Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Civil Rights Less Important than a Balanced Budget

I wouldn't have said so, but apparently that's the latest line being given to the LGBT community: "How dare you complain about your civil rights while the economy's such a mess? Jeez, you people have bad timing. Come back when we've balanced the budget."

No, really.

From the AP at boston.com:

The gay marriage issue moved onto the legislative agenda Tuesday as supporters of the idea said this is the time to recognize marriages between same-sex couples — even if the debate comes amid major concerns in the State House over budget cutbacks and their impact. Now, how dare you want civil rights while we're running a deficit! Come back when we've balanced the budget. Can't you see what's really important here? Don't you people have any sense of perspective?

Sen. Dennis Damon said he is introducing a bill to rewrite Maine’s existing statute that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, instead defining it as a union between two people. In addition, it recognizes gay marriages from other states. Good for Senator Damon!

Damon, D-Trenton, answered critics who questioned the timing of the bill as lawmakers face a $838 million shortfall by saying it’s “long overdue.” what the fuck does a shortfall in the budget have to do with civil rights? are they trying to say the writing the bill will cost too much money? i'm just not getting the argument. Can you imagine saying to MLK, "look, there's a war going on. We'll deal with this whole discrimination thing another time. No rush."

“Currently there is discrimination. Heterosexual couples who have decided to spend their lives together are treated differently than same-sex couples who have … that same commitment to each other,” Damon said. “I don’t see the fairness of that. I don’t see the need for that, and this bill will put an end to that.” Huzzah!

Maine currently has a domestic partnership registry that’s open to gay couples. But that’s not enough for gay marriage supporters. yeah, cause it's not marriage. separate-but-equal didn't work for the blacks and it doesn't work for the gays, either. Damon says it’s time to “fully end discrimination in Maine.”

Seriously, if you're down to arguing that gays should stay in the back of the bus because the economy is bad, you've run out of ideas.

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