Fwd: [WCD] Marriage: Gays aren't the enemy
James Nimmo
Dalla...@aol.com wrote:From: Dalla...@aol.com
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 09:14:33 EDT
Subject: [WCD] Marriage: Gays aren't the enemy
To: women-cli...@barf.org
Jul. 25, 2003
Marriage: Gays aren't the enemy
By Tonya Jameson
KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
John Reyes calls abortion murder, Islam a lie, homosexuality a sin and marriage a covenant between man and woman. I call abortion humane, Islam a religion, homosexuality a gift and marriage a covenant between two loving people.
But I like Reyes. We agree on two things: Thrift stores have the best shirts and Hollywood mocks marriage.
Reyes, 31, was one of more than 100 fervent Operation Save America participants who prayed outside a gay church and a mosque in Charlotte, N.C., and railed against abortion. Their weeklong demonstration hit Charlotte less than three weeks after the Supreme Court decriminalized gay sex and the same week the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court delayed a ruling on same-sex marriages.
The Supreme Court decision and a recent Canadian court's ruling that legalizes same-sex unions has reignited debate over gay marriage, which had been relatively dormant since the mid '90s. In 1996, a judge in Hawaii ordered the state to stop denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The ruling sparked an avalanche of same-sex bans. Thirty-seven states, including the Carolinas, and Congress restrict marriages to man and woman, and bar recognition of same-sex marriages by other states.
Now, Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and others are using the tired argument that same-sex marriages undermine heterosexual marriages. He would support a constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriages. Frist, Reyes and groups such as Alliance for Marriage ought to focus on the real threat to marriage - Hollywood and heterosexuals.
Television inundates us with programs such as "Divorce Court" and "Joe Millionaire," which portray marriage as a covenant of convenience, not commitment. On top of that, the celebrities we admire change spouses faster than they change hairstyles.
We live in a country where four out of every 1,000 people are divorced, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. That's double the rate it was 60 years ago. And these are straight couples.
That brings me back to John Reyes, director of Operation Save America in Dallas. He and the other participants distribute brochures, blare Christian songs, pray and display pictures of bloody, aborted fetuses to turn people away from what they call sins.
They definitely don't support gay marriage.
"Homosexuality is a sin, no matter how many people put a ring on a finger," Reyes said.
Many passersby glared, mumbled curse words or ignored the group during Monday's rally. Members of a predominantly gay church offered the protesters doughnuts. If OSA really wants to save this country and protect marriage, the group would focus on challenging Hollywood to stop treating matrimony like it's a game.
The entertainment industry influences young people more than any Bible-quoting disciple. On "Divorce Court" we get to see a man tell a wisecracking judge that he was unfaithful because his wife wasn't freaky enough in bed. When we're not laughing at the disintegration of marriages, we watch golddiggers compete on "Joe Millionaire" and "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?"
"Who Wants to Marry My Dad?" and "Married by America" teach young people, some of whom have divorced parents, that marriage is based on money, looks and popularity, but rarely love.
Reyes agreed. "The reality shows twist everything. It shows how wicked we are as a people."
He should join me in asking Fox networks, which gave us "Joe Millionaire," to base a reality TV show on a committed gay couple. That would provide positive role models for young gays, lesbians and straights. I could hook Fox up with some of my friends.
Tonya Jameson is a columnist for the Charlotte Observer. Contact her at tjam...@charlotteobserver.com.
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