Rules, Laws, the Constitution, and Contracts are Null and Void (if the Bible Says So)

One of my pet peeves (other than people who use the phrase, ‘pet peeve’) is the inability of the religious right to understand America.  We are, without any doubt, a secular country.   We are not a Christian nation.  Yet every argument against equal rights for Americans who are homosexual comes from a couple of verses taken out of context from the Bible.  The religious right wants to deny human rights to homosexuals (and expects them to be happy that they aren’t being stoned to death).   And the religious right thinks that rules, laws, the Constitution, and contracts can be ignored anytime it interferes with the bigotry of bromze age mythology.

I don’t want to get repetitive, but this is getting ridiculous! 

First up (From 365 Gay (via  Greg Laden’s Blog)), the state of Louisiana (big surprise, I know) has decided that adoptions decrees from other states are may not be legal.  A man from New York  “. . .  attempted to get a new birth certificate for their child, in part so he could add his son to his health insurance, the office of Louisiana State Registrar Darlene Smith told him that Louisiana does not recognize adoption by unmarried parents and so could not issue it.”

Lambda Legal filed suit and, citing the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution, “U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey in New Orleans ordered the state Office of Vital Records to put the names of both fathers on the amended birth certificate.”  So, of course, “a bill has been hastily filed in the state legislature that would make it illegal to revise birth certificates for people who would not qualify as adoptive parents in Louisiana. That would include gay couples.”  (emphasis mine) 

Screw the Constitution.  The Bible says gays are bad, so we must deny them human rights.

Also from 365 Gay  (and also via Greg Laden’s Blog):  House Judiciary Chairwoman Carrie Webster and Delegate Barbara Fleischauer say they are on the receiving end of a telemarketing campaign by the Family Policy Council of West Virginia.  Why are they threatening two lawmakers? 

People in the two lawmakers’ districts have been receiving calls saying that Webster and Fleischauer are blocking a ban on gay marriage, according to The Charleston Gazette.

The calls tell voters to send a message to the two politicians, and if the recipients choose, they are then patched through to Webster’s or Fleischauer’s office.

Family Policy Council President Jeremiah Dys confirmed his group had hired a firm to make the calls “as part of our educational effort.”

Somehow, anytime ‘policy’ and ‘family’ show up on a groups letterhead, I get worried.  And asking people to “send a message” to the lawmakers?

 Webster said callers are trying to “intimidate” her and Fleischauer.

“They call my staff idiots. They call my staff God-haters,” she told the paper. “I believe people should be able to exercise their free speech, but I do think it’s a manipulation.”

Gee.  What a surprise.  Pro-human rights means hating god(s).  Once again, the religious right cannot differentiate between bronze-age mythology and a modern secular democracy.  Screw the legislative process; the Bible says gays are bad, so anyone who wants gays to have human rights is evil and intimidation is a fair tactic.

And, from Dispatches from the Culture Wars (just to show that I do read other blogs than Greg Laden’s), another visitation rights case, from Florida, involving a lesbian.  (This quote is from World Nut Daily (but I am not linking to it (if you want to go there, Ed has the link))).

Lara Embry and her former lesbian partner, Kimberly Ryan, began a relationship while they lived in Seattle, Wash., and registered as domestic partners. Ryan had a daughter through artificial insemination on Feb. 21, 2000. A Washington court allowed Embry to adopt the baby and listed her as a second parent.

The couple moved to Sarasota, Fla., in August of 2001. Embry conceived her own daughter through artificial insemination and gave birth on Oct. 2, 2001.

Both women and their daughters moved back to Seattle so Embry could finish her doctoral studies at the University of Washington. While they lived in Seattle, Ryan became listed as a second parent to Embry’s child.

The lesbian couple returned to Sarasota in August 2002 and ended their relationship just two years later.

They informally rotated custody and visitation arrangements for two years following their break-up.

Ryan left her homosexual lifestyle, became a Christian and is engaged to marry a man. She grew concerned that the visits were not good for her 9-year-old daughter and discontinued the plans with Embry.

Embry demanded that a Florida court enforce the Washington adoption decree and allow her to continue visiting Ryan’s daughter.

The newly born-again ex-lesbian (or bi-sexual) has decided that homosexuality is evil (well, the Bible says it is) and, via religiously-based bigotry, wants all the legal documents to disappear.   Once again, being religious means laws do not apply.

Screw the law and the documents she signed;  the Bible says gays are bad, so laws and contracts don’t apply.

Every single one of these cases is based upon bigotry created by Biblical literalism and conservative politics.  Feeding the base.  Stoking the fires of the culture wars.  Ignoring the history of America.  Ignoring the laws.  Ignoring the Constitution.  Is  it even possible for anti-gay activists to argue against human rights for citizens without citing, directly or obliquely, the Bible?