Oh, this REAKS...

[feren]

I just got a pointer to this thanks to one of Kette's friends, who made a comment in her journal about this. Do I oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment? You bet your sweet ass I do. This is a free country, and people who love one another should be allowed to join in a union regardless of their gender/race/religion/whatever. Some up-tight group has decided that this needs to be stopped because it's contributing to the moral decay of America (Yeah, sure... see my earlier rant, Control Your Goddamn Progeny if you want my take on that one), and have proposed an amendment to the Constitution to have it read something along the lines of "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and woman."

Here is where I call bullshit. This needs to stop right here and right now. Please, everyone, even if you don't believe in gay rights, at least see how easily this can lead to laws that trample on personal freedoms and rights that you DO care about, and go to http://www.petitiononline.com/0712t001/petition.html and put your name to this. Slap this down before people start thinking they have the right to define WHO and WHAT you marry -- or worse.

Comments

Bleh amendments

[roho.livejournal.com]

While I do agree with marriage regardless of the sex of the couple, I would be strongly against the amendment even otherwise.

The constitution is a framework for government. The main body deals only with the branches of government, which rights and duties they have, the states, which rights and duties they have, and pretty much everything for how to structure the government. There are some small passages dealing with citizens' rights, but in all cases they deal with the rights a citizen has in direct dealings with the government or in trying to become part of the government.

Then there's the amendments. These deal either in specific rights guaranteed to citizens, or further clarifications and updates to how the government is structured.

In the whole entire document, there is exactly one instance of a specific act being made criminal. The 18th amendment, no booze act. Sticks out like a sore thumb, doesn't it? Then in the 21st, they add an oopsie amendment, "We shouldn't have done that." Also sticks out like a sore thumb. Neither of these should have existed in the first place...the 18th had no place in a constitution, and the 21st wouldn't need to be there without the 18th.

Wouldn't it be so grand to have a governmental constitution consisting of "These are the rights of the government. These are the rights of the states. These are the rights of the people. So be it. Oh, and by the way, no male/male action."

I hate politicians. Anyways, I'm no constitutional scholar. I've just read the thing, as every citizen should at one time or another, and this is how I see it. Keep your damn flag burning and hetero couples clauses out of it. Hell, I'd even be against a 'No Hacking People Apart with an Axe' amendment, for the same reasons. Make a law like everyone else has to, sit your ass down, and let the process do its thing.