"Gay Marriage" Amendments - The Far Right's Ultimate Bait & Switch

I always wonder if anyone actually reads the language in the so-called "Marriage Protection" Amendments to state Constitutions. You know, the ones that purportedly save the heterosexual majority from the dreaded scourge of same-sex unions.

Wisconsin is looking at second passage it its Marriage Amendment within weeks. Here's the exact language that will be added to the Constitution if approved by voters:

"Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state."

Anything missing? My goodness, there's not a gay man, lesbian, fag, dyke, queer, tranny or - the Right's favorite term - homosexual (intoned with every "o" lingered over in mantra-like fashion) in the text.

That's right folks - this amendment will ban legal recognition of any sort for any unmarried couple, regardless of sexual orientation. Let the unintended consequences begin.

Actually they already have. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported January 15, 2005 that public defenders in Cuyahoga County are seeking to have domestic abuse charges dropped for their non-married girlfriend beaters.

The argument: that the charge violates the amendment to Ohio's Constitution (which reads almost verbatim to Wisconsin's) by giving spouselike status and protection to victims who live with, but aren't married to, their accused attackers.

"The thing is, you can only get a domestic-violence charge now if you are a wife beater, not a girlfriend beater," said Jeff Lazarus, a law clerk for public defender Robert Tobik and chief architect of the motions to dismiss.

With no legal recognition, unmarried spouse beating is merely simple assault. The first time, the fifth time, the fiftieth time. No extra protections because no legal recognition of the real world reality of the cohabiting relationship can be made. And the state's founding document puts blinders on every judge who tries to see it.

Now did the architects of these amendments know what they were up to? Sure they did - Until their recent website overhaul the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin's marriage goal was "the preservation of lifelong, one man-one woman marriage." The FRI crowd is well aware that the majority of couples in the USA are unmarried. The apolitical Business Week marked the actual turning point as occurring in May of last year in their October 2003 piece "Unmarried America."

So the Far Right is using gay folks once again as "bait" for their hidden agenda: the return of straight America to holy matrimony. And apparently that return might also be fostered on the bruises and broken bones of battered men and women as well as on the backs of committed gay and lesbian couples.

So the next time you have a chance to oppose the so-called "Wisconsin Marriage Amendment (and Action Wisconsin is offering you an opportunity on January 27 by the way), ask your elected officials if they consider assault and battery as "family values."