In another not-slanted-at-all story, the Tribune informs us that most Pennsylvania's prefer civil unions to marriage equality. Read for yourselves.
A poll released this month by Muhlenberg College showed 61 percent of people in the state support civil unions, but 51 percent oppose gay marriage. Gay rights advocates note that support for civil unions increased 7 percentage points in the past five years, while opposition to gay marriage fell 3 points.
"It's continuing to change," said state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery County, who wrote the bill to legalize same-sex marriage. "I think same-sex marriage is an inevitability. Fifteen, 20 years from now, we'll look back and wonder why this was controversial. We'll look back on it as we do on laws banning interracial marriage."
Sen. John Eichelberger, R-Altoona, dismissed the comparison, saying same-sex marriage "doesn't have anything to do with religion or race." Eichelberger said his proposed amendment is needed because "any time we devalue marriage, we see problems."
"If we don't define marriage, we're opening that door" to legalizing polygamy and marriage to teenagers, he said. "We don't reward people for doing things that aren't beneficial. They're not penalized. You could get criminal penalties for polygamy. We don't do that to homosexual couples. They're just not recognized by the state and not given any kind of reward."
Todd DiFiores, 46, a small businessman in Mt. Washington, said he opposes all talk of gay rights.
"God made Adam. He made Eve," DiFiores said. "What these people do in their private lives I have no problem with. That's OK. I just don't want to see it displayed in public."
Can you do a marriage equality story without some reference to the Adam and Eve/Adam and Steve argument? Or a reference to polygamy? I guess we should be glad Eichelberger sidesteps the bestiality mention.
Mr. DiFiores is quite the chap, huh? He is the owner of the Grand Brew coffee house, FYI. You might not want to patronize a business that refers to our identities as "it." Starbucks doesn't do that. I'm just saying. OR you might want to intentionally patronize the business and bring your sexual orientation with you. He can't refuse you service after all thanks to the City ordinance. Maybe we should schedule some meetings there. Make it real and personal.
The article wraps up with a quote from Paster Roberta Dunn of the Metropolitan Community Church. She reminds us that the way to change hearts is to forge personal relationships and connections.
"I think the most important learning we do is the personal. It's personal experience that helps us to learn not to discriminate against others."
This is consistent with the advice our leaders are providing. We need to come out to new people in our lives. We need to make our lives personal to our elected leaders so they have real people to associate with their votes on LGBTQ issues. On LGBTQ lives.
