~In case you haven’t heard, Prop 8, the law banning gay marriage in California, was ruled unconstitutional this week. Approved by a slim margin in 2008, Prop 8 made gay marriage illegal only 5 months after the state began to acknowledge them. In the ruling, the court said that the ban was unconstitutional “because it singled out a minority group for disparate treatment for no compelling reason.” One judge did dissent on the grounds preventing gay marriage “could help ensure that children are raised by married, opposite-sex parents,” because in his fantasy world procreation never happens outside of marriage and half of marriages don’t end in divorce, I suppose. Gay marriages may not resume immediately, as opponents have been given time to appeal, but all in all this is excellent news.
~In response to Oklahoma’s proposed personhood amendment, Democratic Senator Constance Johnson submitted an action to amend the bill to state that “any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.” She did it as more of a satirical act than a serious attempt at an amendment; in her words:
“My amendment seeks to draw attention to the absurdity, duplicity and lack of balance inherent in the policies of this state in regard to women…[and] to draw humorous attention to the hypocrisy and inconsistency of this proposal – from the Republican perspective of down-sized government and less government intrusion into people’s private affairs.”
Joke or no, Johnson managed to succinctly point out the poor logic and inherent sexism behind personhood amendments. Good job. As a side note, another democratic Senator, Jim Wilson, proposed a more serious amendment that would have made “the father of an unborn child financially responsible for its mother’s health care, housing, transportation and nourishment while she is pregnant.” It failed, which I am totally shocked about (not really).
