The Michigan marriage trial, officially known as DeBoer v. Snyder for plaintiff April DeBoer and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, has wrapped up in the courtroom and we’re all waiting for U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman to issue his ruling on whether or not Michigan’s lesbian and gay couples will remain second-class citizens.
And even though I have my fingers crossed that the ruling will be in our favor, I’m still super-pissed about the so-called “experts” the state paraded out in order to slander gay and lesbian families using taxpayer money.
This includes sociologist Mark Regnerus who claims that his study, funded by antigay money, finds that same-sex parents are bad for kids, even though decades of research has determined otherwise. Keep in mind that anyone with any credibility thinks the Regnerus study is bullshit. Oh, and the University of Texas, his employer, issued a statement on the day of his testimony that basically said, “We don’t want to be associated with this douche.”
And then there was Loren Marks, a Louisiana State University professor who claimed that the American Psychological Association’s unanimous support of same-sex parents was actually proof that same-sex parents were bad since unanimous support is indicative of brainwashing.
Joseph Price, an economist from Brigham Young University, actually said when asked why same-sex couples shouldn’t be afforded the same benefits as opposite-sex couples, “Women have a domesticating effect on men.”
Canadian economist Douglas Allen took to the stand to declare that gays are going to hell. And Michigan’s Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office claimed that Allen’s religious beliefs don’t have any bearing on his testimony that same-sex marriage is evil. He’s just a serious expert witness being paid with tax money to cast demons into hell from the stand. Nothing to see here.
Keep in mind that Michigan is a state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, roads that have been in disrepair for years and have basically been reduced to rubble this winter, and the state’s largest city is in bankruptcy with Detroit’s pensioners facing draconian cuts.
But those things are apparently not as important as keeping two women from getting married and allowing their three special-needs children to have two legal parents. That we can find the money for, because we must think of the children!
At least, that’s the crux of the argument the state put forth during the trial against allowing same-sex couples in Michigan to get married. Never mind that same-sex couples are the only couples that have to prove they can be good parents before they can be legally recognized spouses. Doesn’t even matter if they ever plan to have kids. Because, my god, nothing is more important than making our children — our future! — safe.
So argues the state, where a child “is abused or neglected every 16 minutes” according to the Children’s Defense Fund.
So argues the state that has slashed education spending in order to give tax breaks to the rich.
So argues the state that has an infant-mortality rate higher than the national average.
So argues the state that cut the Earned Income Tax Credit, which helps keep working families above the poverty line, by 70 percent in 2011.
So argues the state with nearly a quarter of its kids living in poverty.
You know what, Gov. Snyder? You don’t have much to show for all this “love the children” bullshit that’s all of a sudden so important to you. If the only thing you can “protect” kids from is loving same-sex parents, then you seriously suck at this and deserve to lose your job to Democrat Mark Schauer on Nov. 4.
D’Anne Witkowski has been gay for pay since 2003. She’s a freelance writer and poet (believe it!). When she’s not taking on the creeps of the world, she reviews rock ’n’ roll shows in Detroit with her twin sister.