Random Happenstance

And now a selfish post where I bitch, bitch, bitch:

http://www.tdn.com/articles/2006/06/07ap-state-wa/d8i33rug5.prt

Thanks to Ms. La Corte and the Daily News for the article, as I saw this in a three second clip on the nightly news, got super-pissed, and wanted to make sure I wasn't mad for no reason.

Those of you who live in Washington state may have heard of Tim Eyman. The article refers to him as an "initiative activist," and I'm not sure he has another job. Eyman introduces petitions to try to bring laws to a public vote. For instance, most license tabs in Washington are under a hundred bucks now, because of an initiative he brought up a few years ago, and this was probably his most well known victory. (We'll ignore the fact that with the state's income drastically reduced, the roads went straight to pot for a few years, and work on them as only resumed on some recently.)

His latest push was for Referendum 65, which would have been a vote of whether an anti-discrimination law protecting gays and lesbians would be kept or abolished. The law was passed earlier this year. Those against the issue argue that would give gays preferential treatment or be a foot in the door for gay marriage. To be fair, I'm not 100% sure how Eyman personally feels about the issue, as his position was presented as, "we did feel it was very important for voters to have the final say on the issue."

Now, this opposition alone made me angry: I do think gay people should be allowed to marry just like anyone else. My wife feels that they should be given the same, equal rights, except for the term "marriage." She says they should have civil unions or bondings or whatever, but "marriage" should be a man and a woman. I asked if they'd be given separate but equal water fountains, and she called me a dick. I don't know if gays or lesbians are really gung ho for the word "marriage," but if they want it, why not?

And anyone who says this would lead to rashes of people marrying goats or pets or inanimate objects, fine. Let 'em. And I completely give you the right to make fun of those people and shun them socially. Feel better? And gay people would have to put some work into having a divorce rate as high as straight, so don't try that one either.

So, I was mad at Eyman for fighting this law. But normally, something like that would annoy me, at most. Why am I so pissed? Monday, "Eyman arrived at the state elections division building dressed as Darth Vader and wielding a plastic light saber."

Oh, hell no.

If you're a Christian or Catholic or whatever, and I robbed a convenience store dressed as Jesus and shot up the place, think of how you'd feel. This is taking one of my icons, and using it for your message of...maybe not hate, maybe not anti-gay, although maybe...your mixed-message of not good! I refer to Darth Vader as "Space Hitler" (thanks Evan Dorkin!) all the time. He's a fictional character who turned on his friends and teacher, was the right hand man for an evil empire, culpable in hundreds of murders and war crimes, and yet, I never saw Darth Vader gay-bash.

Eyman: regardless of your personal feelings about gays or Jedi or whoever, leave Lord Vader out of it. Save it for Halloween, not politics. And I hope Lucas' Storm Lawyers (figuratively) ream you...