In the midst of the right-ward lurch our government has taken in the last few years, news like the Supreme Court’s affirmation of privacy in the bedroom and Canada’s initiation of same-sex marriage are beacons of hope. Today, a new light: here in sometimes stodgy Virginia, this happened…
Virginia’s housing authority will provide low-interest mortgages to gay couples and other singles living together, abandoning a one-of-a-kind lending policy that limited such help to married couples and single people living alone, commissioners decided today.
Bravo to the commissioners.
Of course, minutes later:
The unanimous decision by the Virginia Housing Development Authority was immediately denounced by religious, conservative and family organizations as an assault on marriage and a cave-in to a gay-rights agenda. They vowed to reverse the decision in the General Assembly this winter.
“The Governor’s pro-homosexual agenda is clear, and it has nothing to do with sound business practices,” a statement by the Family Foundation said. “Instead, he is lending his political capital to a risky mortgage on the future of Virginia families.”
One woman, who said she was from a Southside church, warned of dire consequences if the board eliminated the family rule.
“The homosexual lifestyle is rife with disease,” she said. “Responsible leadership must be vigilant not to reward homosexual behavior. If this committee yields to the current request . . . you will be contributing to the normalization of a most destructive lifestyle.”
I am, as usual, totally confused by the radical right’s rhetoric on “families.” Again and again, whenever someone finally grants the same right to gay persons as everyone else gets, it’s going to destroy the American family. WTF? How? I can’t think of one single, solitary way that equal rights for gay people would harm “the family.” Guess what – gay people are part of a families, too. I would think that it was harmful to a family to have one of it’s members discriminated against; and even more so if that family member was violently beaten or worse by someone claiming to be “pro-family.”
What these assholes really mean by “family” is “people like me.”
One scary last note: the article contains this ominous warning:
The Virginia action comes on the heels of a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court this summer that declared anti-sodomy laws a violation of constitutionally-protected privacy rights. That decision voided Virginia’s long standing laws against sodomy.
Some lawmakers in the General Assembly have already promised to seek legislation aimed at limiting homosexual behavior when the legislature convenes in January.
Sometimes I wonder what keeps me in this backward state governed by backward, holier-than-thou, right-wing, uneducated, dirty, and downright nasty yokels.
