Those fundamentalist idiots are at it again, this time trying to rile up the red states with an exaggerated letter written from the perspective of an evangelical in 2012 under an Obama administration (PDF).
I hesitate to start on this post because it's already 11 PM and I have to work tomorrow, but I've been thinking about this since Hemant Mehta posted about it yesterday and I just feel I have to get something out.
I'm just going to start from the top, quoting the parts I feel like discussing and following them up with my thoughts.
The most far-reaching transformation of American society came from the Supreme Court’s stunning affirmation, in early 2010, that homosexual “marriage� was a “constitutional� right that had to be respected by all 50 states because laws barring same-sex “marriage� violated the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Oh no, you mean Equal Protection means Equal for everyone? *shock*
Suddenly, homosexual “marriage� was the law of the land in all 50 states, and no state legislature, no state Supreme Court, no state Constitutional amendment, not even Congress, had any power to change it.
Well yea, I think that's the point of the Federal government, it overrides the individual states. As for Congress, last time I checked they've changed the Constitution twenty seven times. It just takes a lot more political will and power than the fundie nutbags can come up with so they ignore reality and lie because it sounds better to them.
This was a blatant example of creating law by the court, for homosexual “marriage� was mentioned nowhere in the Constitution, nor would any of the authors have imagined that same-sex “marriage� could be derived from their words.
Marriage as a whole is not mentioned in the Constitution. Would you rather have the Federal Government have no recognition of marriage at all? (Side Note, personally I'd much prefer to either split the religious ceremony of marriage from couple's benefits as the government sees them or even throw out any special treatment for couples of any kind. Why should someone get a tax break just because they signed a paper and possibly bought a ring?)
Boy Scouts: “The land of the free�? The Boy Scouts no longer exist as an organization. They chose to disband rather than be forced to obey the Supreme Court decision that they would have to hire homosexual scoutmasters and allow them to sleep in tents with young boys.
How is this a bad thing? The Boy Scouts were once a decent organization that has since been taken over by the religious right and unfortunately due to its past manages to continue using public spaces at little to no cost and receive tax dollars even though it is heavily discriminatory. Private organization my ass.
As for the part about homosexual scoutmasters sleeping in tents with young boys, overall this is just going back to one of the long-lasting claims of the anti-gay crowd, that gay men are all pedophiles. Even with that said I could see how one could be uncomfortable with that situation for the same reason you wouldn't have a male leading a Girl Scout troop and sharing a tent with them on some outing. The idea that the BSA would be legally required to do that is absurd, but of course absurdity doesn't bother the religious when they're trying to make a point.
Gah fuck, I'm getting so annoyed just reading that letter that I can't finish right now. I'll come back to this post after I calm down.