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| November 23, 2006 Editor’s Desk by Aaron Selbig, insurgent49
Discrimination Against Minorities Is Not the Alaskan Way
It’s been a fearful week here at Insurgent Headquarters. Every single member of the Alaska State Legislature should be arrested and held in contempt of court. By refusing to comply with a court order to provide employee benefits to same-sex partners, they have not only brushed aside the authority of the Alaska Supreme Court, the final authority regarding Constitutional questions, but they have furthered the shameful practice in this country of discriminating against minorities. Like their forebears earlier in this century who arrested and locked up interracial couples under the guise of “defending marriage”, the Legislature has proven itself to be a group of fearful, hateful cowards, preferring to fan the flames of prejudice rather than comply with the law. This is not the Alaskan way. In Alaska, we protect minorities. That’s why our State Constitution has what many consider to be strongest provisions for equal protection and privacy rights of any in the US. Traditionally, Alaskans do not like the government poking its nose into our personal business. Is this tradition dead, or does it now apply only to people and issues favored by so-called “Christian conservatives”? How Christian is it, by the way, to single out a group of fellow human beings and label them “deviants” and “aberrations”, to deny them the joys of parenthood because of the misguided belief that they are sexual predators, and to tell them they cannot get married because their loving and committed relationship is somehow a threat to the loving and committed relationships of straight people everywhere? Unfortunately, our state Legislators seem to have bought into this fear and hateful language. Instead of following the example of the cities of Juneau and Anchorage, who simply sat down and devised a way to provide benefits to same-sex couples, they seem to be goading the people of Alaska into once again writing discrimination into our Constitution. What they should have done is listen to Kenai Republican Tom Waggoner, who suggested the simple and straightforward approach used by other states and cities: give every state employee the freedom to select one adult to receive medical benefits, thereby leaving the politics out of the equation. But common sense and compromise aren’t exactly hallmarks of the 24th Legislature, and some of its conservative members instead used the occasion to engage in political grandstanding and pandering to their fearful base. As for the more progressive members of the Legislature, and their Democratic counterparts in Washington, they seem to be hoping that this “wedge issue” of equality for gays and lesbians would just go away. It’s too divisive, too hot to handle for newly-empowered Democrats who are hoping to convince Americans and Alaskans that they are not the radical liberals that talk radio makes them out to be. It’s too bad that our leaders are so shortsighted. It’s sad that so few of them are willing to be standard bearers for gay rights. Equality for gays and lesbians is not a wedge issue. It is the civil rights struggle of our times. And, like civil rights struggles of the past, there will come a day when all of us will look back on our discriminatory laws and practices with shame and embarrassment, amazed that we could have treated our fellow human beings so badly. Hopefully, that day is coming soon. Aaron Selbig is an activist and media junkie who resides in an undisclosed location in downtown Anchorage. He is the winner of a 2006 Alaska Press Club award for Best Editorial Writing, host of KUDO 1080 AM's 'The Aaron Selbig Show' and a co-founder of Insurgent49. Aaron may be contacted at editor@insurgent49.com 'Editor's Desk' appears on insurgent49.com every Thursday. |
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