The Milwaukee Post

June 13, 2014 • Milwaukee County Post • 9 The legalization of gay marriage in Wisconsin, and soon everywhere else in the country, is happening in the worst possible way and will guarantee that some Americans will never fully accept it and create a permanent schism in this nation between gays and those who consider their activities sinful. That's because gay mar- riage is coming in through the illegitimate societal back door – forced on us by judges – rather than through the front door of being approved by either voter referendum or action of elected officials. The ruling of federal Judge Barbara Crabb and the other Star Chamber mem- bers who are forcing gay marriage into a nation (that was ultimately going to get to the same place) is absurd. If the words in the U.S. Constitution guaranteed gays the right to marry, they would have been mar- ried in 1795, 1895 and 1995. There is no con- stitutional guarantee of the right to marry someone of the same sex. The court rulings that invent this right in a 220-year old docu- ment are judges pretending the document says what they want it to say. This is how we got legal abortion and the 40-year national civil war since Roe v. Wade is an indication of how that worked out. The late Judge Robert Bork wrote brilliantly about this trend of activist judges to take the country to a place of their desires, but not one writ- ten in the Constitution in his book "Slouching Toward Gomorrah." Crabb's ruling slouches us toward Gomorrah's sis- ter city. This is all unnecessary and ultimately counterproductive. The American consen- sus was moving toward gay marriage any- way. It would have been approved by voters or legislatures of most states. Had it hap- pened this way, this change in societal val- ues would have been accomplished legiti- mately with majorities making it clear they wanted gays to live with full equal rights. On no issue in my lifetime have I seen atti- tudes move as quickly as they have on gay marriage. It was a fringe position just 20 years ago. The Wisconsin constitutional amendment Crabb struck down was over- whelmingly passed by state voters less than a decade ago. Even California voters reject- ed it as recently as 2008. But that opposition is vanishing. Right or wrong, most Americans have changed their minds on the issue. By forcing gay marriage on us through court action, those on the losing side will forever resent it. School busing for integra- tion, abortion and other contentious social issues mandated by courts rather than voted on by people end up creating deep divisions that last for decades. Gays, who seem starved for societal acceptance, will now never fully get it. The Christians who demand adherence to the Bible and the members of other religions that consider homosexuality sinful will not abandon their beliefs because some judge handed down an order. * * * My own view hasn't budged but I'm gen- erally not one of those people so flimsy in my beliefs that I allow public opinions swings to change them. A free society ought to allow people to pretty much do what they want. I accept my religion's teachings on the issue but have never had a desire to tell anybody else they have to live the way I do. Live and let live. But marriage is different than tolerance. It confers specific legal rights and conveys moral legitimacy. The legal rights have been there mostly to facilitate families with children. The need for gay couples, most of whom have two incomes, to have their rela- tionship given tax and other benefits escapes me. And, as a committed marriage- a-phobic, I wonder if this isn't a Pyrrhic victory for my gay friends. Legalized gay marriage also means gay divorce. Some of those aren't going to be pretty. * * * It was comical watching the Dane and Milwaukee County clerks keep their offices open all weekend to accommodate those who wanted to get married NOW. Right now. It's normally impossible to get anything done in a courthouse on a Friday afternoon, much less Saturday night. Bureaucracies that usually move like sloths on Valium were instead hopped up on meth. Never have paper-pushers so quickly pushed paper. And, oh, did the overtime flow. Milwaukee County, which can't seem to find the money to allow Sheriff Clarke to patrol the parks and properly staff the jail, suddenly had the cash to pay overtime out the wazoo to allows gays to get a 48-hour jump on marriage. With Milwaukee awash in crime, the prioritization was telling. * * * Some Christians and others who loathe homosexuality have been hellbent on argu- ing that gayness is a choice rather than a predetermined part of one's makeup. That is blindness by choice. Figuring out who's gay and who isn't has never been all that hard. While any human desire can be resis- ted, gays are gay because they are gay. A decent society accepts all human beings even if individuals reserve the right to object to behavior. But this cuts both ways. Gays need to stop judging those who don't accept their behavior. The bigotry directed at those who don't approve of homosexuali- ty is at least as prevalent and just as vile as any hatred directed toward gays. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post.) MARK BELLING STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE OPINION Ruling is wrong way to legalize gay marriage Society was going to get there anyway LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 'Slow Down' to protect children from injuries To the editor: Safe Communities is a nonprofit safety coalition, focusing on injury prevention to help make communities safer in Madison and Dane County. Each year, we host "Slow Down" yard sign campaigns to stress the importance of motorists slowing down, with much success. Effective campaigns have been held for 15 years throughout the Madison area, and we are pleased to see this outreach spreading to neighboring communities. It is important to note children are especially vulnerable to injury due to their smaller stature. The faster vehicles travel, the more likely crashes will occur and result in more severe injuries. For instance, for child pedestrians hit by a car traveling at 20 mph, 5 percent are killed, most injuries are slight, and 30 percent suffer no injuries. At 30 mph, 45 percent are killed and many are injured. At 40 mph, 85 percent are killed. According to the National Safe Kids Campaign, pedestrian injuries are the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 5 to 14. Each year in the United States, nearly 900 children ages 14 and under die from pedestrian injuries and another 24,000 are injured in traffic-related crash- es. The "Slow Down" yard sign campaign is co-sponsored by our partners at American Family Insurance. Signs are available at (participating) local agents. Simple ideas and suggestions about organizing a "Slow Down" campaign, how to effectively place signs, notify neighbors, and a complete listing of sign locations can be found at www.safercom- munity.net (click Traffic Safety, Slow Down Yard Sign). Amanda Langan Safe Communities Madison – Dane County Madison Walker has Wisconsin moving forward To the editor: To all Wisconsinities: Here comes try- to-smear time again. When you have to rely on lies, they will always catch up to you. When losers continue trying to smear someone who has proven to have done right, those peo- ple still stay losers. Scott Walker hasn't lied, he hasn't spent foolishly and he has brought us out of debt. He stood strong even when he and his family were threat- ened, he stood strong against the poor losers who still can't accept their loss. I'm sure he pays taxes like normal business people do, not scamming in other ways. Campaigners are going to promise a lot of things to win, but if you give serious thought to how Scott Walker has already kept his word to all of us, even though falling somewhat short of job promises, but no other official has been able to perform miracles neither in the job field. Scott Walker has and always will be for all the Wisconsinities and has not filled his pockets with personal gain. When he smiles, there is nothing hidden behind that smile. Keep the faith in Scott Walker with your vote for him and he will continue to keep Wisconsin rolling for- ward. Bonnie Meyer Cudahy Send your letters to: The Milwaukee Post, c/o Dwayne Butler, 3397 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207, or by e-mail to: dbutler@conleynet.com. 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