Eight states currently allow same-sex marriage.
Eighteen thousand married gay and lesbian couples reside in California, though Proposition 8 was passed, making same-sex marriages illegal.
At least 131,000 gay and lesbian couples live across the U.S., according to the 2010 census (and this census was done before New York State legalized same-sex marriage this past July).
And Rick Santorum wants to unmarry every last one of those couples. If he is elected president, he will push for a constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage, nullify state laws regarding same-sex marriage, and invalidate existing marriages
The only reason marriages before Prop. 8 stuck was because the court said the bill didn't clearly inform voters it would invalidate existing marriages. Santorum won't make that mistake with his constitutional amendment proposal.
"We can't have 50 different marriage laws in this country," Santorum said in a NBC News interview on Dec. 30. "You have to have one marriage law."
Oh, I guess he forgot the Tenth Amendment, which grants powers not delegated to the federal government to the States or the people. I thought Republicans were all for "states rights?" But I guess that goes out the window when state rights concern gay rights.
He also hasn't stated how he plans to try to draft such a sweeping amendment, or how he plans to get it passed.
Santorum, quite simply, is an idiot.
This isn't going to be an argument about whether you believe in gay marriage or that I hate you if you're homophobic or that you're a backwards-cousin-marrying-redneck Republican if you are (very) socially conservative.
Those are your choices, just like I reserve the right to be cool with a man loving another man.
This is an argument, more importantly, about civil rights.
It's 2012. Are we really, as Americans, going to revert to the practice of telling people what they can and cannot do?
Remember slavery, when we treated African Americans as less than human, and we forced them into a harsh, unpaid workforce? Or remember that time women weren't considered citizens or equal to men, and they couldn't vote? Or that time Native Americans were forced out of their homes and put onto reservations? Were Americans right then, or is it OK because we've "changed?"
Americans, as a whole, are becoming more tolerant and accepting of same-sex marriage, according to opinion polls. But Santorum doesn't think that means much.
"Just because public opinion says something doesn't mean it's right," Santorum said in the same NBC interview. "I'm sure there were times in areas of this country when people said blacks were less than human."
Um, aren't you treating homosexuals as "less than human" when you deny the right to marriage, something the law shouldn't be able to regulate? Can you regulate love?
I could care less if you believe marriage should be between only a man and a woman; that's your prerogative. But whether you agree with it or not, it's not your decision. I'm not knocking on every Republican's door and screaming about how much I hate that we can own guns. Santorum, or anyone else for that matter, shouldn't decide who can love and get married.
The world isn't going to end if John marries Fred or if Deb marries Suzy. Is any other marriage other than your own really that important to you? What effect does any other relationship have on your life?
Santorum, please stop telling Americans what they can and cannot do, unless you want to revert back to the 1950s and earlier.
Email: rebecca.bratek@ubspectrum.com
