Fast-forward to yesterday at the convention, where the initiative flopped badly, getting only 41 of 200 votes (it needed a mere 25 percent to get on the ballot).
As usual, Pam's House Blend has the best compilation of reactions from the zany wingnuts, including my favorite, this bit of high melodrama from old favorite Tony Perkins.
It's not very proper, but part of me can't wait to see the looks on the faces of all the fundies when the inevitable force of marriage equality doesn't produce the byproduct of total social destruction they've so long predicted. Of course, they've left it purposefully ambiguous as to what these consequences would be, in part so they can claim them when they come, and in part because they have no idea what they might entail. The latter would require a world-view with predictive power, which, as perhaps best exemplified by the faux-science of "intelligent design," is beyond the ability of the Christian conservatives. They can only interpret past events as "God's punishment" for one thing or another (see the late Fallwell's 9/11 gaffe); they can't possibly predict what God's reaction will be to marryin' homos, but I'm sure they'll be waiting with excitable breath.
More than 200 years ago, the Second Continental Congress resolved that one flag would represent America to the world. It ordered that "the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." Today, on the very date reserved to honor the flag's proud and glorious history, what was seen waving throughout Boston wasn't Old Glory, but a handful of rainbow flags, symbols not of unity but of division.
Their actions today may prove to be the very motivator they feared. After Massachusetts, pro-family forces across the nation will be even more motivated to pursue a federal amendment protecting marriage. Despite the shameless games and political maneuvers, we must not give up on the fight. The flag that has led us into every contest for America will lead us now, reminding us of the founding ideals, like marriage and family, that so many have died to protect.
And yes, I know we will all burn in Hell for eternity, but that's hardly satisfactory since it requires the unpleasant business of dying before they get to take out their revenge fantasies, and that simply isn't fast enough.
