Pro-Marriage

You know, I consider myself pro-marriage. In the sense that I support people who are married, including those who got married in Massachusetts or Canada and aren't allowed to other places.

I think, first of all, that we need to reclaim the language. The people trying to push the anti-marriage amendment to the Minnesotan state constitution are not pro-marriage. They are anti-marriage, because there are real marriages, right now, that they are working to end. They are anti-family, because there are real families, right now, that they are busily trying to enact discrimination against. At best, they could be called pro-traditional-marriage, except they aren't really (I doubt that Katherine Kersten, a local conservative who has a column in the Star Trib, favors marriage laws that would deny her the right to own property, have a credit card without her husband's permission, etc.)

I'm thinking about all this today because one of the anti-marriage groups (called, paradoxically, Minnesota for Marriage) ran an ad in this morning's Star Tribune. It's very eye-catching -- black and white except a spot of purple on the fingertip of an Iraqi woman. "Iraqis Have the Right to Vote," it says in big bold type. "Why Don't Minnesotans?"

Yes, because putting up with legislative and procedural stonewalling -- a normal and respectable (if annoying, when it's going against your side) part of representative democracy -- is exactly like living in a military dictatorship where the secret police can come in the night and take you away to torture you because you were rumored to have criticized the government.

I'd scream, "Do they think we're stupid?" -- except, apparently, some people are really that stupid. The ad suggested calling Senators Dean Johnson and Don Betzold "with a simple message: Stop stalling...and let the people vote!" So I called both offices, to tell them that I found this ad appalling and that I supported Senator Johnson and Senator Betzold in their stance against this amendment. The beleaguered staffers at both offices were surprised and really happy to hear from someone from their own side, and both noted that the phones have been ringing off the hook. (I could hear them ringing in the background while I talked to them, in fact.)

I would love a list of proposed amendments to the Minnesota state constitution that have stalled in committee over the years. The only one I can remember offhand is Ventura's proposal to switch to a unicameral legislature.

Anyway, I wanted to call Minnesota for Marriage and let them know what I thought of their ad. Naturally, they didn't provide their OWN phone number, only the numbers for the senators. One of the senate staffers I talked to cheerfully looked it up for me, though, so I called it, and got an automated phone tree. You can leave a comment in voicemail; you can't talk to a real person. On the plus side, though, they'll pick up the tab for the call. 1-877-MN-MARRY.

Edited to add:

I am pretty sure I picked up the line about being pro-marriage from someone else, but I'm not sure who. John Scalzi had a blog entry that covered some similar ground, but he didn't use the precise turn of phrase. Anyway, my desire to get this thought out there this afternoon overpowered my desire not to quote without attribution. If anyone knows who I stole from, feel free to let me know, as it's driving me nuts.