May 12, 2009 06:43 PM UTC

Equal Rights for the GLBT Community

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• by: Patrick Sean Byrne

So what’s my position on gay marriage/civil unions/domestic partnerships?  It’s very simple:

Get the government out of the marriage business, once and for all.  Period.

The GLBT community is truly the last segment of our society who are still judged because of their biology rather than the content of their character. I don’t think it’s acceptable to be a homophobe in polite company anymore, but we have a long way to go until gays, lesbians, and transgendered people have the same basic legal rights as everybody else.

There is simply no good reason to deny GLBT couples any of the legal rights and protections afforded to straight couples, whether it has to do with hospital visitation, estate planning, adoptions, or anything else.

I think a lot of the controversy about this is unnecessary, because marriage (an essentially religious contract) is sanctioned needlessly by government. Why do we have to do this?

We don’t.

Three of my fellow candidates are gay men, and I can’t tell you with a straight face that I will be more active on GLBT equality issues than they would be, but I will be a solid advocate for treating everyone equally under the law, regardless of sexual orientation.

It is really astonishing that, in the 21st century, this is even an issue. It’s time to move past the silly sectarian arguments against full equality for the GLBT community, and get ourselves on the right side of history.

Patrick

http://Byrne31.blogspot.com