Gay marriage causes harm…how?

I heard today that Florida  is up to her tricks again and just can’t quite figure out how to looking intelligent, sane or compassionate in the 21st century (bless her heart).

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – The attorney general of Florida says in court documents that recognizing same sex marriages performed in other states would “impose significant public harm.”

Eight gay couples and the American Civil Liberties Union have sued the state in federal court. The lawsuit argues Florida is discriminating against the couples by not recognizing same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has filed a response that asks a federal judge to throw out the lawsuit.

Bondi’s office says the state has a legitimate interest in defining a marriage as between a man and woman because Florida’s voters adopted an amendment in 2008 that banned same-sex marriages.

The filing also says same-sex marriage recognition would create significant problems for the state’s pension and health insurance programs.

© 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Now I am not the sharpest lesbian on the planet, nor am I the absolute thickest, but I sincerely do not understand, not even a teeny weeny bit, how the marriage of any two people can in any way cause “significant harm to the public.”

Is it the insane amount of money spent on the wedding?  Is it the striving to live the “American dream” of having it all that plummets us into debilitating debt? Or could it be the arguments over finances and filiality?  Oh wait, is it the arguments over who as to take out the garbage or walk the dogs tonight? NO – it must be the rushing out the door to get the kids to school on time  (with all permission slips signed, half-ass science projects done and the class pet not entirely dead yet) without stopping to kiss one another goodbye!   Oh, maybe it is exhaustion over the arduous covenant to hang in there even when both partners are too distracted by caring for our dying parents, working 80 hours a week to make a living, going to church, volunteering, doing yard work, homework and self-realization work that our romantic life stalls out in the desert?  You’re right, these must be the things that gay marriage (I like to call it marriage) will do to cause significant harm to the public cuz it sure as shootin’ has taken a toll on my well being.

As far as I can tell (by simply taking a long hard look left and right out of my inner city  window) that there are far greater causes of significant public harm out there than a couple of hot dykey-dykes getting their wedding cake on.

Shall we list a just few?

Hunger

In the United States, 14.5 percent of households struggle to put food on the table.

More than one in four American children are at risk of hunger. More than one in five children live in households that struggle to put food on the table. ~ Bread for the World

Poverty

• Fifty million Americans living below the government-defined poverty line.

• More than forty million Americans reliant on food stamps to avoid going hungry.

• Fourteen million-plus Americans unemployed, and millions more either underemployed or so despondent about their job prospects that they have stopped looking for work.

• Three million homes foreclosed since 2006, with forecasters predicting another three million will be repossessed in the years to come.

• Fifty million Americans without any form of health insurance, at permanent risk of financial annihilation should they fall sick.  ~ Voices of Poverty

Gun Violence

• One in three people in the U.S. know someone who has been shot.1
• On average, 32 Americans are murdered with guns every day and 140 are treated for a gun assault in an emergency room.2
• Every day on average, 51 people kill themselves with a firearm, and 45 people are shot or killed in an accident with a gun.3
• The U.S. firearm homicide rate is 20 times higher than the combined rates of 22 countries that are our peers in wealth and population.4
• A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used to kill or injure in a domestic homicide, suicide, or unintentional shooting than to be used in self-defense.5 ~ The Brady Campaign

Domestic Violence

• An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year. 
• 85% of domestic violence victims are women.
• Females who are 20-24 years of age are at the greatest risk of nonfatal intimate partner violence.
• Most cases of domestic violence are never reported to the police.
• Witnessing violence between one’s parents or caretakers is the strongest risk factor of transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next.
• Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults.
• 30% to 60% of perpetrators of intimate partner violence also abuse children in the household. ~ Faith Trust Institute

For the love of God, can the willfully ignorant, power hungry politicians who would rather rally the freaked-out heteronormative  masses around fear and loathing than actually do any work to bend the arc of the universe toward justice puhleeze get the hell out of my bedroom and wedding reception.  Your patronizing, narcissistic politics dodging the real and hard issues that threaten the beautiful and broken people who make up our society are what pose a real and significant harm to the public

Or more eloquently – “We have arrived upon another moment in history when ‘We the People’ becomes more inclusive, and our freedom more perfect.” That’s what she said!

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Y’all wanna take action? Florida Equality has some good ideas. 

TWITTER: Send AG Pam Bondi a twitter message now telling her to let us have our day in court!

.@AGPamBondi, let us have our day in court! Our families deserve the freedom to marry and the right to express their love and commitment!

.@AGPamBondi, “public harm” is denying all Floridians the opportunity to marry their loved ones! #LGBTSouth #FreedomToMarry

EMAIL: Send an email to the Attorney General today and let her know she needs to stop defending the indefensible. Click here to send an email.

CALL: Call Attorney General Pam Bondi and tell her to let us have our day in court – 1-866-966-7226.