So the Federal Government has gone back into the business of invading people's person relationships in an attempt to dictate how they should act towards each other. Given the sorry state of our economy, the Feds have figured that there's no better time to launch its Healthy Marriage Initiative to persuade folks to get together to save money. This initiative is going to cost 5 million dollars and was actually authorized under Bush's now defunct administration. President Obama thought it might be pretty cool to continue the program I suppose. They even have a neat little quote from his book, The Audacity of Hope strategically placed on the home page for the
initiative.
Now, I am allfor people being taught how to be in relationships because many folks don't know how to relate to other people. HOWEVER, I am miffed at the fact that this initiative is inherently discriminatory in that it completely ignores any monagamous, mutually exclusive relationship that isn't heteronormative. The proponents of this program cite benefits such as economic security and family stability as evidence that marriage works. If that's the case, why not extend that same benefit to gays? Why use gay taxpayers' money to fund an initiative that selectively excludes them because of moralism?
If one were to carefully examine all of the programs implemented by the previous administration influenced by the shallow morality of conservative ideologues, one would conclude that those programs are ineffective. Abstinence only, marriage education, promise ring type faith based programs which received federal funding, HAVE NOT WORKED. Supporters of these program lament about them not having enough time to work, when they have had ample time to work and be evaluated. The data obtained from multiple evaluations is the same. More teens are still having sex and some are still getting pregnant. Black girls are still getting STDs at rates higher than whites and the GOP, the party of the moralists, had to embrace teen pregnancy as a "
normal American Family Value" during Palin's rise to national prominence during the Presidential campiagn. Probably the most important statistic to demonstrate that moralism fails is the National divorce rate... it's still OVER 50% and has remained that way for a few decades.
So what are gay, tax paying americans to do? It is completely disrespectful that my taxes are being used to push an ineffective agenda that will no doubt result in people getting married to each other who will undoubtedly end up divorcing each other. Fifty percent is an "F" and a really bad one. I'm not an opponent of heterosexual marriage. Coversely, I an opponent of ANY program that discriminates against a group of people whose taxes are being exploited to further the oppression of another group. This case is no different.
