Are you in Houston? My Friday Soapbox

You might be interested in this if you’re in the Houston area tomorrow (Saturday, January 10):

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From IMPACT HOUSTON
Upcoming Protest
Date: Saturday, January 10, 2009
Time: 12:30pm – 2:30pm
Location: The Sidewalks of West Gray Street
Street: West Gray St., between Shepherd Dr. and Waugh Dr.
City/Town: Houston, TX

Participants will line up on the sidewalk on West Gray Street, between Shepherd Drive and Waugh Drive, starting at Shepherd. This will be a more or less silent demonstration, focused on DOMA, federal marriage rights, and same-sex marriage (or a lack thereof) in Texas.

IMPACT encourages people to make signs listing the different legal rights and responsibilities of marriage, none of which are available to same-sex couples in Texas following the 2005 passing of the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

IMPACT suggests that everyone wear black so that participants stand out and have a uniform appearance. It’s important to note that this is a peaceful protest and those participating must stay on the sidewalks.
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I read with interest what Bob Barr, former Republican representative from Georgia who co-authored the Defense of Marriage Act, says now about DOMA:

In effect, DOMA’s language reflects one-way federalism: It protects only those states that don’t want to accept a same-sex marriage granted by another state. Moreover, the heterosexual definition of marriage for purposes of federal laws — including, immigration, Social Security survivor rights and veteran[s’] benefits — has become a de facto club used to limit, if not thwart, the ability of a state to choose to recognize same-sex unions.

Even more so now than in 1996, I believe we need to reduce federal power over the lives of the citizenry and over the prerogatives of the states. It truly is time to get the federal government out of the marriage business. In law and policy, such decisions should be left to the people themselves.

Call me skeptical, but I suspect that Barr is less interested in “the people themselves” than another run at the presidency as a Libertarian. I agree with him that DOMA is just bad federal law, but U.S. history has taught me, a descendant of people who fought on the losing side of that war in the 1860s, that when it comes to protecting a minority from the ill will of the majority, “states rights” is code for “stay out of my cotton-pickin’ business.”

I’m not sure what ambition is driving attorney Ken Starr, who not only wants the rest of us and a significant number of Californians to stay out of California’s cotton-pickin’ business, but would also like to take away the freedom previously granted to 18,000 California couples–a number that wouldn’t fill even half of LA’s Memorial Coliseum–because they just went MAD with their desire to have a shot at more than 1,400 equal rights and protections including:

Status as “next-of-kin” for hospital visits and medical decisions
Right to make a decision about the disposal of loved one’s remains
Crime victims’ recovery benefits
Domestic violence protection orders
Judicial protections and immunity
Automatic inheritance in the absence of a will
Joint filing of tax returns
Wrongful death benefits for surviving partner and children
Bereavement or sick leave to care for partner or children
Public safety officer’s death benefits
Joint parental rights of children
Joint adoption
Spousal veterans’ benefits
Social Security
Medicare
Immigration and residency for partners from other countries
Child support
Joint insurance plans
Tax credits including: Child tax credit, Hope and lifetime learning credits
Deferred compensation for pension and IRAs
Estate and gift tax benefits
Welfare and public assistance
Joint housing for elderly
Credit protection
Medical care for survivors and dependents of certain veterans

After doing a bunch of math that I won’t inflict on you, I estimate that the number of gays and lesbians living in the U.S. who may want to marry is about the same as the population of Phoenix. That doesn’t sound like a large voting block, which may be why some people think it’s okay to deny them equal rights. Am I the only one who thinks it’s crazy to spend billions of dollars to incite mob rule against about 0.005 percent of the total U.S. population?

However, it’s the very smallness of their number that makes it so vital that we accord and protect their equal rights. So I reckon I’ll be standing on a West Gray sidewalk tomorrow to demonstrate for everyone to have those 1,400-plus rights and the opportunity to get three deviled egg plates as wedding gifts.