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The Fundamentalist Fanatics' Final Frontier
"There is a tremendous and titanic clash of values and morals that is taking place in our society between the Judeo-Christian understanding of truth and the neo-pagan understanding of truth."
"We seek equality. We are asking that the marriage laws be applied equally to all couples, regardless of sexual orientation. That is the only gay agenda - equality for everyone under the law."
DOMA Isn't Enough for Fundies Against the backdrop of more than a thousand wounded and three-hundred-plus dead U.S. soldiers in Iraq and the Bush Administration's shell-shocked neoconservative brain-trust refusing to take responsibility for the mess they've created; reports that human rights violations are increasing daily in Afghanistan; a rising poverty rate and a domestic economy that continues to be at best sluggish, Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, decided that one of the biggest threats to the nation's safety and security is same-sex marriage. In early September, the Senator held a highly-publicized hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) - which became law in 1996 - to determine whether it will hold up constitutionally in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence vs. Texas which overturned the state's sodomy laws. Although he remains "noncommittal about an amendment," according to a late-September story in The Dallas Morning News Sen. Cornyn "said he's worried that 'activist courts' are poised to allow same-sex marriage." Shortly after the Court's ruling, Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) declared in a USA Today op-ed piece that the ultimate outcome of the court's anti-sodomy ruling "could be the legalization of homosexual marriage."
Most politicians have consistently declared themselves in support of marriage being defined as between one man and one woman and against same-sex marriage. In a late-July Rose Garden press conference - before he took off for his Texas-sized month-long vacation/fundraising tour - President Bush clearly stated his opposition to same-sex marriage prefacing with his "we're all sinners" remark. Bush said: "On the other hand that does not mean that somebody like me needs to compromise on an issue such as marriage. And that's really where the issue is headed here in Washington and that is the definition of marriage. I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman and I think we ought to codify that one way or the other and we've got lawyers looking at the best way to do that." Civilization's 'Final Frontier' Recently, one of the Christian right's most venerated figures, Paul M. Weyrich, the head of the Free Congress Foundation, stepped into the fray. In an article titled "The Final Frontier for Civilization As We Know It" (Washington Dispatch, September 16, 2003), Weyrich writes that "A good portion of the community of believers thinks that a stand against gay marriage is the final frontier in the battle to save civilization as we know it." Weyrich says that advocates of same-sex marriage shouldn't be so sure they have the votes to stop a constitutional amendment. "The homosexual community claims it already has enough votes to kill the amendment in both houses of Congress," Weyrich says. "Some members are telling the homosexual lobby that they will be with them -- but that remains to be seen when the amendment is actually up for a vote." "Senators and congressmen may think they know where they stand on this issue," he says, "but when they have to choose between a majority of their constituents and the homosexual lobby, it may be another matter." Tony Perkins, the new president of the Family Research Council, recently commented: "The question at hand is how best to prohibit the courts from imposing so-called 'gay marriages' on our nation. Recent polls show that a growing majority of Americans are supportive of a Federal Marriage Amendment, and for good reason. Far too often, our courts are ignoring the will of the people and that of state legislatures in order to impose a liberal political agenda on America. And now, with the growing likelihood that a U.S. court will declare a right to same-sex marriage, the Federal Marriage Amendment has become a necessity."
And in early September, Leaders of the nation's Roman Catholic bishops extended their "general support"' to amending the U.S. Constitution. According to the Guardian, the 50-member administrative committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops "acted after a strong Vatican call to defend traditional marriage and the decision of Canada's government to draft a new law defining marriage as being between 'two people.''' The GOP is salivating at the prospect of cashing in on public sentiment against same-sex marriage and Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, has said that the party might consider including a plank in the party's national platform stating its opposition. Gillespie claims - and you'll be hearing more and more of this kind of talk - that gay activists are the true bigots, trying to foist their lifestyles on people opposed to them. "Tolerance is no longer defined as my accepting people for who they are," Mr. Gillespie told Son Myung Moon's Unification Church-owned Washington Times. "I think when people say, 'Well, no, that's not enough that you accept me for who I am, you have to agree with - and condone - my choice,' that to me is religious bigotry, and I believe that is intolerant. I think they are the ones who are crossing the line here." |
Dr. Richard Land heads Faith & Family, a group dedicated to preventing the legalization of gay marriages 
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave has been spearheading the anti-gay marriage amendment in the U.S. House 
A poster promoting Marriage Protection Week, which is being sponsored by several prominent religious conservatives