Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, says he expects a state bill for a referendum in 2009 or 2010 on a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. He says "the state's interest in marriage is primarily raising of children, and children need a mother and father." Without both, he says, families face crime and educational problems and psychological difficulties.
"I think some people have seen Obama's election as assuring an era of social liberalism or radicalism," he said. "I think people assume the mood has changed. I don't think so."
Yes, Pritchard was speaking in the context of the gay marriage question, yet it is often exactly in a situation where attention is primarily focused on one aspect of family diversity that a telling statement of rampant bigotry toward all measure of diversity is allowed out, inadvertently and with regular caution relaxed over the message being broadcast to all of the rest of us.
If you are a single parent raising a family, or a child in such a family, or an adult who grew up in such a situation, or in a close friendship with any such person(s), you and all such people should regard Tom Pritchard with the utmost disdain.
It apparently is how he regards you.
Pritchard looks inclined to stigmatize divorce and hence, as a corollary, to believe that clearly failed marriages (recall the problems of GOP politician Mark Olson in Sherburne County in what certainly is a troubled marriage if not a fully failed one) should be endured "for the sake of the children."
That is a discredited canard.
Pritchard presumably may cling to such a notion, even if one spouse is beating the other and the children.
He appears to feel that once a man and woman divorce hell will ensue.
If not pure hell breaking loose, certainly in context his litany of "crime, educational problems, and psychological difficulties" cannot be viewed otherwise than as a prophecy of some kind of disadvantageous doom. Crime is universally stigmatized, (with social penalty attached if convicted), while "problems" and "difficulties" are negatively loaded words and nothing but that.
That view that hell attaches to divorce and to divorced people trying to cope appears to be his subliminal message within a message, and I do not think much of it.
So, criminals, dunces and basket cases result whenever the Pritchard ideology is breached, that is how he says he feels about you and your associates if you are a part of or friendly toward any within the broad-brush disdain he has this time professed. He has shown his true colors. Crime he says, attaches to what to him clearly are second-class families, be they two-parent gay families, or single parent straight or gay situations. He lumps them together. He is bigoted toward them all.
Now, in fairness to the primary issue Pritchard faced when he let slip his gaff against far more people than he aimed to offend and stigmatize, Furst also reported dimensions of the primary issue, gay civil rights, as excerpted:
OutFront thinks the mood is ripe for winning support for same-sex marriage in Minnesota, but opponents say the group has misread the political winds.
Between 2004 and 2006, gay marriage opponents spearheaded the political conversation in Minnesota, pushing bills to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that marriage is a union of a man and a woman only. The bills never got out of the Legislature.
[italics added]. Before resuming the reporting, that "spearheaded" term deserves attention, see this analysis, and this Google.
Furst, of Strib, continues:
In 2009, supporters of same-sex marriage hope to take the offensive, with a bill by Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, to legalize it, a Senate hearing to discuss it, and a statewide educational campaign that they hope will help Minnesotans warm to the idea.
OutFront Minnesota, the state's largest group pressing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality, says same-sex marriage will become its top priority next year. To lead that effort, the group will announce today that Amy Johnson will become its new executive director, replacing Ann DeGroot, who left a year ago.
"It feels my entire professional career and my volunteer activism led to this job," Johnson said in an interview this week. "I think in working for marriage, we are working for full dignity and respect for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families. And on the way to doing that, we are going to engage the hearts and minds of Minnesotans."
While ramping up its efforts, OutFront Minnesota is hoping to ratchet down the potential for confrontation with assurances it does not envision passage of a bill next year. Instead, OutFront is embarking on a multiyear effort and plans to engage in grass-roots discussions where people can hear from gay and lesbian couples in their own communities and be won over to same-sex marriage as an equity issue.
Johnson, 46, a Minneapolis attorney who has built a reputation for championing the legal rights of same-sex couples, is past president of Minnesota NARAL, the abortion rights advocacy group, and past president of the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association. She is optimistic a same-sex-marriage bill will pass in Minnesota within three to five years.
"I think Minnesotans understand that if one community is discriminated against, we all suffer," she says.
If it is unclear whether Pritchard is politically motivated or merely hateful, others are clearer over being into gay bashing strictly for the political gain intended, Furst reporting:
Although most Republicans oppose gay and lesbian marriage, House minority leader Marty Seifert said that Democrats, who control both houses, could pass it but that it would almost certainly be vetoed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. But with DFL candidates for governor in the Legislature, he suspects they'll want to avoid a floor vote they'd have to defend later.
Decide for yourself whether those are the words of a good man.
It looks like plain playing politics to me.
To me, this GOP man in the other legislative chamber is equally scheming and unimpressive:
Opponents of gay and lesbian marriage say they welcome OutFront's campaign. "To John Marty and their proponents, I say bring it on," said state Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove. "I'd love to have that discussion in the next election." He said most Minnesotans oppose gay marriage.
Who else said "bring it on?" Do you recall? Do you recall what ensued? Crime [Abu Ghraib and torture of detainees], problems and difficulties, happened, with the "bring it on" mentality asking for it. The we-vs-them mentality, the dehumanization of "the enemy" and a too easy view that people are basically good and we need not worry allowing excess to fester below the radar in a situation where abuse was too easy, too available, and too immediately tolerated including the keepsake photo-taking.
Comfort and joy to all, for the holidy season and new year. Comfort and joy when you light up the tree, or whatever.