Sunday, February 03, 2008
Quote Of The Day
Our anything-but-daily "Quote of the Day" feature returns today with a dispatch from the latest front in the ongoing culture war.
Here's the quote:
"Is this bill contrary to God, contrary to marriage? And the answer is no. Not a single married couple in this state will get divorced because of this bill. Not a single couple that is engaged ... will cancel that wedding as a result of this bill. Not a single straight person will become gay as a result of this bill.''
Those words belong to New Mexico State Rep. Antonio "Moe'' Maestas, an Albuquerque Democrat, and were published in a report by the Albuquerque Journal. Maestas was talking about a Domestic Partnerships bill passed by the New Mexico House of Representatives on Thursday. According to the Journal report, "the House approved the measure on a mostly party-line 33-31 vote. Two Republicans supported the bill and seven Democrats opposed it."
Whether or not the bill was contrary to God is a question I'll leave to theologians and Bible thumpers. Speaking as someone increasingly disinterested in religion, I'm starting to get really tired of arguing about the opinion of someone we can't see or hear. I think the larger point here was made by the rest of the quote.
Opponents of gay marriage and domestic partnerships continue to cry that such arrangements will upend the "sanctity" of "traditional" marriage, yet they can't explain how. If gay marriage is going to cause your husband or wife to leave you and marry somebody else, you probably shouldn't have married that person in the first place. Otherwise, I fail to see how gay people getting equal legal recognition of what they're already doing will affect anybody else's marriage in any way.
Here's the quote:
"Is this bill contrary to God, contrary to marriage? And the answer is no. Not a single married couple in this state will get divorced because of this bill. Not a single couple that is engaged ... will cancel that wedding as a result of this bill. Not a single straight person will become gay as a result of this bill.''
Those words belong to New Mexico State Rep. Antonio "Moe'' Maestas, an Albuquerque Democrat, and were published in a report by the Albuquerque Journal. Maestas was talking about a Domestic Partnerships bill passed by the New Mexico House of Representatives on Thursday. According to the Journal report, "the House approved the measure on a mostly party-line 33-31 vote. Two Republicans supported the bill and seven Democrats opposed it."
Whether or not the bill was contrary to God is a question I'll leave to theologians and Bible thumpers. Speaking as someone increasingly disinterested in religion, I'm starting to get really tired of arguing about the opinion of someone we can't see or hear. I think the larger point here was made by the rest of the quote.
Opponents of gay marriage and domestic partnerships continue to cry that such arrangements will upend the "sanctity" of "traditional" marriage, yet they can't explain how. If gay marriage is going to cause your husband or wife to leave you and marry somebody else, you probably shouldn't have married that person in the first place. Otherwise, I fail to see how gay people getting equal legal recognition of what they're already doing will affect anybody else's marriage in any way.
