Federal Marriage Amendment

[SkipNewarkDE]

The Federal Marriage Amendment is a proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. As various states are issuing marriage licenses or civil unions, the radical fundamental right wants to sidestep states' rights and rape the Constitution to foist their tyrannical superstitious religious world-view on the majority.

In the next day or so, the Federal Marriage Amendment will be voted upon in the Senate. This proposed amendment will deny the states rights to recognize same-sex unions. Proponents of this bill, including sponsor Rick Santorum (R-Religiously Insane) of Pennsyltucky claim that this bill is for the good of the family unit. Mr. Santorum declares that the Federal Government needs to preserve the strength of the family unit to make it the best possible environment to bring up THE CHILDREN.

My best friends are gay, and have been partners for some ten to fifteen years. I see these guys daily, going about their domestic duties of having two careers, running a household, having a farm, managing budgets, entertaining their friends, supporting and loving one another. They are a family. They are a strong, loving, supporting unit. I admire them, I respect them, and indeed, I love them. I get a warm feeling in my heart when I watch them going about their daily routine, and I don't look at their relationship as being a "gay" thing. I look at it as being a "family thing" and indeed as their extended families come and visit, and act like families do, it feels just as normal, just as valid as any heterosexual family. I see in their relationship the kind of integrity, communication, support and nurturing that I NEVER saw in the destructive, abusive heterosexual household in which I grew up. My household was one of constant mental and physical abuse, a physically violent father who brutally beat my mother and I almost daily. A father that drank too much, gambled away the family money, slept around. A mother that was emotionally and physically abusive towards me. Two parents that caused me more pain, depression, and bodily damage growing up than I care to contemplate. A good, quality heterosexual marriage. They stayed together for so many years "for the CHILDREN" too, and I will wrestle with those demons for the rest of my life as a result. Thanks.

That the Rick Santorum's of this world would want to invalidate a certain type of relationship, with the reasoning that the government needs to support the basic family unit, and indeed DEFINE what constitutes a loving family unit sickens me. The existence of gay unions certainly didn't influence my parents into their abusive and destructive mode of life. Eliminating the possibility of such unions probably would have done nothing to change the abusive relationship of my parents, and the terrible and dangerous household in which I grew up.

But Mr. Santorum wants to protect the children, and the sanctity of marriage - it will lose its meaning otherwise.

This issue is bullshit. The government has NO place and no right to attempt to define what makes family. If they are so concerned about fostering a good environment for "the children," how about making it illegal to have children out of wedlock? How about doing something to provide more aid to people who are trapped in abusive families that need to get out of the destructive environment?

You would never see this happen.

Family is what you make of it. It is a personal choice. And the business of the family next door, down the street, or across the country has NO bearing on how one manages their own relationships, their own household, their own family unit. The strength of a family unit is a personal discipline, not a federal one.

I very strongly urge anyone who reads this to PLEASE call your senator TODAY and tell them to vote NO on this issue when it comes up tomorrow.

[Misunderestimator]

1. Find your senators' phone #s here:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

And you're spot on with your post. I also grew up with such an idyllic straight family unit.

[beyurslf]

2. If we want to "protect" marriage, we should get rid of what truly

threatens it: no fault divorce.