Advertisement

Creep Of The Week: Monte Neil Stewart


Ah, money. Or, as we like to call it in America, "Free Speech." Somehow there just never seems to be enough to go around. This is especially true if you're poor. Sure, "speech" is "free," but only if you can afford it.
Americans don't like to talk about money. Granted we love to worship the rich and famous, but we tend to couch our discussions about money in abstractions. We'll fawn over the "super-rich," but when it comes to people who fall into the ever-shrinking middle class or the ever-growing lower class, we get shy. It's "nobody's business," after all.
This cultural attitude gets in the way of real, substantial discussions and considerations about what working people earn and the cost of living. And it is in this silence that America's democracy has morphed into a plutocracy, a.k.a. government by the rich. And while average Americans are just scraping by and fantasizing about winning the lottery, the rich buy elections to make sure that the laws are forever in their favor. The system is rigged.
So while $71,477 might not seem like much to America's rich, that much money would be a windfall for the majority of us. It could lift a family out of poverty, pay for medication and shelter and mental health care and food. You know, the kinds of things people living paycheck to paycheck, or living with no paycheck at all, often have to do without.
$71,477 would also be a sizable chunk of change to put toward infrastructure repair or public school funding or paying firefighters' salaries.
Some might argue then that the state of Idaho had essentially thrown $71,477 into a toilet by using it to fight the repeal of their anti-gay marriage ban. Most of this total went to Monte Neil Stewart, the attorney arguing the state's case before the courts. As Think Progress has pointed out, Stewart's arguments are terrible. He has essentially said that if same-sex couples get married, then fathers will stop bonding with their kids. He also argued that recognizing gay families would be a drain on public resources and thus the ban was justified for the sake of the budget.
A federal judge rejected their arguments in May. She wrote in her opinion, "Idaho's Marriage Laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens the fundamental right to marry and relegate their families to a stigmatized, second-class status without sufficient reason for doing so."
Damn right.
The state is appealing, of course, because it can't let go of being terrible. Which means more expenses.
According to The Spokesman-Review, that $71,477 doesn't "include salary costs for state employees who did the work as part of their existing jobs," which means that $71,477 is a conservative estimate at best, and will only grow.
But you know, I bet if you, say, asked a child living in poverty in Idaho what they would rather have, tens of thousands of dollars or a law "defending" marriage on the books, that child would say, "So long as the gays can't marry, I'm rich as can be." And then, digging under the threadbare blanket she received from the City Light Home for Women & Children in Boise, she might produce a crumpled dollar bill and add, "Give this to Mr. Stewart. Tell him thank you for fighting for the children." And then she'd die of undiagnosed and untreated asthma.
I'm kidding, of course. There's no way that child would have a dollar.
But as for Mr. Stewart, he is literally doing jack shit for children and should be, but isn't, ashamed of himself.

Advertisement
Advertisement

From the Pride Source Marketplace

Go to the Marketplace
Directory default
Voted best florist numerous times by Hour Magazine and in 2019 by Detroit Home Magazine. We offer a…
Learn More
Directory default
Multi-service, multicultural organization providing HIV testing and counseling, prevention and…
Learn More
Directory default
Ruth Ellis Center (REC) was established as a 501(c)3 nonprofit in 1999. We envision a world where…
Learn More
Advertisement