Prayer Day Brings Bigots Back To Capitol
When I woke up this morning, MPR was talking about National Prayer Day, so I knew there would be the usual unconstitutional ritual on the Capitol lawn. I brought an appropriate banner for the day. It quotes the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States which reads, "CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION." It doesn't say "A" religion, just "religion," meaning religion in general. So, I was holding that banner up at the entrance to the House and a Rep. came up to me and said, "I like your sign better than theirs." I thanked her and looked around seeing only disability funding advocates. So, I thought wow, what has she got against the disabled? Then later I noticed anti-gay marriage protesters standing right next to me. It's tough to get old.
Well, I switched signs then to, "LEGAL MARRIAGE FOR GAY COUPLES NOW" to make the distiction clear between messages. The bigots came late so nearly everyone was inside when they got there and the doors closed.
The pages I had addressed earlier in the week were gathered around the bigots to hear their rant, in the interest of education. Some of the pages came over after a while to tell me what the others were saying. One of the pages must have been getting into it with the bigots because Steve, the page director, had to drag him away by the arm. Later, the young man came back to tell me the bigots said that if we get gay marriage, their anti gay speech will be criminalized. Wouldn't that be nice. I told him, "The First Amendment protects their hate speech and they will be able to show up at the Capitol like they're doing today until hell freezes over. However, it may become socially unacceptible to speak disrepectfully about gays just the way it has become unacceptible to speak disrepectfully about black people and women. That's what they're afraid of." If that's their defense, that, boohoo, they will no longer feel comfortable pubicly advocating for our elimination, we've won.
They were still there when I left for coffee, which is where I am now. I'm headed back to do the Senate at 11:30. Not looking forward to this. I'm sure the nuts will be there in force praying for me to die.
Well, I switched signs then to, "LEGAL MARRIAGE FOR GAY COUPLES NOW" to make the distiction clear between messages. The bigots came late so nearly everyone was inside when they got there and the doors closed.
The pages I had addressed earlier in the week were gathered around the bigots to hear their rant, in the interest of education. Some of the pages came over after a while to tell me what the others were saying. One of the pages must have been getting into it with the bigots because Steve, the page director, had to drag him away by the arm. Later, the young man came back to tell me the bigots said that if we get gay marriage, their anti gay speech will be criminalized. Wouldn't that be nice. I told him, "The First Amendment protects their hate speech and they will be able to show up at the Capitol like they're doing today until hell freezes over. However, it may become socially unacceptible to speak disrepectfully about gays just the way it has become unacceptible to speak disrepectfully about black people and women. That's what they're afraid of." If that's their defense, that, boohoo, they will no longer feel comfortable pubicly advocating for our elimination, we've won.
They were still there when I left for coffee, which is where I am now. I'm headed back to do the Senate at 11:30. Not looking forward to this. I'm sure the nuts will be there in force praying for me to die.
posted by Doug @ 10:17 AM
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