Freedom Safe For Now

A snippet from Bloomberg.com

House Rejects U.S. Constitutional Amendment to Ban Gay Marriage

July 18 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, six weeks after the same Republican-led election-year effort failed in the Senate.

The House voted 236-187, 47 votes short of the 283 required to endorse adding a provision to the Constitution defining marriage as only ``the union of a man and a woman.''

Republicans said the proposal is necessary to stop judges from redefining marriage, contributing to the destruction of traditional societal values. Democrats said Republicans pushed the proposal to rally their supporters before the November congressional elections.

``This bill is about adding discrimination and intolerance to the United States Constitution,'' said James McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat. ``If it's an election year, the Republican leadership will find a place on the agenda for gay bashing.''

House Republican leaders said last month that they would spend time before the August recess addressing matters that appeal to the party's base. Along with the vote on gay marriage, the chamber this month is taking up proposals to defend the pledge of allegiance from court challenges and bar governments from using any federal funds to confiscate firearms from ``law- abiding citizens'' during national emergencies.

Proposed amendments to the Constitution require the support of two-thirds of the members of the House and Senate and then passage by three-fourths, or 38, of the 50 state legislatures.
In the House debate, Republicans said a constitutional amendment is required to block courts from overturning state bans on gay marriage.

``An overwhelming majority of the American people support traditional marriage: marriage between a man and a woman,'' said Marilyn Musgrave, a Colorado Republican who sponsored the amendment. ``The American people want us to settle this issue now. They don't want to wait to see how much havoc the courts will wreak on the definition of marriage.''

Democrats countered that Congress should be spending time on more important issues, such as high gas prices, the war in Iraq or the threat posed by North Korea, instead of debating partisan political issues.

``Today is a shameless attempt to divert and distract,'' Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich said.

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Even though the vote was very close to going the other way, at least for now our government will not be TAKING RIGHTS AWAY FROM ITS CITIZENS.

The whole thing is just absolutely baffling to me. What is next? Will God-fearing gentleman in pretty white robes and pointy hats start setting fires to gay bars? Will lesbians be flayed in the streets?

I personally don't care what others "like" or "believe" to be right, it is not the government's place to dictate morality for its people. The government's JOB is to protect the rights and freedoms of its citizens.

We are a nation in crisis. We have so many other matters that seem to me to be far more pressing. What about improving our public education system? What about providing affordable healthcare to every one who needs it? What about rebuilding devestated cities? What about rising gas prices in the face of a minimum wage that has not seen an increase in almost ten years? What about a war that is draining our resources be they in the form of military forces or monetary? What about all of those things? What about the numerous other issues that need addressing before our country tackles with Chad and Jake should be able to exchange wedding vows?

Sorry, rant over.