Back in 2008, I wrote two posts about the subject of gay marriage, coming down rather firmly against the idea. The recent events in Indiana, coupled with the somewhat disturbing efforts of people like David Green to enforce their screwed up views of right and wrong have now convinced me that I was wrong and needed to change my mind. Now mind you, I am not a fan of any marriage, gay or straight-so wholly useless is the institution in my humble opinion but if we do have this screwed institution than who am I to care about sleeps with who and who marries who. Watching the actions of that bag of hammers, Mike Pence, made me a believer that I was on the wrong path.
It is especially a sweet revelation because it places me in firm opposition to others who should know better.
(By the way, before putting up that post-there was a Diversity Thursday post up taking the Secretary of the Air Force to task for something she should be taken to task for. But interestingly, in the comments, the supposedly egalitarian and oh so welcoming (sic) “front porch” got well and truly trolled by a commenter who brought up more than a few unpleasant truths, that caused them to have a collective fit. makes me wonder what the real reason for taking the post down was. A change of heart or not liking someone not backing down to the collective bullying that can go on in the comments section? Alas, the post is down so we will never know).
But back to Indiana.
I question the need to pass a law entitled “Religious Freedom Restoration.” What, exactly, are they trying to restore? Is there something preventing the citizens of Indiana from going to church where they want? Are people not being allowed to voice their opinions? The answer to both questions is no-especially if one reads the garbage that passes for commentary over at say: The Federalist, Red State, or the Town Hall Harlot. Regrettably, free speech, such as it were, is alive and well in those cesspools of humanity. “What problem are they trying to resolve here?”. Certainly its not about fixing gay marriage-its already legal in the state.
As we saw in the Hobby Lobby case, this is about one particular area, the outrage that a certain percentage of America feels when they can’t dictate to others what they can and cannot do in life, by using the leverage of economics to hit them over the head. Hobby Lobby was trying to avoid his legal responsibility as an employer. Indiana was trying to pass a feel-good piece of legislation to allow discrimination, legal discrimination, by zealots who were not content to leave a firewall in place between one’s personal beliefs and one’s public obligations.
The Indiana law was and is particularly egregious because as initially written it was designed to empower that type of discrimination. While not a license to discriminate-it does set the boundaries of the legal recourse against it:
These laws are instructions to courts on how to assess claims for religious exemptions to a wide variety of law. In general terms, they lay out (1) who can use the law; (2) what kinds of cases it will apply to; and (3) what standard the court will use to decide whether the claimant has a right to an exemption.
In two of these areas, the Indiana law as enacted and signed is broader than the federal RFRA or most other state laws. It provides religious protection to more businesses than the federal statute does, even after the Hobby Lobby case; and it explicitly provides a defense in actions between private parties, such as, let’s say, discrimination suits (the federal statute is silent on this issue, and federal courts are split). Beyond that, it allows businesses or individuals to challenge legal actions even before they happen—if they are “likely” to happen.
So when the “fix” is finally unveiled, read it carefully. And for a crash course in what shouldn’t be there, look at the Arkansas religious-freedom bill that Gov. Hutchinson refused to sign on Wednesday. This bill makes the Indiana law look like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It begins with this reassuring finding: “It is a compelling governmental interest to comply with federal civil-rights law.” But consider that federal civil-rights laws currently do not protect against discrimination by sexual orientation; the “finding” is not part of the actual statute; and, most importantly, the Arkansas legislature does not have and never has had the slightest power to set aside or reduce the scope of any federal law. It’s as generous as a “finding” that “in Arkansas, light is given permission to travel at 186,000 miles per second.”
I’ve seen a lot of writers argue that by requiring people to deal evenly with all people in the market place it somehow makes them “accomplices” in sin they disapprove of. That’s complete and utter crap. When you enter the commercial arena, you enter a legal world where you must live by your corporate responsibilities. Unlike what Mitt Romney said- corporations are not “people too my friend”-and thus don’t have “free exercise” rights. As Charles Blow wrote in the NYT, “I would argue that when you enter the sphere of commerce in America — regardless of your “deeply held religious beliefs” — you have entered a nondiscriminatory zone in which your personal beliefs are checked at the register, and each customer is treated equally.”
I mean really, if you as a hotel clerk rent a room to a couple wanting to revel in some adulterous sexual delights, does that make you a participant in the act? Certainly not. All you care about is whether their credit card transaction was approved and that they don’t damage anything in the room. What they do inside that room is their business – not yours.
It is refreshing to me to see certain corporations recognize that they cannot sit idly by on the sidelines while this type of things goes on. When Tim Cook, CEO of arguably the most powerful corporation on the planet speaks out publicly, maybe it is time for the worthless idiots like Allahpundit and Erik Erikson to stop and listen. (By the way, just being on the same side as these guys should make you scrutinize your positions. ).
This is where we are coming to what really offends the conservative side. They hate seeing their own tactics being effectively used against them. Indiana is justifiably made to suffer consequences for its own stupidity-and people like Tim Cook are hitting these people in the one area that really matters to them and their beliefs-their money. I hope it continues and I hope it comes to hurt Indiana. When you find yourself to the right of NASCAR, maybe, just maybe, you have gone a bit too far.
And, for those of you keeping the score at home, the following is a partial list of the institutions that are more progressive and that make more sense on this issue than Mike Pence does.
The NCAA.
Dan Quayle’s Old Family Newspaper
NASCAR
Walmart
The state of Arkansas
Which gets to the point I wrote seven years ago, “-marriage, like it or not, s evolving. And it should evolve because its current construct, as well as the demographics of those who practice it, are changing dramatically. And if there are people who “want to be childless and partnerless”- well they have their place too……..But in the end, short of a radical return to the 50′s, it is coming. How we live with it will be another story. If it makes marriage and divorce laws evolve to ones based on fairness and not entitlement -well then I guess I’ll have to welcome that change.”
And so I have. Keep up the pressure, you Godless heathens! You are always winning if Mike Pence is losing.