The idea of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage has been bantered around a lot recently. Here in Colorado, we are hearing it locally (from congresswoman Musgrave) and national (from President Bush). I am constantly amazed at the amount of people who think that adding discrimination to our Constitution is a good thing.
I am also saddened to see that we, as a nation, continue to make the same mistakes. 91 years ago, congress tried to pass The Anti-Miscegenation Amendment, which would’ve made inter-racial marriage illegal. “‘In December of 1912, an amendment to the Constitution was introduced to abolish racial intermarriage: Intermarriage between negros or persons of color and Caucasians … within the United States … is forever prohibited.'”
Of course, those in favor of the contitutional amendment swear that this isn’t the same thing. The say they are not prejudiced against any group of people, but are just trying to defend the “sanctity” of marriage. Just as people back in 1912 swore that they weren’t trying to discriminate against blacks, but were just trying to make sure that marriage remained “natural.”
Whatever the arguments made to defend it, the fact remains that this proposal is – at its core – discriminatory against a group of people. Our country is supposed to be above this. We as an enlightened society are supposed to be above this. Yet we stick to discrimnating against each other, we stick to repeating past mistakes.