Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
Last week I predicted that lesbian and gay families would be dragged through the mud again as soon as it was politically expedient for Republicans. I'm no Psychic Friend, but it appears I was right.
On Feb. 10, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that he would don chain mail and unsheath his sword to protect the quivering princess that is marriage against the evil homosexual dragons.
Frist made the announcement at a Conservative Political Action Committee Conference in Washington, D.C.
"Today, the institution of marriage is under attack," he said. "When America's values are under attack, we need to act."
That's right folks – the so-called Marriage Protection Amendment is back, and not a moment too soon! Frist said he plans to bring the proposal to write discrimination into the Constitution to a vote in June – and no, not because he has fantasies of being a blushing June bride. Frist wouldn't dare be so sentimental.
Why June? In honor of the November elections, of course. Folks like Frist can strong-arm the party faithful into voting for this divisive measure because it's what the people want, damn it! "We, the people of the United States of America, hate us some homos…"
Why, anyone who would vote against something as simple as protecting marriage clearly wants to see marriage destroyed, preferably smashed by the mighty fists of King Kong and Godzilla, culminating in the marriage of the two creatures. As the giant gorilla and lizard exchanged vows amidst the smoldering ruins of civilization, the right wing could take comfort in the fact that their claim that same-sex marriage will lead to inter-species marriage was right all along. Of course, it will be too late to do anything about it.
I can see the campaign commercials now. Which is, really, what this is all about. This measure has nothing to do with saving marriage, or even respecting it as an institution, and everything to do with the baser political instincts of the Republican Party. It's a CYA move, to be sure.
"Not one marriage is protected by this amendment and all marriages are devalued when they are used as a political ploy," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "Writing one group of people out of the protections of the Constitution is politics at its worst."
The CPAC event was populated by a who's-who of anti-gay leaders including Phyllis Schlafly, Sen. Rick Santorum, Sen. Sam Brownback and Alan Chambers, head of the dangerous "ex-gay" group Exodus International.
"Senator Frist used the stage at the venomous CPAC conference to appeal to a small group of extremists that strategists like Karl Rove count on turning out on Election Day," said Solmonese. "Writing discrimination into the Constitution may appease extremists but it turns off fair-minded voters tired of political games when real problems are left unsolved."
This same measure has failed once already. Get to contacting your U.S. Senators and be sure that it fails yet again.
Senator Carl Levin: 269 Russell Office Building, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC, 20510-2202. Call 202-224-6221 or email Senator Levin by visiting the Contact Center on his website at http://www.senate.gov/~levin.
Senator Debbie Stabenow: 133 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, 20510. Call 202-224-4822 or TTY: 202-224-2066 or e-mail [email protected]
