What, exactly, does banning same-sex marriage really accomplish?

[eyesroll]

Banning same-sex marriage will not make a single dent in the divorce rate. It won't prevent a single person from abusing his or her spouse or children. There won't be a rash of people believing, "ooh, since they've made marriage really, really special and exclusive, I'm going to stop cheating on my spouse, lest they take marriage away from me, too."

Banning same-sex marriage won't lift anyone out of poverty. It won't help a single person attend a better school. It doesn't create a single job, a single college scholarship. It won't teach anyone how to read, how to balance a checkbook, or how to apply for a mortgage. It won't change anyone's tax burden at all.

Banning same-sex marriage doesn't clean up a single Superfund site. It doesn't reduce smokestack emissions. It doesn't do anything to get the radium out of my city's drinking water. It doesn't do anything to help our energy independence. It doesn't make a gallon of gas cost any less.

Banning same-sex marriage makes this country and its citizens not one iota safer from terrorism. Osama bin Laden isn't biding his time in his cave, telling his followers to "hold off," pending the outcome of the marriage-amendment debate. It doesn't get us out of Iraq one second sooner, and it doesn't save the life of a single soldier.

Banning same-sex marriage doesn't help a single person join the ranks of the medically insured. It doesn't lower the cost of prescription drugs, shore up Medicare and social security, or find new treatments or curses for any disease.

And meanwhile, while many Republicans (and, sadly, some Democrats) spend their time playing "I'm a bigger homophobe! No, I'M a bigger homophobe," these priorities don't get discussed, don't get funded, and don't get done. Iraq's a mess, people can't afford the medicine that keeps them alive, and more and more children are getting left behind -- but at least we can say we stopped loving adults from committing to one another.

If we asked the average American what they care more about -- education, health care, taxes, war, terrorism...or someone else's marriage -- I bet we'd be hard pressed to find people begging politicians to do something about the latter, at the expense of the former.

All banning same-sex marriage does is divide the country further, at a time when we need to focus more on our similarities than our differences. It tears families apart, at a time when politicians talk about strengthening the family unit -- a goal, I'm sure, we all share.

It accomplishes nothing, for anyone, except a small cabal of right-wing theocrats and their cronies.

I think it's time we acknowledged the rights of other people to live as they choose, love who they choose -- isn't that what everyone wants for themselves, if not for other people?

[quispquake]

1. It will shore up the homophobic vote for the Republicans...

Beyond that, it will accomplish NOTHING but intensify hate.

[prolesunited]

2. Excellent essay!

:thumbsup:

I just nominated it for the home page.

[eyesroll]

13. Hey, cool! It's there now!

Thanks! :-)

[prolesunited]

14. Hey, I must have a lot of pull

around here. :silly:

Congrats! It deserves to be there. :toast:

[arcane1]

3. a bone for the mouth-breathing self-hating fundies to gnaw on

that is all

oh, it will accomplish the nice precedent of using the Constitution to TAKE rights from people, and I suppose there are plenty of proto-hominids on the right who would love to take that idea up a notch or two

but as far as any actual positive accomplishment? Nothing. Indeed, I'd go so far as to say that marriage will be less 'sacred' after this bullshit passes

:grr:

[leftofthedial]

4. bingo

soon it will be voting rights for non-party members.

[ulysses]

5. superb!

[olddem43]

Mostly, its just to create a huge controversy to

deflect the public's attention from the important issues and the incompetence and criminality of this admin.

[arcane1]

7. his daddy used the flag-burning ammendment scam for the same thing

get a controversy going, get people to "divide" (not "unite" like Jr promised) over it, and thus have the airwaves filled with bs that has nothing to do with what we SHOULD be hearing about

[fdr_hst_fan]

17. AMEN, brother!

[GOPisEvil]

6. It appeases Bush's base of homophobes and religious whack jobs.

Other than that, it serves no practical purpose.

[Misunderestimator]

8. Yep... I had that conversation last night at the Moveon phone party

Four other women where there that I had never met... two in their 30s, me in my 40s and two in their late 50s. They were saying essentially the same thing. And they were thrilled when they found out that I was gay (well, found out isn't exactly true... since I basically just said it when the topic came up)... It was like they'd been waiting to meet a gay person so they could tell them how supportive they were (there aren't many of us where I'm living right now). Pretty amazing.

As for what it accomplishes... the only thing (other than pandering to the fanatic base) is that the government would have to start providing us the same benefits as married straights, and corporations would ALSO have to comply. Lots of money there, if you think short-sightedly (as all republicans seem to do). In the long-term it benefits society greatly.

Thanks for the post.

[Union Thug]

9. it saves on health insurance costs...

for those policies that cover only married couples, doesn't it? Isn't that really the issue? Can someone who knows anything about health care insurance policies map this out?

[ulysses]

10. wouldn't more people be paying into those programs?

:shrug:

[Union Thug]

11. I don't know how it would play out..

that's why I'm asking! =)

[SeattleDem]

12. actually, there's a good argument to allow gay marriage

many companies now offer "domestic partner" benefits so that their gay and lesbian employees can have equal benefits. However, they then must offer those benefits to unmarried heterosexual couples too. So lots of unmarried folk are getting benefits typically reserved for married couples.

If the Pubs actually want to make marriage "more attractive" to heterosexual couples and save corporations some money, they'd be FOR gay marriage. Commpanies could then do away with domestic partner benefits, and unmarried couples who want to have health insurance for both persons would have more "need" to get married and less "incentive" to "live in sin".

[ibegurpard]

23. there you go

no reason to offer benefits to domestic partners if there are no people that are prevented from being married.

[LizW]

15. {applause}

I hope you get this published somewhere. Excellent.

[ulysses]

16. get back up there

:kick:

[Lindsey]

18. In fact, I believe it will help the economy

think of the honeymoons, the registries at various stores, the entire wedding industry would benefit. Further, It could possible create stability in the gay&lesbian arena that isn't currently there due to the lack of marriage (please note I said "could"). This should definitely be left up to each state. I just don't get it....aren't the repubs supposed to be for state's rights and to keep the government out of people's business? WTF HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The religious right is ruining and I mean RUINING this country.

[MsUnderstood]

20. Mass and SF, CA has had some influx of cash

from the homosexuals who go there to get married.

What the amendment does besides not doing anything is begin a systematic descrimination aimed at homosexuals.

Once the word marriage is pulled away from gays/lesbians, that can be used to say "civil unions are like marriages and marriages are forbidden so you can't have a civil union either".

And then the activist judges will interpret our constitution to add things that aren't there.

[PA Democrat]

19. Please submit this as a LTTE to your local paper

Very nice job.

[SW FL Dem]

21. Great Post !

Powerful and to the point. The debate over gay marriage is a red herring designed to appease the radical right while forcing Dems to take a stance that the Pugs hope will hurt them in local races. Even Bob Barr admitted it was political on CNN today.

[Cugel the Clever]

22. I hope this bigoted posturing bites the Repugs on the ass!

Of course there is no rational reason, other than being yet another wedge, for BushCo to be making so much noise about this non-issue. It certainly will never achieve the 2/3 vote needed to get out of congress. Will it attract the "undecided" to vote GOP- the party of hatred and bigotry? I think not. All it does really is vividly demonstrate how little respect the Repugs have for the ideals on which our nation was founded- justice, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
God bless America and save us from these evil clowns.

[CaTeacher]

24. I think they believe that being gay is

just a social choice--like choosing to drive an SUV. If society approves of the choice--by recognizing the marriages--then more people will choose to be gay.

Pretty damm stupid--but I know one or two fundies--and this is about as deep as it gets. Scary isn't it???

[eyesroll]

26. Welcome to DU, Cugel the Clever!

:toast:

I hope it backfires, too. Polls say most people in the U.S. are opposed to same-sex marriage, but even more people are opposed to amending the constitution to make it illegal for all of eternity, because they either have higher priorities, or because they realize we shouldn't be using the constitution for this sort of thing. So maybe there's hope there

[UdoKier]

25. They don't actually care about banning it...

...any more than they actually care about banning abortion. It's all about pandering to their religiously insane base who for some reason never catch on that it's just a red herring and a ploy.

Let's say the repukes actually passed the FMA and a constitutional amendment banning abortion.

What would they run on?

Censoring their pal Murdoch's smutty FOX broadcasts?

[sallyseven]

27. Takes people minds off what the hell he

is saying about not being told the truth. bush complains that he really believed there were weapons. How come he didn't wait for the investigators to finish? How come he talked about invading Saddam before 9/11. bush lies every time he opens his mouth.