I protest.

Kip on gay marriage.

Kip at Long story; short pier writes with eloquence of his dismay that the bigots in Oregon have managed to get an initiative on the ballot to enshrine their bigotry in the Oregon constitution, in Defending marriage.

I, too, am appalled. Once again, we have the fury of mindless fear and ignorance making a mockery of our claims to be a civilized nation and "the land of the free." No, it's the land of the "free, except for a long list of those kinds of people we don't like." Like Kip, I'm sneering at the bigots. Of course I am, because those who embrace bigotry don't deserve respect. When they continue to cling so tightly to their ignorance, fear and intolerance in the face of the reality before them, they will never be persuaded that they're wrong.

The bigots who opposed the Civil Rights movement in the 1950's and 60's were never persuaded, they were just outnumbered. That bigotry, in fact, still exists, as Trent Lott exemplifies.

It is a fight, a war between ignorance and intolerance on the one hand and understanding and acceptance on the other. And no matter what happens in Oregon this November, or in the Senate next week, or anywhere else at any time, the understanding and accepting will continue to fight the ignorance and intolerance.

Kip finished with something that I wish I had written. His words say it all:

(Defend marriage? You pathetic, deluded fools. Same-sex couples have been getting married all around you for decades, and they'll keep on doing it, long after you've passed your little amendment. Men will kiss their husbands as you clap yourselves on the back, and wives will continue to feed each other cake, whether you will it or no. They've always had the love and the cherish and the honor, and the recognition of their friends and family, and nothing you can do will take that from them. Nothing. All you'll manage to do is rewrite the tax code. Make it more of a grinding hassle to deal with insurance and wills. Keep loving families apart at times of illness and accident and death. Condemn children to needless, nightmarish legal quagmires. You will tarnish all our rings, and when we open our mouths to take our vows, we will taste ashes. —In order to save marriage, you will destroy it. Fools.)