Politicians are Gay?

On our most recent trip to Disneyland, my mother-in-law asked Skyler to get her a new antenna ball. This is something Skyler has done for a few years now. Here is the one Skyler picked out this time:
What did you think of when you first saw it? Some people immediately associate this with homosexuals. According to wikipedia the rainbow, specifically rainbow flags, became a symbol of gay pride in the late 70's. Apparently, this must mean that my mother-in-law will be showing her gay pride by displaying the antenna ball. Maybe she has some gay pride that I don't know about, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't. Which makes me wonder why the gay people were able to lay claim to the rainbow. I personally enjoy rainbows, but displaying one shouldn't automatically make me gay.

This brings me to a larger issue that has been brought to light recently. Same-sex marriage is currently legal in the State of California. How is this possible? Didn't the California voters vote in favor of Prop 22 (which states "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California") in 2000? Yes, that is what the voters decided. And, that was the law up until this month. Essentially, 4 people decided that the majority was incapable of deciding what we want. In a California Supreme Court ruling(in a 4-3 decision), Prop 22 was ruled unconstitutional. So, it only took 1 Supreme Court Justice to overrule what California voters want in their constitution. Does that sound flawed to anyone else? Here is the beauty of all of this; on November 4, 2008 California voters will get the chance to vote on adding the following amendment to the state's constitution, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Does that sound familiar? It should, because it is exactly what Prop 22 was. Are we going to vote on this issue every eight years?

Here is my opinion about all of this. I believe that homosexuality is a choice. I believe that acting on homosexual desires is a sin. There are numerous items I could address to support this point(i.e. The fact that it is impossible for same-sex couples to reproduce, Adam and Eve, etc.), but I am sure most everyone has heard the arguments before. However, I respect people's agency to chose how they live their lives. If you want to be gay, that is your decision. What I don't respect is when peoples' decisions affect me. How is this affecting me? First of all it is going to affect my taxes. You benefit from being able to file jointly as opposed to filing as single. If the state is getting less taxes from people's income as the taxes are set currently, what is bound to happen? Taxes are going to be raised, because if there is one thing for sure it is that the government is always going to get its money. So, even though I don't support same-sex marriage I still will have to pay more because of it.

That isn't even the real issue that bothers me. What bothers me is the fact that we have a good system of government in place that is being destroyed by corrupt politicians. This is a perfect case. Prop 22 was challenged by the Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom. After listening to an address by President Bush supporting an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage, he made it a point to defy the current law and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. What was his punishment for openly defying the law? Nothing. Eventually the Supreme Court of California voided the licenses, but nothing was ever done to the Mayor. This happens time and time again, where our politicians can show blatant disregard for the laws they are supposed to be upholding. It is understandable that the Mayor of San Francisco would have motives for doing what he did. He was easily re-elected in his next term. But it bothers me that our society voted on what we believe to be morally correct, and then one person was able to start the process of nullifying our votes. At least this one person was a good judge of morals (typed sarcastically). Unfortunately, this is not the case. Mayor Newsom thought that it would be O.K. to have an affair with the wife of his campaign manager. Politicians sure do seem to have enough time to fit affairs in their schedules. Perhaps it would be better to focus more time on dealing with our energy problems and less time diddling somebody else's spouse. I'm just saying.

(p.s. My T-shirt idea: "I'm not gay, I just really like rainbows.")