Have a press release from the “Liberty Counsel.” (That’s really their name, but it’s so sick-making I find I can’t type it without scare quotes.)
January 19, 2015
Honoring the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Orlando, FL – As we remember today the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we are inspired by his courage to combat injustice that had become imbedded in our culture and our law.
Writing from a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. King said, “I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’”
“Marriage as the union of one man and one woman was not created by government or religion. It is rooted in natural law,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “Same-sex marriage is contrary to the natural created order of God Almighty. Laws deconstructing natural marriage and which compel people to affirm sinful sexual behavior or unions are unjust.”
Sir William Blackstone, whose Commentaries was the impetus of the Declaration of Independence and the foundation of American law, said, “This law of nature, being coequal with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in any obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe in all countries, and at all times; no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this.”
Today, the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is being lived out by bakers, photographers, florists, ministers, county clerks, and owners of wedding venues who have lost their businesses, been forced to pay exorbitant fines, been threatened with jail, and made to choose between the natural created order of marriage between one man and one woman and judges who side with same-sex couples.
Thomas Jefferson is credited with writing, “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”
Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.
Ain’t that a pip?
Somehow I doubt Dr. King would agree with “Liberty Counsel”‘s examples of unjust laws.
There is a thriving cottage industry which tries to make MLK into a conservative.
As I read over that press release, which reads like a fundie Mad Lib, I debated over what part to actually comment on.
I could comment on the inanity of comparing to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. those who seek to do the very thing that King fought against: denying goods, service, and basic dignity to a marginalized people whose only desire is to have the same opportunities of life, liberty, and happiness that white conservative Christians enjoy.
I could take the low-hanging fruit and comment on yet another attempt to use the words of Thomas Jefferson to champion a religious cause.
I could comment on the lies about losing businesses (they choose to close up shop to avoid serving those “sexually sinful” people) or being made to choose regarding their personal idea of marriage (they’re not actually asked to make any choice about marriage at all; they’re asked politely, and reasonably, to provide their advertised goods and/or services whether they like the customers or not).
I was tempted to rewrite the press release and replace the same-sex references with interracial ones, which would serve only to beat a long dead horse that, sadly, must be dragged from its grave time and time again because people still don’t get it.
I decided instead to issue a press release of my own to the people at Liberty Counsel, and everyone they support and who supports them:
I pity you. So full of anger, so full of fear, so full of hate. And for what? Because two people you don’t approve of want to get married?
You there. You, holding the “Adam and EVE, not Adam and STEVE” sign. Look to your left. Look at your wife. Yesterday a gay couple got married. Did stop loving her? Did she stop loving you? Did your marriage get any less special, less magical?
You there. You, holding the “One Nation Under GOD” sign. Look to your right. Look at your husband. Tomorrow, another gay couple will get married. Will you stop loving him? Will your marriage fall to pieces? Will your marriage mean any less to you tomorrow than it does today?
I pity you. How much time did you spend today, worrying about what gay people you may never even meet want to do with their lives? How much energy did you spend trying to meddle in their lives? How long could you have held your own loved ones in your arms if you’d not been so busy trying to keep others from doing so?
There is only one person demeaning your marriage. Only one person taking anything away from you.
It’s you.
It’s only you. Every time you choose to stand in the aisle with your arms folded instead of sitting on the pew putting your hands together. Every time you choose to put acrylics on posterboard instead of shoe polish on windshields. Every time you throw stones instead of rice. Every time you shout insults instead of congratulations. Every time you frown at someone else’s marriage instead of smiling at your own. That’s what demeans your marriage. Not them. You.
That’s why I pity you.
That’s a goddam masterpiece.
Sir William Blackstone, whose Commentaries was the impetus of the Declaration of Independence and the foundation of American law…
Huh? What happened to the BIBLE???!?
They should forced to put a sign on the door of their business:
“I don’t serve Gays – I’m a bigot because religion.” So then anyone (Gay or not) who feels that that’s a terrible stance, could very simply boycott them.
P.
“Dictated by God himself”, eh? God certainly hasn’t said a peep to me!
Yeah, you know, marriage as it has ever been, in all times and places, from the Bible to our modern society: men having multiple wives, victims of rape forced to marry their rapists, children forced to marry, brothers marrying their widowed sisters-in-law, wives as property, marriage as economic transaction, interracial marriage forbidden. Yep, that’s how we’ve always done it, all right.
And now these, these… gays want to change this immutable, eternal institution!