Special Rights?

I speak out quite a bit on the subject of same-sex marriage and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) rights.  I speak out because I feel very strongly that individuals and/or groups of people shouldn’t be discriminated against.  You don’t have to be gay to fight for gay rights any more than you would have had to be a woman to fight for women’s suffrage or an African-American to stand for racial equality.  You merely have to recognize that there’s a very outspoken and powerful movement among Conservative Christians and homophobes in this country who wish to ensure that LGBT people are kept in closets.  These are the same detestable people who got all up-in-arms about the repeal of Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell (never mind that regardless of whether people were asking/telling, there were still homosexuals serving in the military all along).

I saw a video a little while back of Michelle Bachmann (the horrid bitch) fielding a question from a high school student about gay marriage.  For your viewing (dis)pleasure:

[youtube_sc url=”RenwNhL1Te0″ title=”Student challenges Bachmann on marriage” width=”420″ height=”315″]In the video, Bachmann explains that she wouldn’t extend “special rights” to same-sex couples in allowing them to marry if she were President.  I’m scratching my head trying to figure out how marriage would be a “special right.”  Going one step further into her stupidity, she states, “homosexuals CAN get married; they can marry people of the opposite sex!”  I wonder if Bachmann would have said the same thing about mixed race couples before 1967.  But then, I’m pretty sure she would have.  She’s classy like that.

The student in the video asks Bachmann whether only allowing heterosexual couples to get married represents privilege, or “special rights,” to the heterosexuals.  Bachmann falls back on an ignorant argument: “That’s just what the laws are, and you have to abide by the laws.”  She apparently doesn’t remember that had she been alive before 1919 she wouldn’t have been able to vote, let alone run for President!  She can conveniently forget that because it doesn’t affect her as a 21st-century white, wealthy, Christian, Republican, heterosexual female.  She can forget that because she’s in the majority and privilege, to her, is the same as status quo.  She’s forgotten the meaning of the word “privilege” because it benefits her.

The LGBT community must be protected!  Whether it’s about marriage, bullying, or hate crimes there’s a very real threat to people who don’t identify as heterosexual.  If history has shown us anything, it’s that our laws must be progressive and we can’t cling to outdated modes of thinking when it comes to the citizens of this country.  History also shows us that no change comes easy.  Regardless of how you identify, you are human, first and foremost.  This is what I try to get across to those who would oppress groups of people based on their gender, religion, or sexual orientation because they can dehumanize their victims and view them simply as aberrations.  I won’t stand for it.

I’m sickened by the people in this country who align themselves with bigoted retards like Michelle Bachmann and the rest of the Republican candidates who want nothing more than to turn this country into a Jesus-worshiping, monochromatic theocracy.  As long as the LGBT community is persecuted I’ll speak out on their side.  And as long as their persecutors run for office, I’ll vote against them.  I hope you’ll do the same this election.  It would be better to write your own name on the ballot than to vote Republican.  Hell, write my name on the ballot!  I don’t want to be President but I’m a damn sight better than these clowns (yeah, even Ron Paul).

My $0.02.