Jonathan Rauch, who writes from time to time like he has common sense, joins hands with a bigot to announce they two have found common ground.  Wow…common ground…

In politics, as in marriage, moments come along when sensitive compromise can avert a major conflict down the road. The two of us believe that the issue of same-sex marriage has reached such a point now.

It would work like this: Congress would bestow the status of federal civil unions on same-sex marriages and civil unions granted at the state level, thereby conferring upon them most or all of the federal benefits and rights of marriage. But there would be a condition: Washington would recognize only those unions licensed in states with robust religious-conscience exceptions, which provide that religious organizations need not recognize same-sex unions against their will. The federal government would also enact religious-conscience protections of its own. All of these changes would be enacted in the same bill.

I see. Well that sounds like a plan all right.  And it would work too…right up to the point that something like this happens…

If her name had been Joe, her wife wouldn’t have died alone

Your wife is dying.

One moment everything was fine. You were in your stateroom on the cruise ship — it was to be an anniversary cruise — unpacking your things. The kids were in the adjoining stateroom playing with your wife. Suddenly, they banged on the door crying that mom was hurt.

So now you’re in the hospital — Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami — waiting for word, and it’s not coming. They tell you, Joe (we’ll call you Joe) you can’t be with her. You plead with them, to no avail. No, Joe, sorry, Joe, we can’t tell you anything.

One hour turns to two, two to four, four to six. Your wife is dying and no one she loves is there.

Finally, in the eighth hour, you reach her bedside. You are just in time to stand beside the priest as he administers last rites.

Your wife is dead. Her name was Lisa Marie Pond. She was 39.

It happened, Feb. 18-19, 2007, except that Pond’s spouse was not a man named Joe, but a woman named Janice. And there’s one other detail. Janice Langbehn who, as it happens, is an emergency room social worker from Lacey, Wash., says the first hospital employee she spoke with was an emergency room social worker. She thought, given their professional connection, they might speak a common language.

Instead, she says, he told her, "I need you to know you are in an anti-gay city and state and you won’t get to know about Lisa’s condition or see her" — then turned and walked away.

Now consider what the legal status of that couple would be in a hospital run by a "religious organization", as many increasingly are, within the scope of your…compromise.  Oh…I know…just tell the ambulance driver not to take your dying spouse to the closest available emergency room if it’s owned by a church.

Right.  Something like this happens and that artifice of civility you’re trying to prop up comes crashing right back down in flames again Jonathan.  And what we see in the wreckage, once again, sickeningly but clearly…very clearly…is how much your new found friends hate us, how bottomless that hate is.  And…oh by the way…they hate you too.  You knew that, right?

I have a question Jonathan.  Who do you think you are talking to?  Someone who can see a human being when they look at homosexuals?  Someone who wants the same decency and common civility to flourish in society, and nurture the best within its citizens?  Are you smoking crack?  Are you drunk?  Did banging your head against that impenetrable wall that is Blankenhorn’s cheapshit bar stool prejudices for years make you simple?  Read your own goddamned newsprint jackass.  The open sewer that is your pal’s conscience is right here, laughing in your face:

Whatever our disagreements on the merits of gay marriage, we agree on two facts. First, most gay and lesbian Americans feel they need and deserve the perquisites and protections that accompany legal marriage. Second, many Americans of faith and many religious organizations have strong objections to same-sex unions. Neither of those realities is likely to change any time soon.

I’m sorry…you’ve been "discussing" this issue with Blankenhorn for…how long now…?  And finally…Finally…you get him to agree with you that "gay and lesbian Americans feel they need and deserve the perquisites and protections that accompany legal marriage"…?  Well that’s a giant step forward all right.  Look at that goddamn it!  Just look at it!  He isn’t agreeing that we need anything whatsoever, let alone the perquisites and protections of marriage, but only, and grudgingly, that we Feel like we do.  I suppose Janice Langbehn was only pretending to be in anguish while her spouse was dying.  But then don’t we all.  Someday Jonathan, if either you or your husband find yourselves in that same situation, you’ll pretend to feel anguish too.  It takes a lot of practice to mimic how attached heterosexuals are to their spouses and their families, doesn’t it Jonathan?

You’d think a civilized, let alone civil society would recognize such a basic human need.  Certainly your pal Blankenhorn believes it does.  But there’s the rub.  Homosexuals aren’t human.  They don’t need marriage, they only feel like they do.  I guess because we’re jealous of how heterosexuals have real human needs and we don’t, or something.  And you think that this is an improvement over whatever it was that he was thinking about gay people before you started having your discussions with him?  What could that have possibly been?  That we were only making noises about marriage to hear ourselves talk?  Either you’ve never really looked down into that Pit that is the human capacity to hate, or you’ve been staring into it for too long.  Either way, you just don’t seem to appreciate, or care, how much damage your bigot pal and his fellows in the kook pews have done to American society, let alone to civility.

A compromise…you say?  I have a compromise for you.  It’s called the constitution of the United States.  That first amendment thing?  What it doesn’t give your pal is the right to drop his church onto my back, or yours, or anyone else’s.   He can build his church.  He can worship in it.  He can live his life as he sees fit.  And all that America ever asked of him in return, is that he give his neighbor the same right.  The compromise used to be this: in the public square, we were all equal, if not in the eyes of God, then at least in the eyes of the law. 

Your pal and his neighbors in the kook pews absolutely despise that idea. And they have been waging a relentless scortched earth war against that American compromise for generations.  How do you agree to compromise for the sake of preserving civil society with people who think being civil to heathens amounts to condoning sin?  How do you agree to compromise for the sake of preserving civil society with people who believe that the basic premise of America is itself evil?  They don’t call it a nation where Christians have freedom to worship…they call it a Christian nation.  What is the compromise between those two things?  I’ll tell you what it isn’t: The United States of America.  Liberty and justice for all?  Yes.  So long as "all" means just the folks in the pews of Blankenhorn’s church.  Civility doesn’t mean you have to allow your neighbor to sin.  Why…that’s just the opposite of civility…

Meanwhile, back in Utah…another doomed search for common ground goes on…

Final common ground bill dies in House committee

A legislative committee defeated the last in a group of gay-rights bills presented to Utah lawmakers this year. As was the case with the others, committee members said the bill was not necessary and voiced concern about the law opening the door to gay marriage.

The bottom line is most conservative lawmakers just don’t believe any of these bills just address civil rights. Instead, the Common Ground bills were viewed as a "threat" to traditional marriage.

The last Common Ground bill would have affected medical visitation and inheritance. Changing the law could affect people outside the gay community as well. But the focus—and concern—was predominantly centered on gay rights.

They can’t even let same sex couples visit their spouses in the hospital.  Civility anyone?  Common ground?  Here’s your common ground…

Utah State Sen. Compares Gays To Alcoholics, Terrorists: ‘They’re The Greatest Threat To America’

Today, the Utah state legislature “dealt a final blow” to the last of five gay rights bills taken up under the Common Ground Initiative, when it defeated a bill that would have granted gay couples rights of inheritance and medical decision-making. Yesterday, the state House rejected bills that would have allowed gay adoption and protected gays from housing and employment discrimination.

Last night, Utah’s local ABC station received leaked portions of an interview with state senator Chris Buttars (R), which will be highlighted in an upcoming documentary on Proposition 8. Buttars is an outspoken opponent of gay rights; in the latest interview, he compares gays to alcoholics and Muslim terrorists, and warns that gay people are “probably the greatest threat to America.” Some excerpts from the interview:

– To me, homosexuality will always be a sexual perversion. And you say that around here now and everybody goes nuts! But I don’t care.

– They say, I’m born that way. There’s some truth to that, in that some people are born with an attraction to alcohol.

– They’re mean! They want to talk about being nice — they’re the meanest buggers I ever seen. It’s just like the Moslems. Moslems are good people and their religion is anti-war. But it’s been taken over by the radical side. And the gays are totally taken over by the radical side.

– I believe that you will destroy the foundation of American society, because I believe the cornerstone of it is a man and a woman, the family. … And I believe that they’re, internally, they’re probably the greatest threat to America going down I know of. Yep, the radical gay movement.

He also said that gay people have no morals…that "It’s the beginning of the end. Oh, it’s worse than that. Sure. Sodom and Gomorrah was localized. This is worldwide."  Oh…and bragged that he’d killed every bill in his judiciary committee that so much as smelled of gay rights.  When this blew up in the media, the Utah Senate took swift action.  They removed Buttars from his chairmanship.  Oh…but not because they disagreed with him mind you…

"I want the citizens of Utah to know that the Utah Senate stands behind Senator Buttars’ right to speak, we stand behind him as one of our colleagues and his right to serve this state," [Senate President Michael] Waddoups said. "He is a senator who represents the point of view of many of his constituents and many of ours. We agree with many of the things he said. …We stand four square behind his right [to say what he wants]."

Waddoups refused repeatedly to clarify which of Buttars’ opinions are shared by himself or Senate leaders.

Emphasis mine.  And to further clarify…

He said the decision to remove Buttars from the committees was ultimately his own as president, a move he made so the Senate could function smoothly. The judiciary committee, in recent years, has heard most of the bills dealing with gay and lesbian rights, and removing Buttars from his position would remove the "personalities" and focus on the issues, Waddoups said. 

This was a PR move.  They weren’t disgusted with the man…they just wanted him to stop saying to publically what they all believe.  That homosexuals are not human beings.  That homosexuals are destroying the world.

Civility.  Common Ground.  So you got Blankenhorn to agree that homosexuals Feel as though they need the protections of marriage did you Jonathan?  Wow.  Peace in our time.  Do let us know when you’ve got him to the point where he agrees that we Feel a human heart beating in our chests.  That would be…awesome.