Marriage Rights are Human Rights

“America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America.” — Jimmy Carter

This Tuesday conservatives in eight states, including my state of Tennessee, will ask voters to legalize anti-gay discrimination. Sine the value of a democracy is measured by how it treats its minority citizens, I hope voters in those states will reject legalized discrimination and allow same-sex couple equal rights under law.

The religious right is distracting voters from the war, the economy, foreign policy, and healthcare with divisive wedge issues like this. Many conservative evangelicals are still delivering votes for the GOP on this issue. At least conservatives like this writer for Idaho’s New West understand that marriage rights are civil rights, declaring, “A vote for HJR 2 [a gay marriage ban] isn’t a courageous blow against the forces of evil. It’s a fear-based, irrational and mean-spirited blow against basic civil rights.”

The following states will have referendums on gay marriage bans next month: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin. If you are voting in one of these states, click on its link to read more about the issue in your state.