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The Real Purpose Of Marriage: Sex, Not Love – America’s Right-Wing’s Ridiculous Anti-Marriage Equality Arguments

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I’ve been working to try to understand the recent arguments America’s Right Wing has been trying to make against marriage equality. If you have been following the reports from Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal trial that will determine the constitutionality of Proposition 8, or have read, “Gay People Cannot Be Allowed To Marry Because Straight People Cannot Be Trusted?,” my piece detailing the, dare I say, “ridiculous” arguments America’s Right Wing is using against same-sex marriage, you’ll know what I’m talking about. But even well before Prop 8, America’s conservatives have been actively involved in maintaining second-class citizenship for gay and lesbian Americans.

Whether you have or you haven’t been following along, let me share with you (even more of) the reasons why I say America’s Right Wing’s anti-marriage equality arguments are, indeed, ridiculous.

The Real Purpose Of Marriage: Sex, Not Love is the fifth and final part in our week-long series, America’s Right-Wing’s Ridiculous Anti-Marriage Equality Arguments.

Part Five: The Purpose Of Marriage

Another ridiculous and disturbing argument America’s Right Wing makes against same-sex marriage goes to the very core of how conservatives view the institution of marriage. Now, let me remind you that marriage has a long and, at times, by twenty-first century standards, inglorious history. Marriage in the past was used to united kingdoms, secure wealth, subjugate women and treat them as property (chattel,) and so on. (The Bible details many examples of this.) It is only in recent times that the concept of marriage has become about love, not money. Except for the anti-marriage equality folks on the Right, who still insist marriage is not about love, but about sex.

Specifically, and this is central to the argument used in the Prop 8 case, America’s Right Wing says that the primary purpose of the institution of marriage is to “channel” man’s natural desires into procreation. In “Hijacking the Marriage Debate,” at the National Review, Thomas Messner writes,

“Marriage is not fundamental to our ‘existence’ and ‘survival’ merely because it sometimes is marked by expressions of love, commitment, and respect. Marriage is fundamental to our existence and survival because it remains society’s best and most effective way of ordering sexual relations between men and women, encouraging procreation, and increasing the odds that a child will have the influence and support of both a mother and a father.”

Once again, this shows the ridiculousness and zero-sum mindedness of conservatives, like Messner.

What has gender or orientation have to do with the desire and ability to marry?

One of the essential questions surrounding state-sanctioning of marriage, (opposite-sex or same-sex marriage,) is, “Is it in the best interests of the state?” If the state has a vested interest in marriage, then it has a right to intercede and to regulate. (So lawmakers think.)

Is it in the state’s best interest to offer marriage only to opposite-sex couples? It is not.

Marriage does afford couples many benefits, including monogamy (should they choose,) financial and emotional stability, and societal acceptance, recognition, and support. Why should these ideals be limited to opposite-sex couples, when clearly it is to society’s benefit, and therefore, the state’s, to offer these to everyone?

(Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin published a piece on her blog yesterday titled, “Google to Pay Heterosexuals Less Than Homosexuals,” which exhibited the extreme arrogance and sense of entitlement America’s Right Wing, especially the “Tea Party,” has. It also displayed their extreme lack of desire to understand social issues, especially as they relate to non-traditional families. In, “Michelle Malkin: “Google to Pay Heterosexuals Less Than Homosexuals,” I write, “Yes, that’s right. America’s Right Wing, ever trolling to find ways to “prove” they are victims and the unfairly-treated majority, thinks now that because same-sex couples, who for, well, forever, have had to pay over a lifetime thousands upon thousands of dollars more in taxes than their opposite-sex married counterparts, are getting a “break” from beneficent corporations like Google, that it’s tantamount to discrimination against straights.”)

And again, the conservative dictum that only a mother and a father can raise a child comes to the fore. And we know — studies prove it, as does common sense, and millions of single parents and same-sex parent couples — that children can thrive in a variety of households, as long as love, not procreation, is the basis for the desire to be a family.

Sad, when you think about it, that the people who claim to be trying to “protect” marriage, see it as merely an institution to foster procreation.

So, the Right thinks that if gay marriage is legalized, children will be in trouble. Somehow, parents will give up their biological children automatically to same-sex couples, or, same-sex couples will come to straight households in the dead of night and, like Peter Pan, perhaps, convince children to fly away to NeverLand.

Additionally, the Right fears that if same-sex marriage is legalized, straight couples will cease to want to marry, and straight married couples will cease to want to have children.

We’re not going to steal children from same-sex couples, and we’re not going to stop having them or adopting them, regardless of the laws surrounding same-sex marriage. But laws that support same-sex marriage would serve to strengthen our families and protect children. Sadly, the Right is only concerned about protecting straight marriage and protecting children of straight parents.

Back in January, Nate Silver, founder of FiveThirtyEight.com (now a New York Times site,) published, “Divorce Rates Higher in States with Gay Marriage Bans.” He writes, “Over the past decade or so, divorce has gradually become more uncommon in the United States. Since 2003, however, the decline in divorce rates has been largely confined to states which have not passed a state constitutional ban on gay marriage. These states saw their divorce rates decrease by an average of 8 percent between 2003 and 2008. States which had passed a same-sex marriage ban as of January 1, 2008, however, saw their divorce rates rise by about 1 percent over the same period.” (Emphasis added.)

It’s almost as if the anti-marriage equality crowd secretly thinks if same-sex marriage (I’m sorry, when same-sex marriage) becomes legal, their spouses will leave them and enter into a same-sex relationship. Perhaps they’re right?

The other fact — since we’re bringing up statistics — the Right doesn’t want you to know, is that states that offer full marriage equality also have the lowest incidents of child homelessness. It’s true. In, “2.9 Million Orphans, Happy Father’s Day,” I write that, for example, Utah, which “ranks #38 [50 being the worst,] prohibits adoption by ‘a person who is cohabiting in a relationship that is not a legally valid and binding marriage.’ Coincidence?”

The Right wants to make people believe that “homosexual marriage” (they love to call it that too, because “homosexual’ sounds “bad,”) will somehow obliterate “traditional marriage.” Well, it won’t. Marriage, is marriage.

In a bigoted and strongly fallacious piece, The Family Research Council says that, “[h]omosexual marriage degrades a time-honored institution.” The Family Research Council thinks that marriages are like iPhones. The moment a new model comes out, it makes the existing ones less valuable.

The folks who really should be angry at that are the folks who have been in long-term marriages. Those marriages have withstood the test of time, making their relationship one of beauty and value.

All of this bigoted, hate-mongering is preposterous.

As is this concept: If marriage equality becomes the law of the land, it will mean that homosexuals are normal.

Oh, wait. We ARE.

And that, my friends, is what America’s anti-marriage equality Right Wing is really afraid of.

(image: kevindooley)

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‘Scared to Death’: Trump’s Prison Panic Admission Means He Knows He’s Doomed Says Legal Expert

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Reacting to a report that Donald Trump has been quizzing his attorneys about what type of prison he likely will be sent to, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner stated that is not only an indication that he knows he’s going to be convicted but also an admission of guilt.

Speaking with MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart, the attorney was asked about a recent Rolling Stone report about Trump’s prison panic.

As Rolling Stone reported, Trump asked if he’s “be sent to a ‘club fed’ style prison — a place that’s relatively comfortable, as far these things go — or a ‘bad’ prison? Would he serve out a sentence in a plush home confinement? Would government officials try to strip him of his lifetime Secret Service protections? What would they make him wear, if his enemies actually did ever get him in a cell — an unprecedented set of consequences for a former leader of the free world.”

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

According to the attorney, Trump is revealing himself by asking for so many details.

“What does this tell you about Trump’s mindset?” host Capehart asked.

“It tells me he is scared to death” Kirschner quickly answered. “It tells me he has overwhelming consciousness of guilt because he knows what he did wrong and he knows he is about to be held accountable for his crimes. So it is not surprising that he is obsessing.”

“If he was confident that he would be completely exonerated, would he have to obsess about what his future time in prison might look like?” he suggested. “I think the last refuge for Donald Trump can be seen in a recent post where he urged the Republicans to defund essentially the prosecutions against him. which, to this prosecutor, Jonathan, smells a lot like an attempt to obstruct justice.”

Watch below or at the link.

 

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‘Vulgar and Lewd’: Trump Judge Cites Extremist Group to Allow Drag Show Ban

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A federal judge in Texas known for a ruling that attempted to ban a widely-used abortion drug is citing an extremist anti-LGBTQ group in his ruling allowing a ban on drag shows to stay in place.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a former attorney for an anti-LGBTQ conservative Christian legal organization, and a member of the Federalist Society, in his 26-page ruling dated Thursday cited the “About” page of Gays Against Groomers to claim, “it’s unclear how drag shows unmistakably communicate advocacy for LGBT rights.”

Judge Kacsmaryk, appointed by Donald Trump twice before finally assuming office in 2019, suggests the First Amendment does not provide for freedom of expression for drag shows, calls drag “sexualized conduct,” and says it is “more regulable” because “children are in the audience.”

READ MORE: ‘The Public Deserves to Know’: Abortion Pill Banning Judge Redacted Details About Millions of Dollars in His Stock Portfolio

Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern adds, “Kacsmaryk’s conclusion that drag is probably NOT protected by the First Amendment conflicts with decisions from Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Montana which held that drag is constitutionally protected expression. It also bristles with undisguised hostility toward LGBTQ people.”

Calling the judge “a proud Christian nationalist who flatly refuses to apply binding Supreme Court precedent when it conflicts with his extremist far-right beliefs,” Stern at Slate writes that Kacsmaryk ruled drag “may be outlawed to protect ‘the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.’ In short, he concluded that drag fails to convey a message, while explaining all the reasons why he’s offended by the message it conveys.”

Stern does not let Kacsmaryk off the hook there.

“From almost any other judge, the ruling in Spectrum WT v. Wendler would be a shocking rejection of basic free speech principles; from Kacsmaryk, it’s par for the course. This is, after all, the judge who sought to ban medication abortion nationwide, restricted minors’ access to birth control, seize control over border policy to exclude asylum-seekers, and flouted recent precedent protecting LGBTQ+ equality,” Stern says.

READ MORE: Far-Right Judge Under Fire for Failing to Disclose Interviews on Civil Rights – but LGBTQ Community Had Warned Senators

“He is also poised to bankrupt Planned Parenthood by compelling them to pay a $1.8 billion penalty on truly ludicrous grounds. And he is not the only Trump-appointed judge substituting his reactionary beliefs for legal analysis. We have reached a point where these lawless decisions are not only predictable but inevitable, and they show no sign of stopping: Their authors are still just settling into a decadeslong service in the federal judiciary.”

West Texas A&M University President Walter V. Wendler penned the letter that sparked the lawsuit.

Titled, “A Harmless Drag Show? No Such Thing,” Wendler wrote: “I believe every human being is created in the image of God and, therefore, a person of dignity. Being created in God’s image is the basis of Natural Law. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, prisoners of the culture of their time as are we, declared the Creator’s origin as the foundational fiber in the fabric of our nation as they breathed life into it. Does a drag show preserve a single thread of human dignity? I think not.”

Journalist Chris Geidner concludes, “It’s an extremely biased ruling by a judge who has established that he does not care about being overturned — even by the most conservative appeals court in the nation.”

READ MORE: ‘Corruption of the Highest Order’: Experts ‘Sickened’ at ‘Definitely Bought’ Clarence Thomas and His ‘Pay to Play’ Lifestyle

 

 

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Gaetz Praises GOP Congressman Who Echoes His Call for Change ‘Through Force’

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U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL). largely seen as pushing Speaker Kevin McCarthy‘s Republican-majority House of Representatives toward shutting down the federal government, is praising and promoting remarks made by a freshman GOP lawmaker that appear to suggest the use of violence. U.S. Rep. Eli Crane‘s comments, posted Friday (below), call for change “through force,” remarks echoing Congressman Gaetz’s recent comments which were denounced by an expert on authoritarianism as fascistic.

“The only way we’re going to see meaningful change in this town is through force,” wrote Congressman Crane, Republican of Arizona atop a three-minute video in which he frames what is now an almost guaranteed government shutdown as a “spending fight.” In his video he says, “the only way you’re gonna get any change in this town is through force.” Gaetz in August had said, “we know that only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C.”

Congressman Crane is a former Navy SEAL. He has promoted the false “Big Lie” conspiracy theory that there was massive fraud in the election President Joe Biden won, and called “on the state legislature to decertify the 2020 election.” He is one of six House Republicans who voted against McCarthy’s speakership all 15 times in January.

READ MORE: White House Mocks GOP With ‘Worst Person You Know’ Meme After Matt Gaetz Blames McCarthy for Shutdown

“Congressman Eli Crane is a fountainhead of political courage,” said Rep. Gaetz Friday afternoon. “He holds the line.”

Crane recently came under fire for calling Black people “colored,” during debate on his legislation that would force the U.S. Armed Forces to not use any diversity requirements in its hiring practices.

READ MORE: ‘Corruption of the Highest Order’: Experts ‘Sickened’ at ‘Definitely Bought’ Clarence Thomas and His ‘Pay to Play’ Lifestyle

Just days before he won his House seat last year, The Washington Post reported Crane had urged an “audience to look up an antisemitic sermon at a recent campaign stop.”

“Crane said that he was motivated to run because of ‘radical ideologies that are destroying this country’ and that he was most concerned about ‘Cultural Marxism,’ which the Southern Poverty Law Center has described as an antisemitic baseless claim gaining traction on the American right.”

“He encouraged the audience to watch a speech by a right-wing pastor who blamed cultural change on a group of German Jewish philosophers and condemned Barack Obama for having a ‘homosexual agenda.'”

“If we don’t wake up,” Crane said, according to the Post, “if we don’t study what they’re doing, and if we don’t put people in influential positions that understand what this war is all about, what they’re trying to do and have and have the courage to call it out, we’re going to lose this country.”

In August, while standing next to Donald Trump at a campaign rally, Congressman Gaetz said, “Mr. President, I cannot stand these people that are destroying our country. They are opening our borders. They are weaponizing our federal law enforcement against patriotic Americans who love this nation as we should.”

“But we know that only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C. And so to all my friends here in Iowa, when you see them come for this man, know that they are coming for our movement and they are coming for all of us.”

At the time, Raw Story reported, “historian and author Ruth Ben-Ghiat called Gaetz comments alarming.”

READ MORE: Pete Buttigieg Just Testified Before Congress. It Did Not Go Well for Republicans.

“What he is saying is that they are not going to have change through elections or through legislation or through reform. They are going to have change through violence,” she warned.

“And that’s how fascists talk,” Ben-Ghiat added. “So, even if Trump is out of the picture, these are people who have adopted methods very familiar to me as a historian of fascism, that violence and corruption and lying that’s what the party is today.”

 

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