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The Marriage Amendment
May. 8th, 2012 08:29 pm
If the Catholic Church were the law of the land, then both of my brothers and I would be considered bastards, having been conceived and born out of wedlock. My parents are interfaith, Catholic and Jewish, and they legally married at the justice of the peace. In the eyes of the church, however, my father had committed a mortal sin and was denied communion, heaven, and having his children baptized/go to heaven/receive communion, until my mom and dad had a church wedding.*
Doesn't this sound backwards?
Marriage is defined, in the state of NC, as the union between a man and a woman, i.e. if you are not heterosexual, you may not get married in NC.
"The Amendment" that was on the ballot was this:
"Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State."
Continuing, from wikipedia (but absent from the ballot):
"This section does not prohibit a private party from entering into contracts with another private party; nor does this section prohibit courts from adjudicating the rights of private parties pursuant to such contracts."
The bill prohibits not only same-sex marriages, but civil unions."
Which means that unmarried people carrying dependents on their insurance, caring for children in their home, visiting a sick/injured/dying partner in hospital will no longer be recognized and protected by the state. If you're unmarried, according to the government and not just to your church, you're "living in sin." So, disguising this as a religious issue, proponents of this bill know that it's really about money, privilege, and being able to discriminate against supposed undesirables.
Gay marriage is already illegal here.
It's still discrimination. It's wrong.
*Yes, I know that as an adult or child of my own accord I could/can choose to convert to Catholicism, but Catholics baptize as a baby in the event of infant mortality/childhood illness, and these things scared the living hell out of me as a kid.
Doesn't this sound backwards?
Marriage is defined, in the state of NC, as the union between a man and a woman, i.e. if you are not heterosexual, you may not get married in NC.
"The Amendment" that was on the ballot was this:
"Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State."
Continuing, from wikipedia (but absent from the ballot):
"This section does not prohibit a private party from entering into contracts with another private party; nor does this section prohibit courts from adjudicating the rights of private parties pursuant to such contracts."
The bill prohibits not only same-sex marriages, but civil unions."
Which means that unmarried people carrying dependents on their insurance, caring for children in their home, visiting a sick/injured/dying partner in hospital will no longer be recognized and protected by the state. If you're unmarried, according to the government and not just to your church, you're "living in sin." So, disguising this as a religious issue, proponents of this bill know that it's really about money, privilege, and being able to discriminate against supposed undesirables.
Gay marriage is already illegal here.
It's still discrimination. It's wrong.
*Yes, I know that as an adult or child of my own accord I could/can choose to convert to Catholicism, but Catholics baptize as a baby in the event of infant mortality/childhood illness, and these things scared the living hell out of me as a kid.
