Fair Wisconsin: Hope Is Alive

In the US, the gay marriage issue has not done very well on election day. Indeed, the score currently reads 20-0. Beyond the 20 victories, it is fundamentally true that the victories were overwhelmingly lopsided. With little thought and absolutely no evidence, people seem to feel that the gays are engaged in an effort to destroy the institution of marriage.

To be sure, there are no states where gays have ever waged well supported campaigns to promote gay life styles or even gay marriage; they have merely ask for the equal treatment they deserve as citizens, as human beings. The facts clearly indicate that in those states with laws more sympathetic to civil unions, which include unions involving gays, the actual divorce rate among heterosexuals is lower than it is in those red states associated with religious-conservative, redneck politics such as Oklahoma. So, if there is a relationship between what gays do and heterosexual marriage, it is positive. However, I rather suspect that the differences between the divorce rates in the red vs. the blue states are due to factors other than what gays do or do not do.

In general the comparison between blue state/red state divorce rates, reveals that the rates are actually lower in blue states. For example, liberal old Massachuset, whose state supreme court legalize gay marriages, has a lower divorce rate than self-righteous Oklahoma, but then they have Senator Inhofe too–the last surviving Neanderthal. (Side note: Sen. Inhofe spoke on the Senate floor for 45 minutes last week denying the scientific communities claim that we have a global climate problem. According to Inhofe, the world is actually getting colder. . .so there! Senator Inhofe Chairs the Senate Environment Committee.)

Not withstanding the self-righteous rhetoric associated with the red state moralizers, that divorce rates are higher in the red states should not come as a surprise. Studies of televison viewing behavior have indicated time and again that what those self-righteous folks say in their big churches doesn’t square with what they’re actually doing in their homes. Programs like Sex and the City had a bigger per capita audience in the red states than is the case in the morally corrupt Big Apple. Shame, Shame,. Shame! Again, the evidence also demonstrates that the pornography industry thrives in those states. Frank Rich of the New York Times has written several articles detailing the anomalous contradictions between the rhetoric and the reality of the self-righteous, red state moralizers.


Conservative politicians along with the right-wing preachers publicly profess self-righteous moral convictions that they would zealously fit like a psychiatric straight jacket on the public generally. We must be ever viggilant for they consistently reduce the political process to no more that a shell game designed to deceive. The concept that this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people is alien to their very being.

Make no mistake about it, the gay marriage issue pops up during national and state elections, as it has in 20 states already, because conservative politicians realize that it’s a real red meat issue, that it will crowd out any discussion of issues that really would make a difference in the average persons life: health care, education, the war in Iraq, our growing prison population. We don’t need the fraud, the sham, the hoax basic to the move to amend our state constitution.

I've been supporting Fair Wisconsin, a group working against the amendment, by knocking on doors and the like, hoping to play some small part in turning back this right-wing nonsense. The following excerpt from an Associated Press piece presents a good brief summary of what's happening in several states come the November elections:

"Eight states will vote on ban-gay-marriage amendments in November, following 20 that previously approved such measures. Passage is considered certain in Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee, but gay-rights strategists believe their side is at least competitive in Arizona, Colorado, Virginia and Wisconsin.
"Supporters of banning gay marriage remain confident of victory, but optimism also is high in the ranks of Fair Wisconsin, a coalition fighting the proposed amendment since it surfaced in the Legislature in 2004. Large labor unions, many religious leaders, and top Democratic officials — including Gov. Jim Doyle — have spoken out against the measure.
"This could be the state where we beat this thing," said Fair Wisconsin campaign chief Mike Tate. "I'm not saying it's easy, but we've got the right ingredients on the table."
--David Crary, Associated Press 30 September 2006

I heard on WPR news Friday 29 September, that Wisconsin is the only Big Ten school that does not extend full employee benefits to significant others of whatever type. Indeed, as reported in the same news cast, virtually all major corporations extend benefits to couples without regard to gender. To my surprise, the additional cost is considered modest, incidental. Beyond the question of basic fairness is the fact that many highly qualified, extremely talented people will not want to come here to work and live, not when they can do better elsewhere--as they can. There is a reason so many major corporations provide ALL employees with spousal benefits, and it is not because corporations are by nature altruistic! It just makes good business sense to higher the best people without regard to race, creed, gender or sexual preference.

However, this is fundamentally not an economic issue; it's a question of basic human rights. I personally don't want to sit and watch as a whole group of people is systematically persecuted by the dominate culture; the Bill of Rights became an important part of the US Constitution specifically to protect minorities from subjugation by an abusive majority. On election day in November, Wisconsin citizens must make sure that our state constitution does not permit majority tyranny in this state.

If you do nothing else, vote against the proposed constitutional amendment; it's a repugnant provision that is totally alien to any idea of democracy that protects minority rights.

People who don't like the idea that gays want to link up in a state of marriage should be made aware that in Wisconsin, under current statutes, gay marriage is illegal. I think that's unfortunate, but it's true.
In the entire history of this state, there has never been an occasion when we, the citizens of the state, have repealed a constitutional amendment. . .once it's there, it's there forever. Lest we make a terrible mistake, caution is in order.

I've never been able to predict the future, but I do know that one day one of my family members may be involved in a gay relationship. I shudder to think that, because of decisions being made today, they and thousands like them will be forever relegated to 2nd class citizenship.

I clearly recollect Vice President Cheney's remarks on the subject during his Vice Presidential debate with Sen. Joe Lieberman. Though Cheney is not one of my heroes, he has been humbled by the fact that his daughter is involved in a gay relationship. To my knowledge, the good Lord doesn't tell anyone in advance whether he or she's going to be this or that in a sexual sense. We all take the cards we're played, and I am very uncomfortable with the thought that we might just be stacking the deck against those, who by the luck of the draw, just happen to be gay!

It is my hope that on election day we will honor our historic tradition of progressive politics in this state and vote down this attempt to institutionalize the discrimination this amendment represents. Let's celebrate our diversity as one of our strengths; this is not a time to be humbled by right-wing religious/political nonsense.

Ever on the watch for ya,
Davy Crockett