Now it may not be as big and as organized as a big hate group such as a Ku Klux Klan, Nazi party, or skinhead movement. It can be as subtle as an off color joke or an under the breath comment, or just a good ole boy water cooler stand around. Hate doesn't always have to be all in your face and blunt force trauma to the head type stuff. This is the stuff that makes it more dangerous in the long run. It's the underlying hate that is all around us like a minefield. One wrong step, one wrong move, one wrong word, and the hate explodes in your face like a bouncing Betty. The boss treats you differently because you are of one ethnicity instead of another. You may get more free time, the easier job, more pay, or any other number of perks than someone else of the same qualifications of another race. Most folks might not even realize that this is going on around them. They may not see that they are being treated better than someone else and it's a big surprise if someone points it out to you. They just see this as day to day life and think that everyone is being treated equally when they aren't looking. Then there's the person that thinks that anyone that brings it to their attention is just jealous of how good they are at doing their job. Then there are the other people that think that they are entitled to some kind of treatment.
Now there are all kinds of laws against discriminating against people in the work place for all kinds of reasons. Some examples of types of discrimination are sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, pregnancy, national origin, or genetic information. All of these are reasons provided by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). So with these laws we can say that the government is nondiscriminatory in the work place.
We can also say that the government doesn't like discrimination in the law. Remember all those Jim Crow laws in the south from 1876-1965? Let's take a little stroll down history lane and give everyone a little reminder of Jim Crow. Another name for these laws were the separate but equal laws. They were basically laws that said whites could separate themselves from black by making facilities that were designated for each group, and therefore this generally led to inferior treatment of blacks in the south. These laws were basically declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court with the 1954 Brown v Board of Education, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Looking at these steps taken by the federal government we as a nation don't like discriminating against folks for their color.
Now you are probably thinking, what's the point I am trying to make? If we as a nation don't like to discriminate in the work place or for that fact the law, why are we trying to do just that with the law? Now you are probably saying racial discrimination is alive and well, but we have made leaps and bounds trying to make it right. That is to say, we have all these laws in place just for those situations. Most Americans would agree that we don't like to hold people down, but regardless of the facts about that one, the federal government doesn't like it either and basically says it's illegal to do it. Here is the skinny folks, if we don't want to discriminate against people for their color, or their sex why is it alright to discriminate against them for being gay? How is it a state's rights case when the federal government has already struck down such laws before? Why is it that we can say a "straight" marriage can, and is reciprocated from one state to the next, but a "gay" marriage is not. Why should it matter? We reciprocate driver's license. Now, I know that people are reading this and maybe turning red with anger. They are ready to stop reading and just say he's some kind of gay agenda guy and liberal. Well, those that know me, will know that I'm far from liberal, and that I'm not one to push anyone's agenda. I'm sure you have your own idea of how this should work so here's mine. I don't care how you feel about it from a moral stand point, discrimination is discrimination. Whether it is racial or whatever, it's wrong. We as a culture have been raised to believe it's wrong. Land of the free still means we have the freedom to choose to live the life we choose. You can stand from your soapbox and say how wrong gay marriage is and how the Bible says you will go to hell for it, but your moral soul is not the business of the state or federal government.
In closing, this blog has taken me about three weeks to write and publish. I've had to do some research that actually only took me a couple of hours at the most. My problem has been the fact that I have been wondering about whether or not to even publish it because of the stance it takes. Down here in the land of the good ole boys, this shit doesn't fly over too well. I have to worry about the repercussions that I may have coming at me for this stance. It may go from losing a few friends to much harsher circumstances. I have to believe that no matter how you feel about the issue from a moral stance, who are we to dictate to someone how to live their life. I've heard from so many different sources that this isn't something that the fore-fathers intended for the United States of America. I think this is exactly what they had in mind for us as a country. A land that people can make their own decisions without anyone telling them how to think. You had better realize that those men came from an oppression of their own from under the English crown and didn't want that kind of control over them again. Our government is not in place to tell us how to live and what to think, it is there to stay out of our way and allow us to live life within a basic set of rules. I am not making a judgement of moral or immoral lifestyle, as I am in no such position to do so, but I am trying to say that to discriminate against someone just because they are different is wrong.
Now there are all kinds of laws against discriminating against people in the work place for all kinds of reasons. Some examples of types of discrimination are sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, pregnancy, national origin, or genetic information. All of these are reasons provided by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). So with these laws we can say that the government is nondiscriminatory in the work place.
We can also say that the government doesn't like discrimination in the law. Remember all those Jim Crow laws in the south from 1876-1965? Let's take a little stroll down history lane and give everyone a little reminder of Jim Crow. Another name for these laws were the separate but equal laws. They were basically laws that said whites could separate themselves from black by making facilities that were designated for each group, and therefore this generally led to inferior treatment of blacks in the south. These laws were basically declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court with the 1954 Brown v Board of Education, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Looking at these steps taken by the federal government we as a nation don't like discriminating against folks for their color.
Now you are probably thinking, what's the point I am trying to make? If we as a nation don't like to discriminate in the work place or for that fact the law, why are we trying to do just that with the law? Now you are probably saying racial discrimination is alive and well, but we have made leaps and bounds trying to make it right. That is to say, we have all these laws in place just for those situations. Most Americans would agree that we don't like to hold people down, but regardless of the facts about that one, the federal government doesn't like it either and basically says it's illegal to do it. Here is the skinny folks, if we don't want to discriminate against people for their color, or their sex why is it alright to discriminate against them for being gay? How is it a state's rights case when the federal government has already struck down such laws before? Why is it that we can say a "straight" marriage can, and is reciprocated from one state to the next, but a "gay" marriage is not. Why should it matter? We reciprocate driver's license. Now, I know that people are reading this and maybe turning red with anger. They are ready to stop reading and just say he's some kind of gay agenda guy and liberal. Well, those that know me, will know that I'm far from liberal, and that I'm not one to push anyone's agenda. I'm sure you have your own idea of how this should work so here's mine. I don't care how you feel about it from a moral stand point, discrimination is discrimination. Whether it is racial or whatever, it's wrong. We as a culture have been raised to believe it's wrong. Land of the free still means we have the freedom to choose to live the life we choose. You can stand from your soapbox and say how wrong gay marriage is and how the Bible says you will go to hell for it, but your moral soul is not the business of the state or federal government.
In closing, this blog has taken me about three weeks to write and publish. I've had to do some research that actually only took me a couple of hours at the most. My problem has been the fact that I have been wondering about whether or not to even publish it because of the stance it takes. Down here in the land of the good ole boys, this shit doesn't fly over too well. I have to worry about the repercussions that I may have coming at me for this stance. It may go from losing a few friends to much harsher circumstances. I have to believe that no matter how you feel about the issue from a moral stance, who are we to dictate to someone how to live their life. I've heard from so many different sources that this isn't something that the fore-fathers intended for the United States of America. I think this is exactly what they had in mind for us as a country. A land that people can make their own decisions without anyone telling them how to think. You had better realize that those men came from an oppression of their own from under the English crown and didn't want that kind of control over them again. Our government is not in place to tell us how to live and what to think, it is there to stay out of our way and allow us to live life within a basic set of rules. I am not making a judgement of moral or immoral lifestyle, as I am in no such position to do so, but I am trying to say that to discriminate against someone just because they are different is wrong.
