And The Right Cry Foul (again)

"God is an American"
--David Bowie, "I'm Afraid of Americans"

On the way to work today, I accidentally stumbled on the protest against the recent Gay Marriage Ruling. Checked out the crowd (almost afraid I'd run into a family member or two) and saw the counter demonstration at a Gay Marriage sympathetic church.

At least it was pretty civil on the part of the "lefties." A couple of us even headed over to the rally to catch the weird vibe of the hate rally that somehow rationalized that they weren't a hate rally by way of deducting that the only way to save the already declining marriage rates and cut the increasing divorce rates was to carry on the same way we have for generations and either demonize or "turn" those who can't marry or have children the traditional way anyway.

The old man shouting "You're not gay, you're miserable!" didn't help their supposed non-hate platform any either.

Best Anti-Gay sign: "Adam and Steve = No People/Adam and Eve = 6 Billion People." As someone one who is in favor of a declining (or at least stagnating) world population, I was amazed at the sign holder's lack of irony. I ought to pass that on to Chris Korda and The Church of Euthanasia. Chris would have a field day, I suspect, with playing with that slogan.

Several big names spoke against the ruling today. Interesting to see such a unified front, given the over-simplified uber-patriotism this country has seen over the last two years.

I mean, when you just hear the word "Constitution," you should think America in passing. At least if you're American. Therefore, when Massachusetts "activist judges" (to use a Bushism--obviously to contrast the "passive" Republician Judges who just gave him a free ride to the presidency) say something about our local government doctrines being unconstitutional, you would think that critics--even George Whatchamacallit Bush--would be afraid to speak out and risk being seen as ....

UnAmerican?

Then again, the Constitution is something that can be changed. If we hadn't, slavery wouldn't have been abolished (at least on paper). Not something we can be too dogmatic about, given that it's been revised a couple of times.

Which makes it clearer why most of the radical right adhere to a unreviseable (barring new, often ignored translations) text as their guide to America, not a paper that doesn't make them as comfortable with their Jesus as a straight white non-hippie who-just-happened-to-have-long-hair outlook.

That alone should make even moderate conservative people think twice before voting for Bush again. I think the majority of the people aren't as condemning as the religious radicals in power are, but they're comfortable in feeling that their leaders worship the same things they did growing up or at least have a similarly colored God in their minds. But that could come back to bite them when those ten-times more dogmatic start putting their foot down on other people's harmless choices.

Sure my Mom appreciates her spiritual upbringing, but I'm sure she would rather lose a finger than go back to the school and the Nuns that taught there today. Even if that happened on a metaphorical level, that would be devastating to nearly every American psyche, no matter how many people we kill or put away on TV in the name of acquiring votes.

At least something tickled my fancy today. The pro-Gay Marriage side singing American anthems you'd normally hear by counter protesters at anti-war rallies. It was nice to turn the tables on the Right for once and have both legs to stand on while doing it. I hope it's a continuing trend.