The Wisconsin Legislature passed a bill last week promptly
vetoed by Gov. Doyle. Conservatives say the bill constitutes a
compromise liberals should have found, at the very least,
acceptable. The issue: gay marriage, or more specifically, the
banning of it.

Conservatives, led by Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau),
introduced the legislation to make sure that a “marriage” shall be
specifically denoted as a union between a man and a woman.

I am proud to say I have been a lifelong member of Wisconsin.
And Madison is a great city with many progressives in it. If I were
to actually believe the old saying “Madison is a few square miles
of fantasy surrounded by reality,” I’d use this bill as proof of
it. Why? As much as I like my state, it is a fairly intolerant
place, especially when it comes to gays.

Proof? Last week’s Badger Poll found that 58 percent of
Wisconsinites found homosexuality “basically wrong.” It also found
that 79 percent of respondents thought homosexuality was best not
described or discussed in school and better left to parents at
home. I’m sure that over half of those parents are going to deliver
a balanced view of homosexuality, given that over half of them find
it basically wrong.

Sixty percent of Wisconsinites find that defining marriage
between members of the same sex is problematic. Fair enough. Only
48 percent of residents of this fair state would support civil
unions granting equal rights for gay partners.

And even that is thrown into question when you consider the
sponsor of the Defense of Marriage Act himself. Rep. Fitzgerald
says he would support a bill on civil unions, “but that would
obviously depend on what it includes.” That qualified endorsement
can only say one thing: Homosexuals are second-class citizens, and
we do not intend to support them fully any time soon.

There is a simple phrase for what is going on here. It’s called
“separate but equal,” and the Supreme Court looked on that with
disapproval a long time ago.

Of course, you run into a lot more problems defining
homosexuality than you do race. Is homosexuality a choice, a
lifestyle or a genetically determined sexuality? Honestly, there is
much literature but little proof for any of the above, but in any
event, it does not matter. When it comes to defining a homosexual
couple, it should be their actions, not their reasons for such
actions, which prove their relationship.

One interesting fact from the recent Badger Poll: The majority
of people under 30 said they supported gay marriage and civil
unions. In addition, 81 percent of them said they knew a gay
person, and the majority of them believed homosexuality was
something with which you were born.

This is a very telling result. If you know people who are (gay,
black, tall, able to speak a different language, Muslim, pick one)
you are more likely to be tolerant of their lifestyle.

Why support gay marriage? Marriage is tied to a state of mind
you can comprehend and easily transfer to homosexuals, even if you
aren’t gay yourself.

There is one reason why you should support gay marriage —
you’ve been in love. Honestly, if you’ve ever been in love, then
gay marriage is a no-brainer. Love is, in not too sappy a way, an
emotion that will never be gender-specific. You love your parents,
your siblings, your friends and your significant others. If you’re
gay, you just happen to love people of your same sex. Simple.

Fighting this emotion in the legislature is like fighting the
drug war. The desire to change your consciousness, whether it’s
through drugs, alcohol or love, is basically the same emotion. I
know people as addicted to being in love as any one is to having a
drink or getting high. Erasing that feeling, that desire, that
unbelievable urge will not happen by legislating it away.

Conservatives say Gov. Doyle is sticking to his principles too
much (not something Doyle gets accused of often) and that he should
allow this. In a state with the first openly homosexual, elected
representative (Rep. Tammy Baldwin), you would think there might be
more support for gay marriage. But Wisconsin is just like any other
state confronted with the unknown, as it holds back and clings to
the familiar.

Does anyone think that allowing gays to marry will do anything
to the institution of marriage? Marriage in this country is in
shambles. Half of all marriages fail, so how can gays possibly
contribute to the worsening of this already crumbled
institution?

In addition, it is enormously hypocritical for conservatives to
tell homosexuals to not engage in monogamous behavior. One of the
biggest criticisms of homosexuality on the right has always been
that it’s a “degenerate” lifestyle that encourages promiscuity. So
when gays say they’d like to express their legal preference for one
partner, you’d think conservatives would be more welcoming. Yet
they have never actually embraced homosexuality — they simply pay
it lip service.

Homosexuals simply want to be acknowledged as having the same
desires as the rest of us to settle down and find a meaningful life
with someone they love.

Denying them this is a silly, futile gesture. Of course, silly
futile gestures are what the Wisconsin Legislature seems to do
best.

Rob Deters ([email protected]) is a second-year law
student.