Syndicated Colum 2-27-04
Now is time to remember the Golden Rule
by Alan Chartock


I am totally perplexed about the debate over gay marriage. To me, it is a no-brainer. People are who they are. They should be allowed to do what they want as long as their doing so doesn't hurt anyone else. People are born with their own genetic patterns. Some are attracted to men, others to women. Why anyone would want to hurt those who want to express love and commitment to another human being is way beyond reason, unless you accept the premise that wars and chaos are almost always based on hate and fear because "they are different than I am. Get them."
We live in a world that needs more understanding and more love. The expression of love and commitment needs to be expanded, not diluted. Toward that end, the highest court in Massachusetts has ruled that nothing less than gay marriage - not civil union, not a civil rights bill - will do. In fact, the United States Constitution is very clear on this point. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution explicitly states that we are all entitled to the "equal protection" of the law. I am a heterosexual. My children are heterosexual but there isn't a day I don't think that by a shift of a little genetic material, things could have been different. Each of us should project ourselves into the plight of those who are denied this most basic of rights. I suspect that the judges on the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts will pass on, knowing they did something in their lives that really changed the fundamental way in which people, all people, are treated.
This is a country with 50 states. One of them is Massachusetts. Another is New York. The Constitution demands that each state recognize the laws of each other state. Governors and politicians of all stripes who want to hold on to their jobs are now shivering in their shoes. Some of them, along with an unethical and pathetic president of the United States, are running toward state and federal Constitutional amendments that would define marriage as the union between a man and a woman. That's because it won't be all that long before some of the folks married in Massachusetts will come to New York and demand that the state recognize their union.
I have nothing but contempt for politicians who would seek to achieve electoral success by pitting one group against another. Fanning the flames of hate is nothing less than contemptible. In the zealotry of their bigoted position, some states will pass amendments that will put a stop to gay marriage. New York will not be one of them. There are good and bad political reasons for this. Gay marriage is a salient issue to people in the gay community who are discriminated against. Woe be the legislator who alienates a huge part of the New York population that will cast their votes solely on this issue. In many cases, if you lose 10 percent of the vote you are out of office. Don't think for a second that Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, both decent and responsible men, are not aware of the clout gay voters wield in this state. They are not going to endanger their majorities. All they have to do is to sit there and do what my eighth-grade West Side math teacher used to tell me to do: "Keep shut" and they will be OK for now.
Nevertheless, now that the dam has broken, the gay community will properly begin to campaign for the right to marry in New York. They will not be stopped any more than those involved in the epic civil rights struggle in this country were stopped. Years from now, we will look back and wonder what the fuss was all about. Those who inflamed mob passions based on differences will hide the way the bigots of the civil rights fight hid. I started this column suggesting that this is a no-brainer. For all people of decency who care about their fellow human beings it is as easy as remembering the Golden Rule about doing unto others. This is a time when people who care about justice and decency must stand up and be counted.




- posted by Alan @ 2/27/2004 02:15:00 PM