Politicians waste taxpayer time and money on so many things, but one of the more despicable things involves the legislation of discrimination. It seems like every year, on both the federal and state levels, Republicans sponsor legislation that bans gay marriage. Americans need jobs and adequate health care, but these politicians decide that keeping homosexuals from marrying each other takes priority over legislation that would actually benefit the people. They instead waste time on these bills that help no one, but do hurt millions of American citizens.
The latest iteration of this discriminatory legislation is the Defense of Marriage Act. "Defense"? The purpose of this act is not to preserve marriage between one man and one woman; it is to keep homosexuals from marrying each other, pure and simple. How does defining marriage as the legal bond between one man and one woman defend marriage? Does it prevent divorce? Does it increase the number of marriages between heterosexual couples? An act that prevented people with a lack of financial means, high debt, or low credit scores from getting married would do more to "defend" marriage than this act. Actually, let me rephrase that: legislation that took financial means into consideration would actually do something to preserve marriage, where an act to define marriage as a legal union between one man and woman does absolutely nothing to defend marriage.
Now, I am not advocating for a financial means test for marriage; all I'm saying is that if the goal is to defend marriage, preventing homosexuals from marrying each other doesn't do a damned thing to preserve the institution; it doesn't strengthen marriage or improve any couple's relationship in any way; it does nothing to address issues that cause marriages to fail. In other words, calling such a piece of legislation a "defense" of marriage is disingenuous at best, a bald-faced lie, at worst.
Americans need jobs right now. We need adequate and affordable health care. We have a crumbling infrastructure that needs more attention. We have out-of-control debt to other countries. We're still at war. While I do think it's possible to address several issues at once, I don't know what makes those advocating this Defense of Marriage Act think that it has any positive impact on this country whatsoever. And, since Republicans in Congress normally only support bills that benefit the wealthy, I can only figure that they want to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman so companies will not have to even consider providing benefits to same-sex couples.
There is, of course, one other reason certain politicians support a ban of gay marriage, and that reason comes from their religion. They believe homosexuality is not naturally-occurring--anyone who knows anything about the animal kingdom or studies of human sexuality knows better--but rather, they believe it's sinful behavior, and homosexuals are giving in to temptation. They believe it because an ancient book of myths tells them so. Of course, they cherry-pick what parts of this book of myths to believe; I can't remember the public stoning of a drunk in the public square lately, or the execution of adulterers, or any of the other punishments Leviticus lays out for things we would not even consider to be crimes today.
Whether it's the religious lobbyists or the corporate lobbyists influencing the actions of these politicians, it needs to stop. My representatives are against this act, but if yours are not, please let them know that they are wasting valuable time while discriminating against American citizens--that you would rather see them work on legislation that benefits all of us instead of acting to hurt tens of millions of our people.
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