I’m curious as to how people will react if a constitutional ban on gay marriage passes in the United States. Let’s presume, for the sake of this discussion, that the amendment will be the exact one which was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Musgrave on May 21, 2003, which is the one that President Bush is now considering throwing his support behind.
What kind of reaction will you, personally, have if this passes?
I would honestly consider moving to Canada. They seem a lot smarter up there.
While I sincerely doubt it will be ratified as an Amendment to the Constitution, if it is my reaction will be somewhat of dismay. It won’t affect my personal life.
Where are gay marriages recognized?
And that’s not meant as a rhetorical question - I’m aware of Canada. Where else?
Plain and simple: outraged! Over the course of US history we have seen laws, amendments, and court cases that have created second-class citizens. All current and future laws created that ban same-sex marriage would accomplish the exact same thing. There are those, including the president, that feel they have to throw religion, and “the sanctity of marriage” into this whole mess and its simply not necessary.
First of all this is in no way a religious issue. Laws supporting same-sex marriage would not force any religion to accept the same view. We would simply be providing every American citizen the rights and priveleges that come with the term “marriage.” And the only change to this word would be in the eyes of the law. Again this would not affect any religion’s definition of the word, just the legal definition. If your religious beliefs are not accepting of same-sex marriages, that’s fine, but at least have tolerance. America will not fall apart if same sex-marriages are allowed. Look over at Europe. There are numerous countries that have allowed same-sex marriages for years. People just need to open their eyes and realize that this isn’t a horrible concept. We faught a civil war in order to grant a group of people equal rights. There were people back then that feared the concept. Did anything happen to America when equal rights were provided under the law? No! Will anything horrible happen to America if same-sex marriages are allowed. No! If anything this country will be a better place that doesn’t discriminate based on sexual preference.
Finally, one quick note about “the sanctity of marriage.” What exactly does Brittany Spears marriage do to the sanctity of marriage? If anything marriages like that harm the sanctity of marriage.
That’s my humble opinion in a nutshell!
I’ll repeat what I posted in the other thread:
[ol]
[li]Agitate for a constitutional convention to rewrite the Constitution to remove the odious language;[/li][li]Start an rebellion against the (obviously corrupt) government; or[/li][li]Move.[/li][/ol]Most likely #3, probably to Canada or maybe New Zealand.
The proposed amendment has no place in the United States Constitution. Plain and simple.
From Wikpedia:
Oh God-damn this board to hell. I just wrote a very difficult, and quite lengthy, response to this and the thing got eaten alive. :mad: Let’s try this again.
Wow. What a good question and one that sadly I really do not have any answer to. I am a straight, white, married and generally conservative-Republican type middle-class American male who finds himself more and more in disagreement with the Republican party, or more specifically what the Bush administration represents within the party. I support civil unions for gay/lesbian couples. I personally do not care if it is called a “marriage” or not but feel an appeasement to the religious community is a decent compromise. Let the church keep “marriage” and let the state be the legally binding authority for unions.
I hate this phrase as it can be a very loaded statement but I do not know any other way to say this: I have a lot of gay/lesbian friends. I am the only straight guy playing in a gay volleyball league for crying out loud. Haha. My point being, I have had a lot of exposure to the gay/lesbian community and thereby know of a lot of people who will be negatively affected if this happens.
So, back to the question at hand. I assume you mean after I finish vomiting over such an amendment to The Constitution which betrays everything it stands for. I know that I’d not leave the country. I understand how others may see that as an option but it just does not feel like the right thing to do for me personally. That does not even take into consideration that it would be a very impractical thing to do considering my marriage, family, and careers. I suppose I’d become more involved and ‘activist’ than I currently am. Of course, that realization makes me feel even worse about not doing enough right now. I mean, I love my gay/lesbian friends. I go to Gay Pride and cheer for friends in the parade and show solidarity “from the straight crowd”. I sign petitions against legislation when I am aware of it, for example the recently signed Ohio legislation. I guess that if The Constitution would be amended, I’d wonder if I did enough to stop it. I wonder what I could do to over-turn it should it come to pass.
Man, sorry for rambling. I wish I had a good answer but thank you for a very thought provoking OP. I can’t say I’m getting warm-fuzzy feelings thinking about this but a little soul-searching never hurt anyone.
Peace,
MeanJoe
Walk outside, extend my middle finger and spin in a circle.
Then get on here and start a thread on how retarded our voters are, probably.
i wouldn’t be happy to see something like that pass… it’d be a sad day
to see descrimination put into the constitution.
when it came time to vote i’d very likely vote against any elected officials
i could that supported it.
but i doubt it would directly affect my personal life…
I am disgusted that anyone would consider amending the Costitution for this. You may as well wipe your ass with it. Changes to the Constitution shouldn’t be based on your flavor of the month cause. We’re at war, we’re in danger of terrorist attack, the deficit is astronimical and Bush is “troubled” about two men getting married. Who the fuck is harmed by this?
I’m a registered voter with no party affiliation (non-partisan.) I’ve voted for Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians over the years, mostly Libertarians. In this next presidential election I will vote for whomever gets the Democratic nomination, chiefly because of this issue.
If it passes, I will work to get it repealed. I will support groups that will try to find legal loopholes around it. Maybe a civil union with virtually the same rights. Mpst of all, I’ll be distressed that my beloved country has come to that.
Haj
Go into a quiet funk for a while. Entertain pointless fantasies of living somewhere without people. South Seas islands and remote mountains, f’rinstance. Just leave it all behind, because fighting becomes so exhausting. So many of my best years seemed taken up with fighting to make my own government color blind, not to mention repsponsible for its other actions in our name.
FTR, I’m a white, middle-aged, divorced, agnostic heterosexual female. If any of that matters, which it shouldn’t. None of those things should affect citizenships rights.
Then–I hope–I’ll buckle back down and keep fighting: writing Congressmen, pestering their local offices, drawing the line in everyday dealings whether casual or local mover-and-shaker situations. Make my stand, using subtlety or reason or disdain or whatever works. Hope that maybe, just maybe, a lot of small, quiet people pushing for justice may eventually push back against a government that seems increasingly unresponsive.
Find the nearest wall and put my head through it. I would say move to Canada and renounce my citizenship here but I’m not quite that brave.
I seriously doubt that this reactionary piece of garbage will ever get passed though. I think they learned their lesson with curtailing freedoms with the Prohibition amendment that was repealed in (a relatively) short fashion. It goes against the whole principle of the Constitution.
This is what I love about The Straight Dope! Although there may not be a ton of responses as of yet, the users on this board use common sense and are calm about the matter. Every other message board or comment page is loaded with people posting nonsense left and right.
I’ll wait.
Eventually, like most idiotic laws, this too shall pass. My grandmother would never have believed Negroes would legally be allowed to marry into “our kind” and my father probably never thought he would live to see the day a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against The War would be a serious candidate for President.
The American public can be painfully slow sometimes, but surprisingly, logic usually prevails, even if it does seem to take forever.
I think San Francisco did an amazing thing. The “shock” of seeing Gay and Lesbian couples getting “married” is now over…most of those couples looked pretty normal. In many minds, it is a done deal. Now the courts have to get around to backing it up.
And as far as a Constitutional Amendment…well, they have been threatening to have one about flag burning (as if that happens so often in the parking lot at 7-11). Notice how that sort if went away without any fanfare.
Believe it or not, when it actually comes down to putting something like that into the Constitution, even the die-hard Republicans give pause. Anti-Gay marriage might play well during an election year, and Bush will certainly milk every vote he can get by drumming up the fear - I think the general public will eventually see that this is all smoke and mirrors to avoid discussing some real issues.
So like I said.
I’ll wait. Maybe I will start picking out a china pattern in the meantime.
You sure about that?
That’s a far cry from other sites I’ve seen!
The walls where I live are pretty thin.
Ok…the message board just destroyed what I had been typing for a half hour. Yay!
Now for the readers digest version, of what was never read…
I think it is rediculous, ridiculous, however you spell it, its worth saying twice. I do not think it is fair to disallow gay marriages. I think marriage is two seperate things, one relating to religion, and one relating to the government. As a religious person, I am inclined to believe that gay marriages are well, not right (IMHO). But a legally bonding document within the government, I think anything should go. Why can a man and woman choose to dedicate their lives to eachother (on paper at least) and benefit from lower taxes and insurance, but two men or two woman can not do the same thing to receive the same benefits? I think it will be a sad day in american history if they pass a law discriminating against a group of people who choose to live a different lifestyle in this country of what we thought was freedom.
On a lighter note…I’ve heard people say that don’t want gay marriages simply because it would make them feel uncomfortable. I just laugh at these people, because when people pick their nose while sitting next to me, it makes me feel uncomfortable, but I know that congress will not propose any constitutional amendment about it no matter how many letters I write.
I realize I’m only 18 years old, and I haven’t accumulated the vast amounts of knowledge and wisdom as most people, but this is how I feel. (Please don’t flame me 
)
But I feel that if they pass an amendment discriminating against people who pay their taxes, do their job, brust their teeth, and wipe their own butt just because of their sexual preference, they might as well save some paperwork and throw in two more sections repealing the 13th and 19th amendment.
Well, thats my two cents, hope you enjoyed.
Same thing I’m already planning on doing. Try to keep my grades up, try to get into Canadian grad schools. Save up as much money as I can, a lot of financial reserves are necessary to be allowed to immigrate. Take French classes. Otherwise grub for every point I can get from the Canadian immigration point system. (No, I’m not doing this solely in a liberal snit-fit. My boyfriend’s Canadian. I really like Canada, but America sort of freaks him out.)
In the short term, probably yell a lot and stomp. Hate humanity a little more than usual. I may or may not use inappropriately large font sizes, I haven’t decided. Bolding and caps are definitely in, though.