since evolved to where now he supports it. Obama's current position is also "evolving". He supports civil unions, but he's not sure about gay marriage itself, although his administration no longer defends DOMA the way it used to.)

When W took over, half way through his double term, he came very close to signing into law the Federal Marriage Amendment which would have made it completely illegal in the US for any gay couples to get married. Thankfully, the FMA never survived, but that didn't stop other states from getting their own constitutional amendment into their law books.

But I just don't get it. Republicans and social conservatives (who typically vote according to religious values and beliefs) don't want government interference in the lives of Americans, but they're okay with this? This law, DOMA, discriminates! Most of the time, when conservatives defend their anti-gay marriage views, they refer to something called "the sanctity of marriage", and then back it up with the Bible. After that, they might mention how many marriages they themselves have had. Would you like a side of irony with your ignorance?

"Sanctity"? Really? No one ever cares about how many marriages straight people go through. It's no big deal. Even evangelical Christians have experienced a few divorces depending on which ones you ask. But get 2 men or 2 women who have spent decades together in a loving, exclusive, monogamous commitment, and that's an attack on the institution?! Get real. 

Gay marriage is viewed as a "special" right to some conservatives, and because the idea of gay marriage was so taboo a few years ago, that's when some people decided "Let's vote and see what the people want. Should gay people be allowed to marry?" Then all the debate really picked up, and out of the 50 states, a large number of them have constitutionally banned the right, excluding gay couples from being legally recognized and protected by their state's government. This brings me to my next and BIGGEST point:

As Rachel Maddow said, "They're called 'rights' because they're not supposed to be voted on." If you have a right to do something, you. have. a. right.

What if we took away everyone's right to freedom of speech? No, we can't do that, because we have a right to it, just like we have a right in this country to worship our chosen deity the way we want to. We have a right. The same way I have a right to put my voice out there in the cyber-verse, I have a right to be Catholic. I have a right to an education, to buy a house, to peaceably assemble and rally, to remain silent if arrested, to an attorney, to quality health care, to vote, and to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I have the right to love whomever I want to love, and the person I love is the person I want to marry and be with in good times, in bad, in sickness, in health, in poverty, in prosperity, until death do we part, so help us God!

Among other reasons, conservatives don't want gays to marry because then our society will fail. Really? Allowing people to truly and freely love whom they want to love will breakdown our society? We're already past that. It's been said that you can judge a country's greatness by how it treats its animals, and its homeless. How does 2 people getting married hurt our country? Are you really concerned about having to explain that kind of thing to your kids?

"Mommy, Daddy, why are those 2 men holding hands and kissing?"
"Because they love each other."
"But aren't men only supposed to kiss women?"
"Most men like to kiss women, and some like to kiss other men. Sometimes, some women will kiss other women too, but they kiss because they love each other. Remember how we told you how everyone's different in their own way?"
"Yeah."
"Some people are good at music, other people are good at sports, some people live in big houses, some live in small apartments, some people have children, some people have pets instead, some do different things with their hair, some are left-handed, some have red hair, or blue eyes, or curly hair."
"Who will I kiss, Daddy?"
"You'll kiss the person you love."
"Who will that be?"
"That's up to you, when you're older and learn more about love."
"And you love Mommy, which is why you kiss her, right?"
"Yes, that's right. I love Mommy very much, and she loves me which is why she kisses me. And we love you which is why we kiss you!" 

Seriously, how difficult is that conversation? These are answers that are simple and easily understood to a kid in the 1st grade or kinder. If parents would get over their embarrassment and get to the truth of what is out there, then this wouldn't be an issue. DOMA wouldn't exist. DOMA doesn't defend anything but prejudice, and gives people a chance to use the Bible to justify ignorance and hate. By the way, the Bible has also been used to justify slavery, treating women as property, war, and other things that we're not stupid enough to justify.

Another reason to "defend" marriage is that then the institution itself will be "redefined". Okay, so, which century do you live in? It wasn't too long ago that (and still to this day) in some countries, marriages were arranged. They've been treated as business deals. In some cases, soon-to-be-wed couple never even met until the big day. It's been a social status where love didn't matter. It was more as a means of establishing social and financial security. When a woman was married off, it had little to do with love. In fact, when women decided to marry the man they loved, they were seen as radicals. Marriage has been evolving for decades to what it is now: a life-long commitment between 2 people who love each other completely, but also will reap the legal benefits attached to it. It is a legal contract now - a legal contract that anyone should be allowed to enter into with someone they love and want to spend their life loving.

People from all over the world come to live in America because it's "the land of the free, and home of the brave". And those words are taken directly from Francis Scott Key, the lyricist behind our National Anthem. In this country, we teach that you should be yourself. Be who you are, not what others want you to be. We teach it everywhere. DOMA tells people that if you love and want to marry someone who is of the same sex as you, you're denied the right to marry. That's a complete and utter hypocrisy.

Needless to say, I really hope DOMA gets repealed. If it does, then my partner and I (of almost 5 years come June 6th) can go to our county courthouse, pay a $71 fee, and enjoy state and federal benefits and protections for the rest of our lives. These are benefits like:

-filing taxes jointly
-hospital visitation rights
-medical decisions
-and over 1,000 more...yes, over 1,000 more.

To quote the movie Get Real, "It's only love. What's everyone so afraid of?"

Repocrisy

If you're annoyed by political blog posts, especially posts written by solid liberals, then I suggest you stop reading now and do something else.

If you're still interested in my political thinking, I welcome you to keep reading.

The title of my blog directly attacks the Republican party, and those who support it. I admit I didn't know much about the difference between Republicans and Democrats when I was in high school. In fact, I'm embarrassed to admit that when I was in college and W was president, I actually supported him and even enjoyed a few of his speeches, feeling proud to have him lead our country. That was BEFORE I realized not only the level of his stupidity, but also that his party was staunchly against equal rights for gay people...a community I accepted belonging to back in 2001. Coincidentally, today, March 12, 2011, I celebrate my 10-year anniversary of coming out as a proud gay man. Kiss my ass, W! KISS MY ASS!

So, there I was in college thinking W was pretty good, until I learned of Republicans' positions on social issues. That's when I started learning the difference between conservatives and liberals. For someone who's empathetic like me, being socially conservative is not only detrimental to society, but dangerous, too. Being socially conservative places many stigmas and labels on those who are marginalized in society, and it justifies many with prejudices towards any social minority to truly treat them in sub-human manners. And these are the same people who claim to be Christians (i.e., "followers of Christ").

For years, I had it in my head that Democrats were immoral people simply because they were the party that supported the woman's right to choose whether she wanted to keep her unborn baby or not. Growing up in a Catholic household, "pro-choice" is something that stigmatizes you in any Catholic community, which my hometown also is. Now, 10 years later, I see the Republican party for what it really is: evil, ignorant, greedy, careless, and selfish. But they use a façade of being moral people to cover it all up.

Republicans are pro-life: they want to pass laws that make it illegal to abort an unborn baby. This is probably the only part of them I support. Although, my own disclaimer I must include: I'd NEVER encourage a woman to abort her child, but it's not up to me, it's up to her. Many conservatives say, "It's not a choice, it's a child!" I agree with that, but there are many exceptional circumstances. Some women get raped or are victims of incest. Conservatives would argue that even in these circumstances, the baby doesn't deserve to die, which I kind of agree with, but I also see that it's not a life that was created out of love.

Republicans usually support the death penalty. See the irony here? They insist mothers keep their children, but they're okay with capital punishment. If you're pro-life, shouldn't you be COMPLETELY pro-life? What right do you have to tell a woman what to do with her child? It's her baby, not yours. What right do you have in terminating someone's life? Oh, but the guy is a serial killer. So, do we kill people to show that killing people is bad?

Republicans believe in "trickle-down economics" in which they give massive amounts of money (provided by us middle and lower class taxpayers) to the wealthiest people in America who own and run big (sometimes international) corporations. The idea is that with the extra money, they'll use it to build their business and this will create jobs. If you create jobs, the economy improves because people with jobs earn money, and spend it, and it's a big boost for the economy. Seems like the perfect plan, right? WRONG. These CEOs that get extra money for their multi-million or billion dollar corporations usually spend it on things other than their business. They'll give THEMSELVES bonus checks that they need to buy that new house in another part of the world for their annual vacation. And those jobs they could be giving to Americans go overseas to places like China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, and others where labor is CHEAP. They do this so they can spend less on labor, and thus maximize their profits for shareholders. This is probably one of the biggest areas of the party I absolutely loathe. They give the wealthiest people in our country hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax cuts, and the people who pay for these tax cuts are the ones who need the money the most. What happens when you do this for over 10 years? America is now in debt several trillion dollars. As in, we owe more than this much: $1,000,000,000,000. That's 12 zeroes. And who gets to pay it back? Our kids. Yep. But...Republicans are moral people! They're Christians! How could they bankrupt our country and give the money to the people who are hoarding it all for themselves? But...they're supposed to create jobs with that extra money. Bullshit. Suffice it to say, Republicans believe profit is more important than people. Solution? Give the money to the lower and middle class who will spend it by buying things they need and want. When there's demand, supply can grow. The more business you have, the more it grows. The more it grows, the more jobs get created. The more jobs get created, the more spending happens. The more spending happens, the more the economy gets a boost. However, Republicans don't like giving middle and lower class Americans any money because to them, that's a "handout" when they need to be pulling their own weight in this economy by getting a job. Well, they'd get a job if there were jobs available! But sorry, all the jobs are going overseas so fortune 500 companies can make even MORE money...after the government already gave them big tax breaks.

This year, in Texas, Republicans are trying to pass a Voter ID bill that makes it very difficult to be registered to vote. The idea is that it enhances voter security to prevent fraud. This bill primarily targets the poor, minorities, marginalized societies, and young people. Typically, these demographics tend to vote Democratic. So, who isn't majorly affected by this bill? The elderly and gun owners - aka - the people who typically vote Republican. So, in a nutshell, Republicans want to pass a bill that gives Democratic voters major hurdles to jump through, and keeps it easy for Republican voters to cast their ballot. I don't know about you, but that sounds corrupt to me. But, Republicans can't be corrupt. They're Christians!

Now, in Texas, one of the biggest issues is teachers' jobs. Our state is facing a massive multi-billion dollar deficit, and the state is choosing to balance the budget by laying off teachers, because, you know, teachers are really expensive with all the money they make. It's not like they matter. They only work 10 months out of the year. So what if Johnny can't read very well? He'll get there. We believe in him. It's not like he needs to know how to read or how to do math to find a stable job in our economy. Really?! How did this shortfall even happen? Well, back in 2006, Republicans passed a law that changed how school districts spent money. They made districts cut about 10% of their spending. So, where did that money go? To corporations. But it was okay - the government was going to pay the difference to balance the budget. Well, that worked...for about 3 years. Economists were even warning that we'd experience a multi-billion dollar deficit in 2011, and the Republicans ignored the warnings and took money from schools and gave it to CEOs. Now who's paying the price for the deficit? Teachers and the students they serve. Our future. And this is the moral political party? I don't think Jesus would have done anything like this.

I've only touched the iceberg of Republican policies. But based on this alone, I have no respect for the party, and little respect for those who support them. All this can change, though. Do your homework and vote. After all, we're not the kind of country that lets corporations run our lives. Oh, wait. We are now, courtesy of your local and state Republicans.