Institutionalizing discrimination I am afraid...

On my way home from work this afternoon and listening to one of my two NPR stations I learned the Senate Judiciary Committee had approved what is called the “Federal Marriage Amendment”. First of all, I would like to say my marriage does not need constitutional protection and I strongly disagree with the notion that the Federal Government can do anything constructive to perpetuate marriage or insure the survivability of the family, particularly through a constitutional amendment. I found the following while ‘googling’ on the web. I agree with this statement. It is from “People For the American Way” and written by their Legal Director Elliot Mincberg.

“Today’s vote was a shameful act of election-year vandalism against our Constitution and the basic American principle of equal protection under the law. Discrimination is wrong, and the U.S. Constitution, our most sacred legal document, is especially the wrong place for it.

“It’s not surprising that some Republican leaders want to distract Americans from crises that really threaten our families and values – unfair tax policies and a runaway deficit, a culture of corruption and lack of accountability for lawbreaking at the highest levels of our government, the neglect of children and families displaced by Hurricane Katrina, and more. But writing discrimination into our sacred charter of freedom for short-term political gain shows a basic lack of decency." (Close quote)

Please write your senators and encourage them to keep this poorly thought and ill-conceived election year headline grabbing effort from becoming a part of our constitution. I wholeheartedly agree with director Mincberg, if it passed, it would only be writing discrimination into our legal system.

Shall we recall the success of the social experiment of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution? During Prohibition, temperance activists hired scholars to rewrite the Bible by removing all references to alcoholic beverages. What license would the extremists in this country take if such a discriminatory amendment were passed? The Ku Klux Klan strongly supported Prohibition and its strict enforcement. Likely, their message of hate would be strengthened by such a law.