Thoughts on Proposition 8

So when I logged in to Facebook today I saw this all over the place:

And I'll admit it.  I had no idea what it was or what it stood for.  But I did spend the better part of a half an hour Googling and Binging it.  (Both Google and Bing! thought I wanted cheats for Logo Quiz.  Nope.  That was last week...when I spent way too many hours on Amtrak.  Keep up, "smart" internet search engines!)

Anyway, I came up with nothing, so I decided to text my all-knowing, wealth of information, friend who had it as her profile pic.  She explained.  

People are posting it to show their support of marriage equality.  Apparently, Proposition 8 (California Gay Marriage Ban from back in like, 2008?) is finally coming before the Supreme Court.  I guess Congress isn't the only inefficient branch of the U.S. government.  But I digress...

Now normally, I keep my opinions on stuff like this off the grid.  For lots of reasons, but the biggest one is that I know there are people who are a whole lot smarter than I am who can smack my thought processes down with one or two well-put comments and I'll wind up feeling like an idiot.  I think it's PTSD from high school debate and always choosing friends that are so much more intelligent than I am.

But this issue has been sitting heavy with me for a long time.  And since I'm going to be be a California resident in a few short months, I do think I get to have an opinion on it.  And maybe if I get it out of my head and onto this blog, I can move on to thinking about something else.  

Like how to do a double-under.  Or how to get three of my students to understand inference and conclusions.

So here goes:

I have two pieces of paper from my wedding day.  

One is my Kansas Marriage License.  This is the document that verifies my name change and gives me legal right to 50% of everything Better Half and I have collected together over the years.  It allows me to make decisions on his behalf if he can't and vice versa.  It's the piece of paper that I need for the law of the land to recognize that Better Half and I are a unit.  We share a home, assets, file taxes together, are both responsible for any offspring...etc.

I think this right should belong to any two consenting, non-biologically related adults over the age of (I would say 25 without parental consent, since the brain isn't fully formed until a person is around 25, and you can't even rent a car until then, anyway, but 18 is probably more reasonable) regardless of race, sex, or creed anywhere in the United States or its territories.

I'm Episcopalian.  So the other piece of paper I have is a certificate stating that Better Half and I have received the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.  This piece of paper is signed by the same people, but it is a different contract entirely.  This piece of paper represents a covenant that Better Half and I made with each other, God, and our house of faith. 

And I believe that each house of faith has a right and a responsibility to prayerfully consider what criteria constitutes a marriage covenant for that group, and perform marriage ceremonies  based on that criteria without any repercussions from the law of the land.

Because I also believe wholeheartedly in the separation of Church and State.

I think it is odd that we use the word "marriage" for both a civil and a faith-based contract, and I think that confuses the issue.  

I don't apply for a license from the state to be baptized or confirmed--nor does the state consider birth certificates, naturalization papers, citizenship documents, etc. to mean that a person is baptized or confirmed.

I think anyone who wants their union to be recognized by the state should receive a civil union license.  Heterosexual, or homosexual.  I wish we'd even call it that for everyone.  But since we don't, I'm okay with "Civil Marriage License."  Whatever term we use...it has to be the same for everyone.  No fair calling it "marriage" for heterosexual couples and "civil union" for homosexual ones.  

"Separate but Equal" very quickly becomes "Separate and Entirely Unequal."

I think anyone who wants to enter into a marriage covenant with a house of faith needs to find a house of faith that shares their beliefs about what that covenant should look like and have a wedding!

I think the Supreme Court needs to tell California--and every other state, for that matter--that it is unconstitutional for the government to refuse to issue civil marriage licenses to people based on sexual orientation, while still protecting the rights of houses of faith to adhere to their own criteria without being slapped with ACLU lawsuits and the like.

Okay.  I'm done.  :o)

Stay tuned for the next post...which I promise will be much lighter and less wordy.  :o)

Coming up in my next issue--

Pictures of our Spring Break trip to...California!