On North Carolina and President Obama

This week in politics has, in many ways, been like non other in recent memories. For starters, North Carolina joined the party of every other Southern state that banned gay marriage. They went a little bit further than some of their Southern counterparts by also banning civil unions and any and all legal contract that could be construed as marriage. To add fuel to the fire, President Obama finally came out and said that he supports gay marriage. Not only did he say "I am not opposed" but he used the term affirm, which in my mind is a pretty strong endorsement that he felt this way for quite some time.

As per usual, al.com, our state's premier online news source (I say this with sarcasm, mostly), was flooded with bigoted and hateful comments about not only how people shouldn't vote for Obama in the fall because of his belief, but also some went so far as to even call the president a fag himself. If you spend even a millisecond scanning the rest of them someone brings up racism, slavery, reproductive rights, and a whole gamut of issues that will never be settled, especially on the pages of a message board.

What makes me especially angry is that so much effort has been thrown into this argument about the "sanctity of marriage," yet we have an incredibly high divorce rate. Furthermore, the group that talks about wanting to leave government out of our private lives is (in general) the same group of people who jump on the anti-gay marriage bandwagon. The last time I checked, the relationship you share with your partner is about the most private and personal relationship a person can have.

While I understand that states want to have say in the issue because "marriage" for them is for all intents and purposes a legal contract that provides them tax revenue as well as a guidelines for how to view property. But in all honest, why not support civil unions? What harm does it bring? A gay couple marrying has no effect on your own ability or desire to get married, be married, or stay married.

I really hope that I get to see the day when people in the LGBT community get what they deserve - equality. Because frankly, it's long overdue.

*Update*

Also, I found this. It's a little sarcastic and has some language, but it makes a point....