Friday, April 3, 2009

I &hearts The Heartland


Iowa, home of tall corn and sturdy Americans, no-nonsense kind of place, where I once drove a tractor as a kid, stopping at the family farm of my dad's law partner, trailering our way across the country in the summer of '56. Sensible place, not taken much to crazy ideas. Not much in the way of elitists there. Patriots, all of them; churches with white wooden steeples hold down the edges of fields. Iowans are solid and steady; it's a place for combines, not conflagrations.

Their Supreme Court ruled, unanimously, that outlawing same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. Along with them, and those celebrating it, I raise my voice in a throaty and happy cry to say the obvious: DUH.

If we are a country of laws -- and we are; if we hold as ideal belief in equal justice under the law -- and we do; if we believe in separation of church and state... well, there was a time, anyway... then there's simply no other conclusion to draw. Depriving certain law-abiding citizens of a right given to everyone else, based only on a religious belief that they are evil, or on wholly unsupportable and unproven claims that giving them that same right threatens that of others, is by my reckoning immoral. And, most certainly, illegal under our laws.

I understand homosexuality makes some people uncomfortable (the more uncomfortable, the more likely -- so it seems -- to join a church and practice it under the cloth, one might conclude); I accept that to some the Bible calls it a sin (even though there's much else in the Bible that those people conveniently ignore). To the extent that they choose to live their lives with those prejudices, I say, go for it. It's when they take it outside their homes or churches and into the public square that I -- and those judges, and everyone with a couple of honest brain cells to rub together -- must draw the line. If you don't believe in gay marriage, don't do it.

Well, people say, this isn't for the courts to decide. It's judicial activism (my favorite legal term, which means "judges ruling against you.") No. It's not. We have appeals courts because our founders knew people can be mean, nasty, and ruled by mobs. The ability of judges to rule unconstitutional laws which are UNCONSTITUTIONAL has been a basic principle of our legal system since Marbury v. Madison.

To people able to see facts -- a universe less densely populated in the US than in most other Western countries -- it's pretty clear that homosexuality is not a choice. They're as intelligently designed as the rest of us, one might say. And from that it follows that you can't catch it, or get recruited into it. It just is. And when you take stock of the openly gay among us, we're a much better society for the gifts they give.

As much as we hear, over and over, like tax cuts increasing revenue and other modern-day right-wing shibboleths, that same-sex marriage is a threat to the institution of marriage, I've yet to hear any actual argument that shows why that is so. Nor any evidence from places where it's allowed, that "traditional" marriage has been diminished. I rejoice in the idea of it, and so does my wife of thirty-eight years.

.

8 comments:

  1. One bright ray in the midst of gloom, and I'm glad for it! Iowa; who woulda thunk it?

    Twenty years from now this current bigotry will be just like racism is now; no one will own up to having been a part of the problem, and we'll all play like it doesn't exist anymore.

    And to some extent we'll be right. There will always be some atavism, but polite people won't use the "f" word, all marriages will be protected by law, and most people will be so accustomed to their gay neighbors that the remnant of bigotry will surprise us.

    Progress does happen. Too slowly . . . but it does happen.

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  2. Oh, and my husband of 17 years, Mr. Science, says "amen".

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  3. Sid, another beautifully written piece. As actor Richard Kiley sang in "The Little Prince" -- the French book that was made into a musical movie -- "I'm On Your Side."

    I'm going to enjoy the sunshine today, and out to the Pearl District to take a Pilates/yoga lesson. We'll be rolling around on.... BIG BALLS!

    Thank you for all that you write.

    Cordially,

    Ellen

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  4. Hmmm what was that Red-Neck State where they actually got to vote on SSM???? starts with a "C"....

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  5. GDad: I think you're right. We're gonna be left with this.

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  6. As an M.D. with a gay nephew, I say hear, hear. Who the hell is Frank Drackman?

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  7. Sid,

    Is there really a class system in the US?

    The Waffle House Wedding was the hit of the weekend among my family members, most of us stuck firmly in the middle class.

    Several of us are somewhat plus-sized, and it was tough to see all that flesh, ummmm... in the flesh.

    At least we don't smoke.

    Do you know if that was a real wedding, or was it staged ? It certainly looked real to me! But then, I don't make movies and videos, I just review them.

    EK

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  8. And now Vermont, too! The two houses of their legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto to declare that gay marriage is legal in their state!

    The times, they are a'changing.

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