Visiting some friends in Milwaukee this weekend, my fiancée and I decided to take the opportunity to go to one of our favorite breakfast hangouts, the Comet Cafe. While there, and while waiting for a table to open up in the very crowded restaurant, I noticed a petition calling for the removal of the Wisconsin Constitutional Amendment that passed in 2006 that officially banned any form of domestic partnerships – marriage or otherwise – for gay couples.
I immediately signed the petition.
I am an ardent supporter of marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. There is no justifiable excuse for refusing these couples from marrying one another if they want to do so. The religious argument – that homosexuality is a sin and that marriage is between one man and one woman – doesn’t hold any weight, especially when you consider the fact that religion plays no factor in marriage rights in America (atheists are allowed to wed as well as other non-Judeo-Christian religions).
The ban in Wisconsin, however, does more than just ban marriage for homosexuals – it bans any form of governmental recognition between couples other than marriage. That means that gay couples can't even receive rights in the form of civil unions, a reasonable compromise usually accepted by the pragmatic members of both sides of the debate.
The ban on gay marriage in Wisconsin is unfair. It ought to be removed. We must educate ourselves on the issues in the hopes that we can make life more prosperous, more fair for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.
No comments:
Post a Comment