Rants, Rights, Religion, Politics and Pictures

Today in South Africa the legislature passed a gay marriage bill by a resounding margin of 230 to 41, with 3 members abstaining. According to the AP, "The bill provides for the 'voluntary union of two persons, which is solemnized and registered by either a marriage or civil union.' It does not specify whether they are heterosexual or homosexual partnerships. But it also says marriage officers need not perform a ceremony between same-sex couples if doing so would conflict with his or her 'conscience, religion and belief.'" South Africa becomes the first African country and the fifth overall to legally sanction the rights of any two people to join together in a union of love and commitment to each other. One more step forward in the fight for equality. How is that a country once reviled for its horrendous policy of apartheid and who has moved past that into the realm of full equality for all people can be so far forward in its thinking as to put the United States to shame in its inequitable treatment of all its citizens. I hope the theocrats and "compassionate" conservatives are paying attention. How long do the citizens of this country have to wait before we live up to the words of our constitution "all men are created equal"? If we are going to change the constitution why not "all humankind is created equal", so therefore let us not differentiate between male and female, hetero and homo, or whatever color a person is born into. Each and every one of us deserves the respect and the rights of full equality. My hat is off to South Africa for having the courage to stand up for that right on a continent where the sanctity of life is many times in doubt and homosexuality is so taboo as to even speak of it can bring about jails, institutions, or death. When will the United States catch up?

In Monday's Boston Globe columnist James Carroll wrote an excellent piece entitled "War, religion, and gay rights". He exposes the diversionary tactics of conservative religious reactionaries world wide. You can read the entire article here. The moral of the story here is refuse to be invisible, refuse to be silent, expect to be treated equal because we are. Bowing to religious conservatism is not an option.

While we are on the subject of religion, there was also a great article in the Washington Post by Methodist minister Ermalou Roller "Hurting Gays, and Ourselves" that expounds on the "the anguish of our rejection of gays and lesbians, as horrible as it is for them, affects us all". I urge you to read the article for yourselves. She speaks from the heart and from experience as she was once married to a closeted homosexual and has been able to move past the "emotional devastation" and repair broken familial relationship. Would that we all could say the same.

Thank you, dear readers for listening to my rant today, keep coming back, posting comments, and subscribing. Until next time, as always, Enjoy!