49-48?

I was glad to hear that the Republican Anti-Marriage Ammendment failed in the Senate yesterday. The ammendment was against the morals our country was founded on and would have soiled the dignity and inherently damaged the credibility of our nation's most sacred document, The Constitution.

It felt good to know that there was some small shred of sanity and respect for civil rights in the Halls of the Senate. What was startling, however, were the raw numbers. It was a 49-48 vote. That means that almost half of those responsible for writing the laws in our country support legislation to limit the inherent rights of individuals and insert that poisonous dogma into our country's founding document.

These people are insane.

In the article, Ted Kennedy said the Republican leadership "is asking us to spend time writing bigotry into the Constitution. A vote for it is a vote against civil unions, against domestic partnership, against all other efforts for states to treat gays and lesbians fairly under the law."

The Senator from Utah, the stupendous Orrin Hatch responded, most childishly, by wondering, "Does he really want to suggest that over half of the United States Senate is a crew of bigots?"

My answer to Senator Hatch is this: YES. Over half of the United States Senate is a crew of bigots, you being chief among them. I do not say things like this lightly (Steve might, but I won't.) How else can you rationalize limiting the rights of your fellow Americans? Especially rights that, whether granted or taken away, will not affect you whatsoever.

And for those of you who are of the LDS persuasion, I would make time to read the following article: LDS Authority and Gay Marriage.

It's an excellent, well-written piece arguing against the LDS Church's decision to ask their members to help attack the institute of marriage. It was written by a Mormon who is also a philosophy professor at BYU. It is worth everyone's time though.

Also, here is Pete Ashdown's take on it. It's also a good read.

I want someone who is anti-marriage (read: against "gay" marriage) to explain to me how they would be affected by same-sex marriages. I would like to talk about this in a civil way in the comments below. I know I'm not Steve and my posts recieve much less attention, but I would very much like to understand this issue a little better from both sides.