You’re Likable Enough, Gay People

[xoxoxoBruce]

Ha ha, you and I have surely spent enough time in Amishland Lancaster County to see that really ugly discrimination and terrible behavior is quite permitted.

By whom? Against whom?

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

By whom? Against whom?

Well

Hard to document a closed society. But I'll wager you never saw a black Amish person. Black Mennonites, that I've seen. Blacks in Lancaster town proper, like 25%, I'm guessing. I saw an Amish guy stare down a black guy once and it gave me the heebie jeebies.

You'll never hear about Amish sexual abuse of children but that's because they keep it hushed up so well. You'll never hear about Amish physical abuse of children but you will admire how sullen and quiet the kids are in public and wonder how they got that way. When the stories come out they are appalling.

I'll guess about half the shitty dogs in this state were puppy milled out of Amish dog farms.

I'm just not a fan.

[richlevy]

This issue has already come up with miscegenation laws. Some states even wrote those laws into their constitutions. Some churches actually kept a second set of books for interracial marriages in those states where they were illegal.

There were two attempts by Democrats in Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to ban interracial marriages. If that had happened, the Supreme Court would have been unable to nullify the existing laws with Loving v. Virginia. This is why the bar has been set so high for constitutional amendments. Now we do not look on interracial marriages as the death of civilization as we know it and most Americans would not support these kind of laws today.

Of course the question becomes, is a person who officiates at a gay marriage (or officiated at an interracial marriage when they were illegal) committing an illegal act or is it simply that the marriage is not recognized?

In 2004, there was an attempt to charge a mayor in New York for marrying gay couples. The legal excuse created was a Catch-22 similar to that used to catch Al Capone. The state did not allow gay marriage and would not accept applications. In essence, they were attempting to charge him for not filling out paperwork that they were not going to accept.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by richlevy

There were two attempts by Democrats in Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to ban interracial marriages.

What irony.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

What irony.

Not really irony. The Southern Democrats mixed racism with populism. Racism was widespread, so the majority condoned institutional racism.

With the Civil Rights Act, most of the bigoted *******s got fed up and changed their party allegiance.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by richlevy

Not really irony. The Southern Democrats mixed racism with populism. Racism was widespread, so the majority condoned institutional racism.

With the Civil Rights Act, most of the bigoted *******s got fed up and changed their party allegiance.

Some changed, but not all. They just changed their bigotry to something else.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Some changed, but not all. They just changed their bigotry to something else.

Hence the war on gays.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Well ~snip

Ah, gotcha... I agree.