Last week, President George W. Bush reminded Americans of his anti-gay stance by proclaiming Oct. 12-18 to be Marriage Protection Week, causing an uproar among the gay community. The timing outraged the gay community even further because it coincided with National Coming Out Week, a time usually set aside to encourage closeted persons to reveal their sexual identity. Instead, President Bush decided that the week would be put to better use by reminding those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered (GLBT) that they are not equal members of the American society.
Although Bush's announcement did not explicitly address the GLBT community, it comes on the heels of a number of events that attempt to exclude gays and lesbians from obtaining some fundamental rights. The most prominent of these acts is the proposed Constitutional amendment that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman. More than two dozen religious and conservative groups have come out in support of the amendment in hopes of restoring family values to American life. What President Bush and these groups fail to realize is that loving and accepting all people despite race, creed, gender, or sexual orientation is a family value and is supposed to be a fundamental religious virtue.
ÿ Imagine you are a homosexual male and your partner of ten years is admitted to the ER, but because you aren't legally married, hospital officials won't tell you what his prognosis is. It's rights like these that we are fighting for. By limiting the GLBT community's rights, President Bush is ultimately promoting hate and discrimination. He talks about reestablishing marriage as an institution between a man and a woman, but he has not once even acknowledged the existence of gay couples whose bond is just as strong as any married heterosexual couple. This can further be seen in his refusal to officially declare June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month (something President Clinton always did) or the enforcement of his abstinence-only AIDS campaign.
But if people aren't supposed to have sex until marriage, then what are homosexuals to do if they're not allowed to marry? Does he want all of us to become priests and nuns? I would love to take a survey of all heterosexual-Christians to see who truly remained celibate until marriage.
Now let me go ahead and acknowledge the fact that religious marriage is and should be a sacred institution. Let the churches do whatever they want in terms of marriage, that's why we have separation of church and state!
But President Bush seems to have forgotten this little formality, especially evident in his recent proclamation that was full of "Under God" and "Our Lord" references. He seems to have forgotten the concept of civil marriage basically marriage in the eyes of the law which is really the issue at hand. Bush's own religious convictions should have no influence on the way the government addresses the issue of civil marriage, or any matter for that fact. No matter how many churches speak out against homosexual marriage, they really have no legal authority unless the churches individual members go to the voting box. Likewise, if the government were to endorse gay civil marriage, the various religious sects would not be required to perform gay marriage ceremonies. Maybe the problem isn't necessarily the idea of two people of the same gender entering into a long-term commitment together. Maybe the problem is that they wish to be considered married. But if the word marriage is what upsets people, then why was Canada able to legalize gay marriage? Unfortunately, it seems that America's values differ too greatly from Canada's to allow legalization to occur here in the States. The most popular alternative would be Civil Unions, which has already been passed in Vermont. Civil Unions are essentially the same as civil marriages and seem to be a more publicly acceptable alternative.
In a recent CNN/Gallup Poll, 32% of Americans supported gay civil unions, while only 35% disapproved (another 32% said it didn't matter). But has President Bush ever once proposed this alternative? On that note, has President Bush ever supported gay adoption or hate crime legislation or anti-discrimination laws? No!
Unfortunately, President Bush has brought conservative Christian values that have no place affecting the outcome of governmental procedures. Maybe he should reexamine the Bible a little more closely and point out the commandment that explicitly says, "Thou shall promote hate"
