Today the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature approved a measure that will place an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution before voters in November with the following text:
"Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state."
In essence, gay marriage will be prohibited -- and so will all forms of civil unions or other domestic partnerships that have been endorsed by other states.
While I'm not the person that would be directly discriminated against by this amendment -- and it is discrimination in my book -- we should all take pause and examine the situation that the Legislature has put before Wisconsin residents, namely, the very real possibility that the Constitution will be used to discriminate and segregate a portion of our population and specifically deny them rights.
This legal move is fundamentally wrong in and of itself, regardless of one's perspective on homosexuality. The Constitution of the US or its states should be used to protect rights of citizens, not banish them.
To that end, I look forward to voting against this measure. More information is available here.
On a completely different topic, my promised MythTV update has come around, including new information about how to export stored video to DVD!
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