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Councilman Thune -
It may surprise some who know me to hear that I have some
questions about the same-sex marriage resolution. My questions
actually do not deal with homosexuality, but with some other sex
and marriage laws, namely the sodomy laws and the bigamy laws
that are on the books in Minnesota. I expect there are at least a
few guys sitting in jail for both. And what we call bigamy is
expressly accepted in the Koran and the Book of Mormon.
"Handmaidens" and multiple wives are also described as part of the
Old Testament, yet we have legislated against it.
Many bigamy laws were originally aimed at the Mormons, because
the idea polygamy did not square with how the way a bunch of angry,
Bible beating Eastern US Christians wanted everyone to live. In
Missouri it was legal to shoot a Mormon on sight and the law stayed
on the books until around 1995, I think. The Koran also allows some
sorts of homosexual activity with young boys, as long as you don't
enjoy it and keep your mind on Allah.
What sorts of sexual activity will be accepted with the resolution?
Is it limited to men with men and women with women? What about a
man and two women (some people I am acquainted with) who are in a
tight group marriage? What about three men who have lived together
for several years? Can the three of them get married?
Some other types of marriages are actually practiced [yes, even here
in Minnesota] such as group marriages that are not tight. What happens
when one person from a group marriage takes a partner from another
group marriage? Would everyone have some legal standing before the
law? What would the limitations on such a partnership be for issues
such as health insurance?
Which brings us to non-sexual partnerships. Could the people
involved be underage? In Kansas, for example, a 12 year old female
(14 for males) can marry with either parental consent or the consent
of a judge, which is almost automatic if the female is pregnant. In
New Hampshire it is 14 years for a male, 13 for a female. In
Mississippi there are no age limits, with consent, 17 for males and
15 for females, without consent from anyone. The same is true in
California, though some other statutes may apply. Utah, 14. Texas,
14. So, if one of your neighbors kids needs medical help and we have
loosened the marriage contracts enough, a person could just marry
the kid and get them all the medical help they need, even if you are
already married (in a gay relationship, in a group marriage, et. al).
Would this be acceptable? How do you think the insurance companies
would react to this turn of events? [I suspect our rates would skyrocket.]
What about the elderly? Can the one elderly person who is working
and gets excellent health coverage -- like the package our bus drivers
are currently signed on to and striking to retain -- be able to marry
twenty or thirty of their friends and get everyone some really
awesome medical coverage? [Personally, I think this sounds kind of
funny and cool at the same time, but I doubt the insurance company
would like it.]
In Minnesota, we have some laws on the books about sodomy, or at
least we used to. So, even a married couple would have to watch it to
make sure that they did not break any "laws of nature" and so forth. Are
we going to ignore these laws now? What about people who may be
sitting in jail right now because of them? What about the Defense of
Marriage act? It's a federal law, Councilman Thune, are you willing to
sign off on engaging in civil disobedience to thwart this act? While I
doubt the authorities will do anything about a city resolution, they might
just decide that what you are proposing is a form of terrorism and is
covered by the Patriot Act. Are you willing to go that far? Do you think
you should encourage your friends on the city council to support you in
this? Such a thing will very likely cost the city federal dollars if the
current congressional oversight committees decide that Saint Paul is
being a problem. How much is this resolution worth to the city?
$5,000,000? $10,000,000. Or let's say its worth just $50,000 --
just one school teacher. If you think this is overstated, just remember
that Jose Pidello (sp), a US citizen, has been jailed as a terrorist --
without council, trial, charge or bail -- for about 2 1/2 years now, just
for looking at legal websites.
As a rule, I honestly think we need to get the government out of our
bedrooms. However, I would like to have some answers before I sign
off on some broad resolution to change the existing marriage laws.
Some might say that all this couldn't happen. That no one would
allow it. I think that's what they said a few years ago about gay
marriage. The only thing that constrains the marriage laws now are a
handful of generally accepted practices that are based more on English
common law than on the Bible or anything else. I hope Councilman
Thune can answer these questions, since he has said he plans to author
a resolution about it.
And one last question, councilman. Exactly what will your
resolution say?
Brett Sprangel
East Side
In a message dated 3/21/4 23:08:11, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< Okay, we'll make it official.
It has been suggested that the St. Paul City Council go on record opposing
the anti-family legislation masquerading as the anti-gay marriage ammendment.
I'll author it, who wants to talk about it?
dave
st. Paul city council ward 2 >>
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SPPS Budget Reduction Forum - Feb. 23-27
Co-Sponsored By NEAT: http://www.stpaulneat.org/
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