Soapbox time.

Okay, I intended to do that review today, but after reading one of percy_weatherby's latest updates, I have to put that on hold, and go on to have my say in a different matter - one that is rather unusual for me, because I tend not to enjoy discussing politics and civil rights with anyone other than my father.

Anyway, remember how our buddies the Canadians just had the common sense of making gay marriage legal, with all the same rights as heterosexual marriages?

Well, our "friends" on the far right have decided to retaliate by proposing this.

Some of you complete strangers that may stumble upon this entry by chance might be going "Wait, why should this bother me? I'm not homosexual or bisexual, and none of my close friends and family are, so gay marriage isn't something that affects me."

I wouldn't be surprised some folks think like that - the gay rights part of the issue seems to be the one most emphasized thus far, leading folks who are still too hesitant on making decisions about that issue to overlook the other part of the problem.

Which is why I'll focus this rant on that other part, and invite you to look at the text of the proposed legislation, namely, the parts that I bolded and underlined for emphasis:

Article --

`SECTION 1. Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any State, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.'

In layman's terms, all you hetero folks who're living in domestic unions ARE ALSO FUCKED.

Maybe your particular family isn't affected by this, but I'm sure you know at least one relative or friend who lives in a domestic partnership of some kind. And if you don't:

Hi, my name's Teresa. I'm twenty-three, Puerto Rican, a big videogame and anime geek, my parents have been happily living together for well over twenty-five years, and were lovers for at least fifteen more before that. They would've gladly gotten married (and still would), had the drawbacks of a legal union be too much of a hassle (Among other reasons, my father is a divorced man.) in comparison to the benefits they'd enjoy. Thank you for being so interested in my little journal, and if you enjoy reading my silly antics, I do hope you Friend me or bookmark me so you can keep visiting!

There. Now you know someone.


Surely people can understand the extreme repercussions of making such an article a part of the Constitution. As law, this could and would open up quite the can of worms, and it wouldn't be limited to just the couple's rights - with such an amendment in place, I can totally see "legal"-born children claiming that they have more rights than their "bastard" siblings when inheritance time comes.

Plainly put, the U.S. and its colonies territories (such as my homeland) would be sent many, MANY decades in history backwards if such a thing passed as federal law.


Some of you may probably be going "This is ridiculous - they could never make such outlandish, extremist crap an amendment! Constitutional amendments can't infringe on other people's rights, so it'll be shot down before it gets anywhere!" at this, and rightfully so (Hell, even my dad said something along these lines.). However, need I remind you of the kind of people the U.S. has in power right now? You know, the ones who passed the Patriot Act? The ones who're allowing the recording industry to pull bullshit like this*?

After considering that, is it really all that "overreacting" and "hypersensitive" of folks like Houie and myself to be just a bit alarmed?

Yeah, I thought so.


"So what can I do?"

The plainly obvious - write your Congressman. You can have the ACLU send you a draft that you can use as a template for what to tell them. You can then send this via email, fax, or snail mail. (I've read somewhere that snail mail is considered by some groups to be ideal - supposedly, it gives the impression to these people that you really are "concerned enough" about the issue, to the point that it warranted that you put in some "extra effort," as typing up and sending email is considered to be a whole lot faster than writing a letter by hand and spending 37 cents [or whatever it costs now] on a stamp.)


"What if I'm a minor? What can I do?"

Like Houie said, you should definitely still write them, and put emphasis that as a future voter, this bothers you because it would be a decision that infringes upon your rights before you're even old enough to be able to legally voice whether you agree with it or not. Congressmen are inherently vote-whores - after all, they can only keep their seats if people vote for them, so the future generations of voters are a scary and powerful group in their eyes (especially if the majority of their regular supporters are elderly folk).

Lastly, the other thing you can do is raise awareness of the issue by discussing it with your friends and family - it may seem like an insignificant thing, but it's amazing what a little word-of-mouth can do.


So please, folks - take the time to do even the smallest little something on this from your part. And to the "indecisive" folks: You don't even have to agree with the gay rights movement or anything - this is clearly NOT "just a gay issue" that is being dealt with here, but something that can and WILL affect the rights of your average citizen in how they choose to lead their lives.





*[All the good folks making music at Overclocked Remix will probably REALLY want to keep an eye on that, because if this nonsense keeps up, they might just have the feds knocking on their doors sometime.]