It’s election time again, and I am already being bombarded with words of hate, bigotry, and discrimination. The lack of civil rights for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people is appalling, and election time means that there is a fearful right that is using religion and family values to prove why two people are not allowed to marry under law and have the same equal protection from those marriages as me and Charlie.
The LGBT community is denied over 1100 rights given to heterosexuals. Some of the key ones are (http://equalitymatters.org):
- Marriage: Same sex partners cannot legally wed in all but four states.
- Protection from Discrimination: Many states to do not have laws protecting people from harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation.
- Hospital Visitation: LGBT couples have no legal right to visit a partner in the hospital and can be barred from entering the room by medical personnel.
- Estate Taxes: LGBT couples cannot pass their estate to a spouse tax-free.
- Job Security: In over 35 states you can be fired simply for being gay.
- Property Taxes: LGBT partners must pay property tax when transferring property between spouses.
- Social Security: Unlike heterosexual spouses, LGBT partners are not eligible to receive a spouse's Social Security pension or other government benefits.
- Medical Decisions: During a medical crisis, LGBT couples cannot legally make treatment decisions for their partners.
- Domestic Violence: LGBT people cannot get domestic violence protection orders against a partner or former partner.
Let’s tackle the sanctity of marriage argument. The Enrichment Journal recently reported on the divorce rates for men-women marriages in America: first marriages is 41%; second marriages is 60%; third marriage is 73%. Let me get this straight. This thing called marriage that some people strongly believe is so sacred that it should only be between and man and a woman has at a minimum a 41% split up rate? Average with the second and third marriages and you’re looking at well over 50%. This holds true for my circle of heterosexual friends as well. Now let’s look at my family members and friends who are gay. My brother-in-law has been with his partner for probably 20+ years. One of the saxophone players in my band just celebrated his 20 year anniversary with his partner. Another set of friends are celebrating 31 years. And yet, if one of these people had a heart attack, was in the hospital, and was being treated by a less than accommodating doctor, their partner could not visit them!
Today, New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind held up a Hebrew Bible in the state assembly and stated that he would support gay marriage if it wasn’t for his religion. The last time I checked this country was founded on freedom of religion with a CLEAR and WRITTEN separation of church and state. Thomas Jefferson didn’t even want a national day of Thanks – Thanksgiving – because it was a tribute to God and that did not fit into our country’s foundation of freedom. Of course he felt that privately if people wanted to do that, then that’s great, but he didn’t want that level of religion in our policies, even as seamlessly benign as Thanksgiving. We have allowed religion to creep into our legislation and that fact, compounded with people’s lack of knowledge and bigotry has resulted in what I believe is my generation’s blanket of discrimination that covers our moral compass.
Religion was the basis for much of our racist laws and prohibitions. Inter-racial marriages used to be illegal in this country, siting such biblical reasons such as The Curse of Ham. Imagine if someone was holding up a Quran and trying to bring Islam into our legislation. There would be protests like we have never seen. Oh, and Mr. Hikind – I’m not Jewish. And neither is the majority of America.
We are going to look back on this 20 years from now and wonder why we acted and legislated this way. It disgusts me just how blatantly wrong this is and why there is even any debate over whether or not two people who want to marry can or cannot do so. Love is love. As a human race we should be actively promoting committed relationships and praising and supporting people who want to make that commitment.
Nice job. None of us are freer than the least free among us.
Posted by: mgmason | June 19, 2011 at 14:51