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You've heard the old cliché, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?"
Well, thanks to at least 42 Republicans in the Vermont House of Representatives, I can revise it to read, "Hell hath no fury like a columnist made to look like a fool by politicians."
That's exactly what those 42 GOPers in the House have done. They've made a fool out of me. They did it by introducing a bill to define marriage as that between a man and a woman only. Should the bill become law, it will effectively outlaw same-gender marriages in Vermont.
Only last month, I wrote that Vermont Republicans "have a reputation of being considerably more socially libertarian" than their fellow Republicans in the rest of the country.
But on March 9, Rep. George Schiavone (R-Shelburne) introduced H.479, an amendment to an existing law that prohibits relatives from marrying each other. As reported in the March 11 edition of the Burlington Free Press, 41 other Republicans, 14 Democrats and one independent have signed on to the bill as co-sponsors.
Thanks a lot, folks. That's the last time I'll do you any favors.
H.479 now sits in the House Judiciary Committee, and while no legislative action is expected on the bill any time soon, the Vermont Supreme Court can at any time trigger such action if it rules that same-gender couples cannot be barred from marrying.
By now, you know where I stand on the marriage issue. The legal institution of marriage is the backbone of heterosexism and patriarchy, without which it cannot survive and will stop at nothing to protect. We would all be better off if the legal institution was abolished altogether.
You also know that I believe very firmly that the bond of matrimony itself is a religious sacrament, as well as a deep personal commitment. The government has absolutely no right to determine who is or isn't eligible to partake in that sacrament. The Defense of Marriage Act and all similar state laws therefore violate the free-exercise-of-religion clause of the First Amendment.
But looking at the big picture, the introduction of H479 — and a similar bill introduced in 1997 by Rep. Nancy Sheltra (R-East Derby) that died in committee — sounds the alarm that excessive influence of social right-wingers within the GOP at the national level has begun to infect Vermont Republicans.
As I wrote in this space last month, the social right-wingers — many of whom are millennial fundamentalists obsessed with visions of the apocalypse and Armageddon — are, like a wild animal that's been backed into a corner, going on an all-out offensive as the new millennium inches ever-closer to our doorstep.
Don't think for a New York minute that the social right-wingers aren't circling over Vermont like vultures circling over a dying prey, waiting to pounce on it the moment it gives up the ghost.
Barring a delay or a big surprise, as soon as the news breaks that the Vermont Supreme Court has ruled that same-gender couples can marry, these vultures will invade Vermont with the fury of the Martians in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.
I can already envision noisy demonstrations outside the State House in Montpelier by Bible-toting fundamentalists from outside Vermont, demanding that the Legislature pass H479 and oust the Supreme Court justices who voted to extend marriage to same-gender couples.
I can also envision Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and other religious right figures issuing a clarion call to their followers to launch a crusade to "rescue and cleanse" Vermont of what they will surely see as a "dangerous plunge into moral depravity."
And knowing Vermonters' longstanding dislike of being told what to do by outsiders, I hesitate to think how we would react to this intrusion into our affairs.
It is something for all of us to really think about. Nothing in life occurs without consequences. We may be ready for the Y2K computer bug — but are we prepared for the Y2K political and religious storm that's about to hit us?
Skeeter Sanders is an FM radio DJ who can be heard at 11:00 p.m. Saturdays on "The Point" (WNCS 104.7 Montpelier, WSHX 95.7 St. Johnsbury, WRJT 103.1 White River Junction) and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on WGDR 91.1 Plainfield.
