The Hate Amendment: Coming to a town near you
*”Hate Amendment” stolen shamlessly from Ntodd.
Gay marriage ban makes state ballot
HELENA – A proposal to add a ban on gay marriages to the Montana Constitution will be on the November general election ballot.
The secretary of state’s office said Thursday the measure had qualified in 38 of the 56 counties through the submission of 46,095 petition signatures.
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Jeff Laszloffy, a Republican state representative from Laurel who proposed the amendment as president of the Montana Family Foundation, predicted the ballot measure will pass easily.
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“It’s too bad that we need to restate the obvious _ that marriage is between a man and a woman _ but if the obvious needs to be restated, I believe voters will do it by an overwhelming majority in November,” he said Thursday.
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“Twelve-hundred gay and lesbian families are closer to being officially marginalized by their neighbors,” Olson said. “We hope that by November, Montanans will realize how damaging institutionalized discrimination will be.
“History is on our side and the constitution isn’t going to contain discrimination for long,” he added.
How lovely. The article mentions, but I didn’t quote it, that we already have a ban in state law. I tend to think it will pass, but I also think Olson is right in that it won’t last long. Christian fundamentalists completely failed in Congress and they will fail everywhere else eventually.
And yet Kerry wants to leave the gay marriage issue up to the states. What the Constitution needs is an absolute nondiscrimination amendment, in strong language, like “Congress shall make no law abridging civil rights on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation…….. and all you hatemongers can go fuck off.”
We’d have the coolest constitution ever.