home | links | manifesto | weblog How Far Back? If you are one of the many people in Vermont who have a "Take Back Vermont" sign in your yard, I'd like to politely ask you: "How far back do you want to take Vermont?" Perhaps you'd like to see it made unlawful to get a divorce? Maybe you think that Prohibition would be a good thing? Face it, folks... No matter what happens, there will always be people who have different lifestyles than you do, and there will always be people who do things you'd rather not have them do. The only question is, do you tolerate them as they tolerate you, or do you persecute them? The right to marry is fundamental to American society. The moment when two people ceremonially bind their lives together is likely the most memorable and romantic moment in their lives. Would you deny this to someone—perhaps your son or daughter—because the person he or she wants to marry is of the same gender? There are more mundane and practical considerations, as well. Consider two women living together when one or both has children from a previous marriage: without a law permitting a Civil Union, both must generally work in order to have the protection of health insurance; and children who have been raised by a loving parent and spouse, should the parent die, might end up in state care. Without a law permitting Civil Unions, inheritance laws can wreck a partnership built over a lifetime. Would you deny these safeguards to people because they fell in love under conditions you don't approve of? I have seen some of the propaganda of the "Civil Union Repealers" and I can see where some of the concerns expressed in some of the sites would disturb me, too... That is, if I believed there was any truth to them. No one is going to make "being PC" a law: We have this nifty little thing called "The Bill of Rights," and the number one element of that list of rights is "Freedom of Speech." No one is going to do that. Chill.