Politicians, please PRIORITIZE!

The State of Idaho is one of many who keep trying to make it illegal for same-sex marriage. My friend Julie at Red State Rebels provided an update about current activities at the state level as well as an address to send letters. This is just MY opinion but I wanted to share. It is important that we protect the freedoms for ALL, because some day "them" may be "us".

If you wish to send your own letter, go to Red State Rebels and see what the "latest" info is, or just e-mail the committee (AND your own reps).

To: HSTA@house.idaho.gov
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 10:08 AM
Subject: Marriage definitions etc.
To Whom It May Concern:

I would really like to know why our government officials are spending so much time, energy, and money on attempting to prevent marriages between gays and lesbians.

Is this REALLY a threat to our morals and sensibilities? Is this the BIGGEST threat to Idaho families and children? To have two adults allowed to officially declare their commitment to each other?

If this is a religious issue (you know, because you think God won't approve or the Bible says "no" or something), then leave it up to the churches to make their own decisions. That is not the business of our government--let churches reinforce God's instructions. Or are you planning on following through on many of the other biblical instructions as well? Because I know quite a few people who have committed adultery, if you want to start throwing them in jail or something.

If this is not a religious issue, then what is it? It cannot be because you truly believe that Idahoans cannot handle the concept of two men or two women being married to each other, could it? We seem to be able to handle "dial 1-800 to flirt" commercials, sexual and pornographic magazines, etc. Please, if you really want to protect Idahoans from "filth", eliminate all of the sexual entertainment/advertisements/etc. which advertise and sell sex without love or commitment before you start attacking adult Idahoans who wish to declare their love and commitment to each other. I find it much more offensive to have "Girls Gone Wild" commercials thrust at me in my home than I would if the two men living next door to me were married.

Actually, I would prefer more adults start celebrating and valuing love and commitment. I think that it would be awesome if Idaho could stand up and say "As Idahoans, we celebrate individuals who honor their commitments and promises." It seems that society is so full of people who steal, cheat, lie, and take advantage of their positions, that it is asinine that our government would spend so much time and energy to prevent a segment of our population making their own commitments to another human being.

Speaking of love and commitment... two same sex adult partners getting married is not a threat to our family lifestyles in Idaho. It's the unbelievable amount of single parents usually women) in Idaho. It's the noncustodial parents who are not paying their child support. It is the struggle to jump through the hoops for what assistance IS available for our working poor and then to find out that your income is $48 over the limit and you aren't qualified after all. It is the poor families who have to live in substandard housing because Idaho does not enforce its own State Codes. We may have low unemployment rates here in Idaho but that says more about the qualities of hardworking Idahoans than it does about the quality of jobs available. People are working for low wages, no benefits, more than one part time job, and they still can't make ends meet. How can same-sex marriage be more offensive than the knowledge that CEO annual incomes have gone up 1000% in the past 20 years? If minimum wage increased at the same rate as CEO incomes, it would be $23/hour! Now THAT should be something to spend your attention on!!!

So why are you spending so much time about this marriage thing? As public servants for the people of Idaho, are you really acting in the best interest of the citizens? Do you not have other areas of concern that could benefit from your time and energy and our money? Please focus our resources on solving problems like teacher's pay, senior citizens in poverty, the war on drugs, health care, employers who pay living wages, water issues, handling the state's population increase in the schools/roads/etc..

When you have all that taken care of and you have extra time and energy, then you can go back to trying to prevent gays and lesbians from legally and officially making lifelong commitments together, if you still really think that is important. Personally, I think that people are just having knee-jerk reactions to loud vocal Christian Conservative agendas.


P.S. If you REALLY want to govern in a Christian manner (again, I'm assuming that the bias against same-sex marriage is based on religious aspects), may I recommend the guidelines from the National Council of Churches (USA)?