"Marriage" is for one man and one woman, and it is unfortunate that unelected judges in many jurisdictions have ruled otherwise.
But you don't "protect" marriage by mucking up the Constitution with a same-sex marriage ban that for the first time would legalize discrimination against a class of American citizens.
That would make all of us, married or single, gay or straight, less free.
Next time, someone may just want to ban you.
I don't like the idea of Vito and Johnny Cakes getting hitched, but our personal queasiness with Brokeback sexuality is our problem.
Don't respond with state-sanctioned discrimination.
Don't call it "marriage," but like anyone else, same-sex couples, in the form of a "civil union" or other similar arrangement, should be able to enjoy the same legal benefits enjoyed by a married man and woman.
They don't deserve special protections in the Constitution and other laws — and frankly, you don't hear most gay Americans calling for such a special status — but they don't deserve discrimination, either.
But that's exactly what President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and other Republican leaders will try to do this summer when they revive their campaign to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. They claim to be "defending" marriage, but what they are really trying to do is boost their waning political fortunes in an election year by appealing to the darker demons of their right-wing base.
None other than First Lady Laura Bush and Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice President Cheney — who also opposes a gay marriage ban — are crying, "Foul!"
"I don't think it should be used as a campaign tool, obviously," Laura Bush said Sunday.
"It requires a lot of sensitivity to just talk about the issue - a lot of sensitivity."
Mary Cheney, who almost quit a job on her father's re-election team in 2004 because of President Bush's position on gay marriage, was more blunt.
"(W)hat I can say is look, amending the Constitution with this amendment, this piece of legislation, is a bad piece of legislation. It is writing discrimination into the Constitution, and, as I say, it is fundamentally wrong."
This is a tired debate, distracting attention from more important issues.
Which, I guess, is what Bill Frist, Karl Rove and other Republicans want to do. Most of those issues aren't going their way right now.
Passing a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage will not end the war in Iraq or disarm Iran.
It will not lower the price of gasoline.
It will not make health care more affordable.
It will not help the nation find "the middle ground" on immigration reform.
It will not save a child from poverty.
Passing a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage will not improve a single American life.
All it will do is divide Americans, and in the end, cost the nation our freedom, and our dignity.
Married or single, gay or straight, that is too high price for us to pay.
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