The Federal Marriage Amendment is dead in the Senate, and I for one hope it’s dead altogether. It’s brought out the worst in all of us.

I’ll say up front that I’m a state’s rights kind of guy and my opposition to FMA is rooted in my desire to protect the rights of my state and not in my feelings about gay marriage one way or the other. I oppose any proposed Constitutional amendment that strikes me as superfluous… even if I agree, philosophically, with the proposed amendment. For instance, I was in opposition to the proposed Constitutional amendment that would have outlawed flag burning. Nonetheless, I would like to see my state make it legal to hold down flag burners, give them wedgies, and break all their Rage Against The Machine CDs.

You see where I’m going with this.

So I’m disappointed in my fellow conservatives who have backed the proposed amendment. They’ve behaved like liberals, to my way of thinking. Remember, conservatives, we believe in less government meddling. Not more. We realize that law doesn’t change who people are. At best, law might influence people’s behavior. At least it defines their behavior, with regard to whether or not a given behavior is a crime. At heart, FMA seemed to be an effort on the part of some of my fellow conservatives to federally frown at homosexuality. If you want to frown at homosexuality, go ahead… just don’t tell me that I’m federally required to. I’ll make that decision for myself, thanks.

Not that the liberals are off the hook, here. FMA has brought to the surface some of the nastiest, most resentful conservative-baiting and Bush-bashing yet. Cheryl Jacques of the Human Rights Campaign said that, by supporting the amendment, Bush was trying to “drag this country through a cultural war to jumpstart a failing campaign.” The National Organization of Women issued a statement condemning “conservative religious” views and even calling for the repeal of the mainstream 1996 Defense of Marriage act. Are there any liberals balanced enough to consider that maybe some conservatives were capable of serious, reflective thought about the issue? Isn't it possible that some of us conservatives... maybe even some of us Christian (gasp!) Conservatives... have done a lot of soul searching about it? Heck, there may even be a few of us who oppose the amendment on ethical grounds! But go ahead, presume that we only come out of our caves long enough to offer blood sacrifices to our God and throw rocks at gays.

Oh, and John Kerry, in a fence straddling act that would make Clinton weep, vocally opposed the amendment but didn’t bother to vote against it. I can hear him now: "Now, wait just a minute, I never actually voted against that amendment that I was opposed to."

I’m not particularly happy with the way the President has handled this issue, either. He’s entitled his opinion, but doesn’t he have bigger things on his plate? I don’t know that he benefited by making himself such a prominent spokesperson for this issue.

Oh, and if you didn’t notice, many of the vocal elements in the gay community have behaved horribly, too. And their motives were entirely political. Take notice, gay people: The extreme left gay groups are only your friends if you agree with their entire agenda. They will sacrifice your privacy as quickly as they say the Patriot Act does if you aren’t totally on board. But this is no surprise. These groups have always been motivated more by politics than principles. Consider the hell they raised about Eminem’s idiotic, homophobic lyrics. You don’t think Eminem was the first rapper to bash gays in his songs, do you? Aahhh, but he WAS the first WHITE one…

Look, if the people of Massachusetts want to make it legal for gays and lesbians to marry, that’s fine with me. Knock yourself out, Massachusetts. Make it legal to marry squirrels and microwave ovens, for all I care. To be blunt, I just don’t give a damn what goes on in Massachusetts. That state may as well be another planet. I don’t say that because of Massachusetts marriage laws. I say that because the people there keep sending space aliens to represent them in the Senate.

Having said that, I must also say that I support my state’s right to say that ‘round these parts, marriage is an exclusively heterosexual affair… and if you don’t like that, it’s all interstate between here and Massachusetts. That is, if that’s what my state chooses to say. And that remains to be seen.

And if you’re wondering where I personally stand on the issue… hell, I’ll tell you the truth. I haven’t thought about it. I will say that I am opposed to me personally marrying a gay person of either sex, since I'm not gay.... but maybe I’ve missed the point. I’ve been distracted. There’s a lot going on over seas.