Opponents of gay marriage often use the argument that marriage exists to encourage procreation in their opposition.  Now a group of gay marriage supporters has upped the ante:

A group of gay-marriage supporters could begin collecting signatures today for a November ballot initiative that would limit marriage in Washington to couples willing and able to have children.

The measure would also dissolve the union of those who remain childless three years after marrying.

…

Gregory Gadow, of the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance, said the group hopes to make a point by parodying a state Supreme Court ruling last year that denied gays the right to marry because, among other reasons, such unions don’t further the purpose of procreation.

…

Gadow said his alliance — whose name itself is part of the parody, forming the acronym DOMA — is a loosely organized group of 15 or so friends. While they will work to get Initiative 957 on the ballot and passed in November, Gadow said he doesn’t really want to see it enacted — and would expect the Supreme Court ultimately to strike it down as unconstitutional.

…

And that’s the point, he said. By striking down I-957, he believes the court would be forced to confront its decision in the gay-marriage case.

“We want people to think about the purpose of marriage,” he said. “If it exists for the purpose of procreation, they must understand then that these are the consequences.”

So far the initiative doesn’t appear to be gathering much support:

Other gay-rights groups don’t appear too eager to back the proposal, either.

Longtime gay-rights activist Bill Dubay said that while he gets the point of the initiative, it is unlikely he’d sign it.

“I don’t think anybody in the gay community wants to take someone else’s rights away,” he said. “We just want to gain the rights that everybody else has.”

The gay-rights organization Equal Rights Washington also won’t endorse it, pointing out that families come in all forms, some of which don’t include children. State laws, it said, should help — not hurt — families.

I don’t really understand the gay marriage debate, both sides seem to go out of their way to alienate people. 

Gay Marriage activists obviously know they are playing with an emotionally loaded concept by insisting on “gay marriage” instead of pushing for civil unions with the same legal rights and protections.  They are challenging an institution that has existed for thousands of years and is deeply ingrained in our culture.  They shouldn’t be surprised by the resistance they are meeting. 

Politicians on the other hand exacerbate the situation by passing stupid laws like the Defense of Marriage Act instead of simply making marriages civil unions with the same rights, responsibilities and protections and leaving marriage as a recognized but legally meaningless term. 

That said I do find this iniative pretty funny and I can’t wait to sign the petition.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 6th, 2007 at 5:21 am by Chad and is filed under Funny ... to us, Brilliant, but uncategorizable. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.