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Given our penchant for initiatives, referenda, constitutional amendments and the like, Colorado ballots can be long and confusing. This year's promises to be even more complex than usual, since there could be as many as four marriage-related items.
One is already assured of a spot. It's the Domestic
Partnership Benefits and Responsibilities Act, and last
week the General Assembly agreed to refer it to us voters.
Also called 1344
for its legislative bill number, it
would give same-sex couples some rights, such as the
ability to make medical decisions for each other and to
adopt each other's children.
That is much too fair and humane to suit some
Coloradans, and so there are petitions circulating for an
amendment to the state constitution to supersede 1344 by
forbidding any legal recognition of any status similar
to marriage.
To counter that, there's a proposal to protect 1344 by
amending the state constitution to declare that the
provisions of 1344 are not similar to marriage.
And
there's another constitutional amendment proposed for the
ballot, this one designed to insure a heavy right-thinker
turn-out at the polls, that would duplicate a state law
defining marriage as the union between one man and one
woman.
To recap, we have 1344, a referred domestic-partnership law. We may see the anti-1344 constitutional amendment, the protect-1344 constitutional amendment, and the one-man one-woman constitutional amendment.
The simplest solution to all this is one I proposed
several years ago. Enact a domestic-partnership law that
applies to all couples, and remove marriage
from all
state laws.
Why? As the right-thinkers often remind us, marriage
is a sacrament.
Consider other sacraments, like
baptism, confirmation and penance. Thanks to certain
enlightened provisions in the state and federal Bills of
Rights, the government does not tell churches how to
perform these sacraments, nor who may receive them. It's
entirely up to the church, as it should be.
So it should also be with marriage. Get your civil union certified at the courthouse, and then visit your church, mosque, temple or ashram if you want a marriage.
This would be easy to implement and would promote separation of church and state. People could go about their lives with minimal state interest in their intimate relationships. The protectors of family values could address real issues that tear families apart, like unemployment and medical bills, and Colorado might be a better place to live.
But that would not be sufficiently polarizing and thus would not enhance certain political careers. Perhaps we could try another approach, though, one that might please just about everybody.
The right-thinkers shouldn't have any trouble with
anything named the Colorado Old Testament Marriage
Definition Amendment.
And even the most libertine
should be able to tolerate it after reading the
provisions.
Same-sex relationships? King David was a man after
God's own heart.
David's companion Jonathan, the son of
King Saul, died alongside his father in battle. David then
lamented that I am distressed for thee, my brother
Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to
me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
Surrogate partners? The patriarch Abraham had a wife,
Sarai (although he sometimes told people that she was
really his sister). Sarai was barren, but she had an
Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar. Sarai urged Abraham to go
into my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by
her.
And he hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
Premarital sex? The wealthy farmer Boaz found himself
captivated by the attractive young widow Ruth. She wondered
how to respond to his attention. Her late husband's mother
told her to find where he would be resting after a hard day
of winnowing barley, and thou shalt go in and uncover
his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what
thou shalt do.
Now note that feet
was almost
certainly a euphemism for what she was really supposed to
uncover, since Boaz said Let it not be known that a
woman came.
After he purchased her, they married, and
she soon bore a son.
Multiple partners? Among the descendants of Ruth and
Boaz was King Solomon, who loved many strange women
and had seven hundred wives ... and three hundred
concubines.
This could continue indefinitely, but by now the point should be clear -- if the right-thinkers insist on promoting biblical standards, they shouldn't be allow to stop at one verse in Leviticus. Let's put it all on the ballot.
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