OK, this posting is going to piss off some conservatives, but too bad. Right is right and wrong is wrong. And, it is wrong to seek a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. I am not even going to approach the argument as to whether or not such a thing, in and of itself, may or may not be wrong. That is not what this post is about. What I'm talking about is the Constitution. Let me explain...
Several years ago, when my son was in middle school, he was learning about the Constitution and, I could see, having some problems. I decided to ask him some questions to see what he had learned. The first one I asked was "Well, tell me, what do you think the Constitution is?" He readily answered, "It's the document that gives us our freedom." This was the problem he was having. It wasn't that he didn't understand the Constitution. He didn't even know what it was! Unfortunately, it's a common problem shared by many people.
So, I answered my son by saying "No, freedom is our birthright. The Constitution is the document that protects our freedom by strictly defining and limiting the powers of government." It's an important distinction and one that should never be forgotten. The purpose of the Constitution is to protect the citizens of our nation from government intruding on our lives, liberties and our pursuit of happiness. This doesn't mean that people can just do whatever they want; that would be anarchy. Civilization requires rules.
So, to my point, I am strictly opposed to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage because it's not the purpose of the Constitution to regulate people's behavior. That is what laws are for. The Constitution is for regulating the government's behavior. We misuse the Constitution and risk setting a very dangerous precedence when we propose to turn the Constitution against the very people it was designed to protect.
