Ms Perkin’s Kickers are in a Bunch over Kentucky

This entry is part 14 of 35 in the series Gay Marriage

Tony Perkins (who has often been a speaker at white supremacist meetings) of the Family Research Council (FRC-which got it’s start with a KKK mailing list, and is an SPLC designated hate group), is upset that a judge in Kentucky has apparently that the equal protection clause of the Constitution really does apply in Kentucky, and actually even requires that LGBT people be included in those protections. Oh, and once you meet Ms Perkins, you’ll know why I am prone to refer to him in the feminine.

Here’s what he had to say today after Judge John G. Heyburn said that Kentucky’s Constitutional ban prohibiting recognition of same-sex marriages that might be performed in other states where legal, was unconstitutional:

“This ruling is another example of the deep betrayal of a judicial system infected with activist judges who are legislating from the bench. If these judges want to change duly enacted laws passed by the people and their representatives, they should resign their life-time appointments to the bench and run for the state legislature or Congress. Judge Heyburn is elevating his own ideology over that of three-quarters of Kentucky voters who voted to preserve marriage in their constitution as it has always been defined. This ruling comes at a time when the consequences of marriage redefinition are mounting. Increasingly, Americans are being forced to finance and celebrate unions that not only step on free speech and religious liberty but also deny children a mom and a dad. Rather than live-and-let-live, this court by redefining marriage will create a level of inequality that has never been seen in our country as people are forced to suppress or violate the basic teachings of their faith.”

Let’s take the old girl’s statement apart just a little, shall we:

1. First, we should be clear that Judge Heburn was appointed by George H.W. Bush on the recommendation of Kentucky Republican Senator, Mitch McConnell.
2. It doesn’t matter if 100% of Kentuckians voted to write discrimination into their Constitution, in this republic, the federal Constitution trumps it, and the U.S. Constitution says that everyone gets treated equally under the law.
3. Marriage has not always been defined in the way Ms Perkins would have you believe. For centuries, polygamist marriages were fine, often expected, women were chattel, and there’s a Biblical requirement that brothers must marry their sister-in-laws should his brother die before fathering a child. So really, just get over that whole “traditional definition of marriage” thing.
4. When are Americans being “forced to finance” gay weddings? Boy if that’s true, me and Lay want our free wedding. We’ll take one in Hawaii please.
5. No one is being forced to celebrate gay marriages either. Just as they always have, churches and clergy people can refuse to do any wedding they want, be it for gay people, divorced people, non-Christian, you name it. I know where he’s going though. This about their latest complaint that bakers have to bake cakes for whoever walks in the door and asks for one, but those non-discrimination laws have been on the books for years. If you open your business to the public, in America, that means all the public.
6. Let’s just get the “free speech; religious liberty; inequality; and people forced to suppress or violate the basic teachings of their faith.” crap out-of-the-way at once, because they’re all basically the same thing. (KKK Member Perkins likes to use a lot of words.) Anyone and everyone can still say what they want, and they can still worship the same god they choose, in the way the choose. If you hate gay people today, and want to go to a church that preaches that hate and intolerance, you’ll still get to hate gay people tomorrow, and go to your church Sunday morning. If you’re a decent human being, just like you wouldn’t use the “N” word in polite company, you’ll suppress your urge to use the “F” word, or call someone a homo, but you’re still free to do that (just ask a Director at the company I work for).
7. Gay marriage does not deny children a mom and a dad. So far, both sexes are still required for that, but marriage is not required for that, and we don’t require married people to have children. Yes, sometimes LGBT people adopt children, but those children, by reason of being available for adoption, have neither parent, or unfit parents. All the credible science says that children indeed do better with two parents (having helped raise a bunch of nieces and nephews, I can see why two adults are better than one), but the outcomes are the same whether the two parents are women, men or both.

But his biggest statement of bullshit is his complaint, this man who makes a good living working to deny the equal rights of LGBT people in the name of Christianity, is his complaint that Judge Heyburn won’t allow HIM to just “live-and-let-live.” Holy crap! How can a guy who has said the truly awful things he’s said about gay people have an ounce of moral authority to make that argument? Tony, Ms Perkins, girlfriend…if you want us to all to just “live-and-let-live” you would STFU and crawl back under the rock from which you came.