I’d planned to write something about a poll in today’s Washington Post indicating that 53% of Virginians support the proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage. But David Boaz explained this story in the perfect context, so I’ll excerpt a bit here.
All these journalists are doing the supporters’ work for them. Bans on gay marriage have passed everywhere they’ve been placed on the ballot. That’s what the supporters of the Virginia amendment want voters to think they’re voting on. But that’s not what the Virginia amendment really does.
Same-sex marriage is already prohibited in Virginia, and there’s no prospect of legislative or judicial change in that fact. So this amendment is touted as banning something that is already banned.
Read his commentary. It’s short, and spells out exactly what the bigots want to achieve.
From the article, there are two useful quotes from people who clearly slept through their civics lessons while still in school.
“My religion teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman, and quite frankly, that’s all I need to help me understand how I need to vote,” said Sandy Ledford, 57, a housewife from Botetourt County, in the state’s rural southwest. “It’s pretty simple for me.”
“I’m not a homophobe,” said Charles Wortham, 60, a dentist from Hanover County, outside Richmond. “My view is simply that marriage is there to establish a legal process for the procreation of children. It’s Mother Nature. Same-sex couples can’t naturally reproduce, so it doesn’t seem like they should be able to marry like a traditional family.”
So we should enact the parts of the Bible that suggest stoning, slavery, and other such actions we’ve abandoned? And when will we implement fertility tests into the marriage licensing process? Worth asking, since he’s not a homophobe.