“The fact that this injustice has been pushed onto most of the country by a hateful, socially conservative minority is fundamentally wrong…” Even in a commentary that consisted of little other than delusion, this particular delusion stood out more glaringly than the rest in the Daily’s Thursday editorial condemning the marriage protection amendments approved by voters so far in 30 states (Taking back marriage, 10/08/2009).
For the Daily editorial staff, who obviously aren’t majoring in political science, and apparently missed even rudimentary eighth grade civics, here’s how direct democracy works:
State constitutional amendments defining marriage as only between one man and one woman have been enacted by a majority of voters in 30 states — not a minority, “hateful” or otherwise. In fact, the average percentage of the vote in favor of those 30 state amendments has been a super-majority of well over 60 percent.
In California, African-Americans — by voting over 70 percent in favor — were credited with providing the winning margin for that state’s one-man, one-woman marriage amendment. Just checking: does the Daily now characterize African-Americans as a “hateful, socially conservative minority”?
Here in Michigan, our Marriage Protection Amendment was approved by 59 percent of voters, including — according to Detroit Free Press and Detroit News pre-election and election-day exit polls — two-thirds of union households and two-thirds of African-Americans. It passed with majorities in the cities of Detroit, Flint, Saginaw, Benton Harbor and multiple others with large African-American populations.
Michigan’s amendment was also approved by a ten-point margin in Hamtramck, a notable example since four years later, that city voted 87 percent in favor of Barack Obama for president — meaning lots of those “hateful, socially conservative” Obama supporters had to have voted for it. Come to think of it, doesn’t Obama say that he too is against redefining marriage? Does the Daily’s editors think we should sign him up for “hateful, socially conservative minority” as well? If they’re pushing mathematical as well as moral relativism, maybe so.
What’s far more likely is that the Daily’s editorial writers are so far left and so intractably intolerant of those with a diversity of opinion on this issue that they really do think anyone who dares disagree with them — including most union members, most blacks, even half of all Democrats — really are all a bunch of hatemongers. But isn’t falsely labeling and maligning people just because you don’t agree with them the very definition of prejudice and hate? Sadly, such prejudicially hateful stereotyping of any who disagree is a commonly observable tactic of those who support radically redefining marriage and will tolerate no resistance.
In 30 states so far, the minority — who I won’t call any names — have been those who voted against constitutionally affirming that marriage is and always should be only between one man and one woman.
Gary Glenn
The letter-writer is president of the American Family Association of Michigan.