Fair and respectful.

Discussing current news this morning on the way to the dog park, my husband shared his fairly intense and out of character anger at the flip-flopping of Sen. Rob Portman in his support of gay marriage. An interesting conversation. I share his outrage. 

That outrage is at this clear example of a politician who is not representing his constituency, but rather simply furthering his own personal biases. His constituency, from what I've read, has been strongly against DOMA-like legislation for some time, and FOR fair and equal union rights for gay couples. 

Does he listen to them, and vote for them? Does he do his f'ing JOB? No, he continues to vote his own personal bias. 

UNTIL the issue actually hits home and then suddenly, oh, he gets it! His son comes out and he suddently realizes, oh, wait, gays are people, too! 

From an AP story in The Province: 

"He said it prompted him to reconsider gay marriage from a different perspective, that of a father who wants all three of his children to have happy lives with people they love."  Read more

So where was this perspective when he considered his constituents and their children? Oh, wait... he didn't consider them. I'm sick and tired of the, "Well, that doesn't affect me," mentality. Especially from a leader, a representative. 

I recall when an old high school friend was spouting racially bigoted bullshit; I shut him down, and he was completely bewildered. "Why would that offend you? You aren't black!" 

(Seriously, he was that clueless. My head about exploded.) 

"I'm offended because what you said offends HUMANITY, not just people of a certain skin color!"

Portman explains, "Ultimately, for me, it came down to the Bible's overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God." Really? Really. 

I will gladly burn my "marriage certificate" in exchange for a certificate of civil union or whatever you want to call it, as long as it's equal. In this f'd up world, we need to stop fighting against people who want to JOIN TOGETHER and face the world as a team, a team of humans based in love and commitment, regardless of what form their naughty bits take. We need all the love we can get while we confront the bazillion other serious problems we have.