Sunday, November 2, 2008

Protect Marriage

I wanted to take a moment to encourage my California readers to vote Yes on Proposition 8 as they head to the polls on Tuesday. I try not to yap about political issues too often (for the most part, politics exhausts and kills valuable brain cells), but Proposition 8 is far too important to ignore.

For those who're not familiar with the proposition, it's entire text is:

"Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California."

That's it; nothing more. For the record, the overwhelming majority of Californians (61%) have already said in a vote on Proposition 22 in 2000 that marriage between a man and a woman should be the only marriage recognized by the state. Unfortunately, four CA Supreme Court judges took it upon themselves to overturn the votes of millions of Californians.


So, I urge you again, get out on Tuesday, and vote Yes on 8. Send emails to all of your friends and acquaintances urging them to do the same.


What's at risk here, you ask? How does this affect me? Consider this: if the State officially recognizes gay marriages, they have already demonstrated a strong proclivity to include education relating to same sex marriage in public school curriculum. Will it affect your children, do you think, to be taught that there's no difference between the "man and wife" relationship, and a "husband and husband" or "wife and wife" relationship? Further, isolated legal skirmishes across the state have already shown that numerous special interest groups are waiting to take on churches who decline to marry homosexuals. The danger is great that our ministers and churches will be legally obligated to provide marriage services to same-sex couples at risk of losing our tax-exempt status or, worse, arrest and prosecution for discrimination.


I'm not one to use fear tactics, but I think that in this case it's inarguable that there are very determined special interest groups out there who are intent on removing any individual or group who expresses any moral opposition, vocal or otherwise, to their personal lifestyles. That scares me. It should scare you too.


And lest you fall into the "equal rights" trap, consider this: California already has some of the most generous same-sex couple benefit laws on the books. That is, same-sex couples--married or otherwise--already have access to most of the health, legal and social benefits that are awarded to married couples. They're not discriminated against in any fashion. This proposition won't limit or eliminate any of that.


So go; do your part. And tell everyone you know to do the same.


Visit http://www.protectmarriage.com/ to learn more.

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