vote

We voted yesterday. We were three of the 432,497 votes against amending the Missouri Constitution to permanently define marriage as a union between a “man and a woman”.

1,049,571 people voted for it.

I wonder if back in the 1960’s if it was put to a “vote” to allow interracial couples to marry, it would pass? I bet you it wouldn’t.

The motives and means behind how Amendment Number 2 wound up on our ballot is beyond me.

Same-Sex marriages “were” already illegal in Missouri, so to chisel this into our state constitution doesn’t make sense.

We’ve enjoyed a certain luxury of being able to emotionally detach from this stink-pot, primarily because it doesn’t apply to “us”.

How could this much angst be caused by gay couples’ desire for legal recognition of their commitment and have the rights to do things like visit one another in the hospital or leave property and wealth to each-other in the event of death.

How “exactly” is that an attack on heterosexual marriage and an unravelling or our moral fiber?

The only thing I can think of is that this boils down to an argument over the use and/or origin of a word. Let this one go down in the history books as the first time people’s rights have been compromised through a syntax disagreement.

Kevin’s father put it so eloquently – I wish I had wrote down his exact words… Here’s an attempt at paraphrasing:

“This has become an argument over the use of a word and not the actual rights at stake. Let the Christians have their eight letters. Call your unions something else. You’re Gay! – Surely you can come up with a more fabulous word.”

I tend to agree with him. The activist pushed too hard and in the wrong places… and the majority has pushed right back.

The great right political diversion continues and at the expense of the homosexual… The last, now proven vast, civil-rights frontier for this country.

What worries me deeply is the energy and polarization created by this. Reports came in over the weekend of “NO on 2” signs being set on fire in people’s yards.

We passed an intersection of a road, lined with a half mile long of people demonstrating for Amendment #2 and shouting all sorts of anti-gay sentiments.

I’d never witnessed anything like this before, outside of documentary footage, and always figured “those” sorts of things only happened in Kansas. My heart shot into my throat and I could barely speak for a half an hour later.

Loveably paranoid Kevin lightly suggested we consider moving out of state: “What if this just gets worse? What if this doesn’t settle down after the election and both sides keep pushing… getting angrier? What will we do? Maybe we should look into reloca…”

I interrupted: “absolutely not… – this is my,… no… this is OUR home – we will not be intimidated into relocation over such empty, misdirected bullshit. If things get worse, which I doubt they will,… remember it’s the very same people who have fought to keep the American public armed… I will, without hesitation, blow the god damn kneecaps off of anyone who would venture onto our property to threaten my family.”

*That’s not a threat… it’s not a challenge… It’s a promise.

This however… is not a blog.