Gay Marriage - Where We Go From Here

In November 2008, the voters of California passed legislation that outlawed same-sex marriage in this state.  That law was immediately fought and today, June 26, 2013, four years and eight months later, it has been put to rest, being found unconstitutional.  Gay marriage is once again legal in California.

One of the reasons for the passage of the original proposition was the influx of money into this state in support of the measure.  One of the largest donors to this movement was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), more commonly known as "the Mormons."  The Mormons were in favor of this legislation and worked hard to pass it.  While the church officially recognizes donations of less than $200,000, many news sources place LDS money at closer to $20 million.  Added to this was the enormous number of volunteer hours the Mormons put in going door-to-door in favor of this initiative (and who knows better about going door-to-door than the Mormons?).

Putting this in perspective, it must be remembered that in 2008 our state was still being governed by Arnold Schwrzenegger.  "Mismanaged" would probably be a better term.  We were hurting financially and a sudden jolt of cash was just what our state needed.  Along came the Mormons to help out.  We should really be thanking them for their assistance in our time of need.

In fact, we should go even farther to show our appreciation.  Once gay marriages are again being performed in the Golden State, we should make Salt Lake City the gay honeymoon capital of America!  Happily wed gay and lesbian couples should flock to the Beehive State to spread around our money and our unique style of mirth.  After all, fair is fair.

Some newly wed gay couples may have their sites on a less domestic honeymoon site.  There is a solution for those couples as well.  While not as financially affluent as their Mormon counterparts, the Roman Catholics did their part to help pass the proposition.  The Knights of Columbus financially backed the measure and the California Catholic Conference was very vocal in their support.  As a way of saying, "thank you" to those hard-working Catholic men and women who also helped our state, we should make The Vatican our international honeymoon capital of choice.  Just picture all of those angelic gay faces, hand-in-hand strolling through the Vatican Museum, looking at the gorgeous gowns and red Prada shoes worn by Popes of the Past.  The scent of dust mingles with the odor of Axe as one astute young man points to his husband and whispers, "Can you believe she wore that?"

Yes, I believe it is time the gay community give back to those who helped our state in our time of need.  We need to stand proudly and say, "thank you" to the Mormons and the Roman Catholic Church in a way that they will truly understand our meaning.

Once Again, Abortion Is In The News

Okay, today the House of Representatives, in an incredible show of solidarity among the Republican party, voted to outlaw abortions performed after the fifth month.  Now, on the surface, many people might think that this is a good idea.  After all, at five months a fetus can allegedly feel pain and should therefore be considered a human being and worthy of all rights and privileges thereof.

All well and good.  Although, this does bring up the question of cruelty to animals, since they too can feel pain and yet we kill them with wanton abandon.  Apparently, feeling pain is only a bad thing if it's a human who is doing the feeling.

But I digress.  Back to the abortions.  In our country, abortion statistics have been tracked by the Centers for Disease Control since 1969.  Those statistics are available on the CDC site for anyone who wants to take the time to look them up.  Since they're dealing with numbers coming in from various sources, the final numbers are several years behind.  The most complete year is 2009, so those are the numbers I will use in this example.

The total number of abortions performed after 16 weeks (which is the fourth month, not the fifth) were 27,573.  That might sound like a lot of abortions but consider that this is 4.9% of the total of abortions performed in this country in that year.  

Let's put this in perspective.  All states in this country have representation from the people.  They have a governor, two senators, a number of congressmen, an upper state house and a lower state house.  In 2009, the majority of elected officials in each of the following states were Republicans; Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.  

So what?  Well, in each of these states more abortions were performed than the 4.9% of those performed after 16 weeks.  The numbers are:

Florida - 81,918
Georgia - 32,925
North Carolina - 30,596
Ohio - 28,721
Pennsylvania - 37,284
Texas - 77,630

The Republicans in the House of Representatives thought it was so important to lessen the number of abortions in this country that they spent tax payer dollars on a bill that would reduce the total number of abortions by less than 30,000.  If they had merely outlawed abortions in Texas they would have had more than twice that number.  If they outlawed abortions in Florida, it would be nearly three times that number.  If they outlawed abortions in the six states listed above, over half of the abortions in this country would be eliminated!

Republicans - it seems to me if you want to reduce the number of abortions in this country, stop having so many.