Political Frenzy

Right here in my home state of Washington gay rights are taking a step in the right direction. Governor and Democrat Christine Gregoire signed into law a bill to allow same-sex couples Domestic Partnership, which will allow two people of the same sex who have lived together for an extended period of time to be recognized as financially and medically responsible for each other, and give them joint custodial rights over a child.

I think this is wonderful.

Do I think, however, that the government should allow gays to be married? No.

But no one ever asks me if I think the government should allow straight people to be married. If you did, you’d get the same response.

Say WHAA?

Here’s how it breaks down. Marriage is an institution of faith, a contract between you, the person you love, and God. Nobody on Earth should be able to tell you who you can or cannot marry. Marriage licenses given out by the government is an insult to the sanctity of the institution. The leaders of your faith, or your own moral compass if you do not believe in organized religion, should preside over your marriage, and not the suits and ties of the District of Colombia. All the government should be handing out is the legal recognition of the financial union and shared responsibilities of two consenting adults, and that’s it.

I offer to you the example of the Church of Latter Day Saints. You cannot be married in a Mormon Church if you are not Mormon. In fact you cannot enter a Mormon Church without being a Mormon. This is exclusionary and effectively prohibits interfaith marriage for Mormons. If we truly believe that the State has any right to dictate our marriages, we should be clawing at the temples in Salt Lake City, because this is a blatant act of exclusion.

But it’s their faith, and we cannot take it from them. Marriage is a spiritual covenant, not a piece of paper handed to us from Capitol Hill. They have the right to exclude whomever they wish, just as any other church has the right to exclude or include whomever they wish.

I love the idea of Washington having domestic partnerships, mostly because of a wonderful article I read many months ago in Seattle’s own “The Stranger”, by Dan Savage, the internationally syndicated columnist and gay rights activist. In it he detailed the traumatic events where, out of state, he got very ill and had to be admitted to a hospital immediately. His partner was there to give the go-ahead, which Dan couldn’t do on his own as he was completely incapacitated, for an invasive surgery which ultimately saved Savage’s life. But, Savage notes, the doctors didn’t have to listen to his partner at all legally, and had they arrived in any other hospital Dan Savage may have lay dying while the hospital tried frantically to call one of his close relatives.

This law does more than grant titles to homosexuals, it saves lives - allowing men and women who now live only with one other person, their lover, to be guarded and secured by them. If one were to perish, a child who had been adopted would not be left to foster care or taken from their home, but left to mourn and grow and go on with the parent they still have. This law safeguards Washingtonians from the Olympic Peninsula to the Inland Empire, and paves the way for better and more fair rights for all - including silly straight vanilla boys like myself.

That’s my two cents.