Good aul HR!

The Defense of Marriage Act Blues
by Henry Rollins March 7, 2011, 5:17 PM
What made me the most angry about Bill Clinton’s time in office was not his decision to frolic with a woman other than his wife but his decision to act like a Republican. NAFTA and the Telecommunications Act are but two examples of Clinton doing Reaganesque damage to America. Another was the passing of the Defense of Marriage Act, in 1996, which “protects” states from having to recognize any same-sex marriages imported from Hawaii or Massachusetts.

I thought Clinton was too cool and too smart for such homophobic ignorance, but I was wrong. In a country that feels the need to brag about its freedom, perhaps out of some great insecurity, gay people are still treated like second-class citizens or worse. America has no lock on hypocrisy—it happens all over the world—but that doesn’t make it any easier to live with.

So President Obama sees the light and says his administration will no longer defend DOMA in court. Being happy about that would be like rejoicing that doctors are no longer applying leeches to patient’s faces when they complain of nasal congestion. It’s not a bad thing, though, and about damn time.

In to save the day, to keep those damn gays in their place, is House Speaker John Boehner, who will put himself and his sterling reputation on the line to stand against the president, his insurgent gay terrorist pals, and their dreams of marriage and equal protection under the law. That’s a relief. When things threaten to become too constitutional, thankfully, there’s someone like John Boehner, owner of every third tear cried in America, to step in and attempt to push America back into the good old days of darkness. Rather than shoulder the awesome burden of creating some damned jobs in America, he goes for the easy cheap shot of going after gay Americans. Again.

Of course same sex marriage is constitutional! The right to be yourself, to pursue life, liberty, and property, is protected several ways over several amendments. John Boehner should know this. If only he read the Constitution as often as some of us do, he wouldn’t have bothered to lower himself to this time-wasting, pathetic attempt to invigorate his base of supporters.

Damn, congressman, we’re trying to get up the road here. Either lay out a plan for job creation for all of us to see or get out of the way. You are the Speaker of the House. Scratching around in the ancient dirt of repellent prejudice instead of tackling the real issues is amateur hour. You have a plan? Now’s the time.