Finally, someone got the hint on marriage ban

Well, after a lot of commentary, debate and articles on the issue of same-sex marriage and the current state constitutional ban on the practice here in Alaska, somebody in power finally got the hint and has written a proposal to strike down the ban and amend the Alaska Constitution to come up into modern times.

Frankly, it is about time. State Sen. Hollis French (D) introduced the proposal Feb. 24. His reasons, according to media reports and his own statement, it that it’s a matter of conscience and an effort to beat the federal courts to the punch.

“It was completely clear to me that whether we act or we wait for a federal U.S. Supreme Court decision, this is happening,” French said in an Anchorage Daily News story about the proposal. “We really are in a long march toward marriage equality.”

I would prefer we did it before the federal courts does it for us. There is quite a lot of hard feelings by many Alaskans toward the feds. This goes back to territorial days, and a Supreme Court decision from Washington, D.C., would only garner more. I firmly believe we can do this without the federal government forcing our hands and, as the senator says in the article, “to remove this blot on our state constitution.”

“Blot” is an understatement, in my opinion. The words I would use are unprintable here to describe my feelings toward banning same-sex marriage. That vote in 1998 for putting the ban amendment into the constitution was a knee-jerk reaction stemming from the illogical fear that people of the LGBT community were not people at all, but social and sexual deviants — something less than human who should treated as second-class or lower-class citizens.

That was then, this is now. Alaskans — indeed, many in this nation — are waking up to the fact that gay people are just that — people. They are not deviant, not sub-human, not second-class. They’re people with all the hopes and dreams everyone else has and enjoys here in this great land. All save one: the right to a legal marriage to the loved one of the same gender in this state.

That is the whole point behind all of this, to be truly free and equal as Americans. They are free now, but not truly equal. That must change, and it is changing in many states as we speak. Alaska must do the same. There is no excuse for anyone to be treated as second-class in the land of the free, home of the brave, where the idea that all are equal is the law of the land. Either all are equal or the whole idea goes out the door. Some rights are not in the equation, either. It was tried in the past and thankfully overthrown. All is the real answer.

Senator French faces some opposition from Gov. Sean Parnell, State Majority Leader John Coghill, Attorney General Michael Geraghty and Senate President Charlie Huggins of Wasilla, all Republicans. U.S. Sens. Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski have come out in favor of same-sex marriage in the past, but I have heard little on this most recent proposal. And Rep. Don Young? Frankly, I’m still trying to figure him out. I would like to know his stand on the issues at hand.

With all due respect to those mentioned in opposition, you are on the wrong side of history, to coin the phrase. A lot has changed since 1998, change that is coming in like a freight train now. Many Americans have come to accept — or at the least come to respect — that those in the LGBT community do have rights and acknowledge there is a stumbling block for them to obtain all of their rights. Our state’s ban against same-sex marriage is that final stumbling block. That alone makes the difference between a full and equal citizen and one who has some, but not all, as a second-class one.

French’s proposal is a good first step. But that is all it is. One step in the right direction of many that are needed to come to eradicate an amendment that should never have been put into existence in the first place. This is a civil rights issue that needs to be resolved by Alaskans first before it is resolved for us against our collective will by the courts. We must end the discrimination once and for all. That choice is up to you, members of our state government, to include all those in opposition I have already mentioned.

I understand many have personal, private and political feelings against same-sex marriage, some based on deeply held religious beliefs. I respect those beliefs. I may not agree with most of them, but I do respect them. Either this state and this nation is a theocracy, or a republic based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law. Time has come to choose. Choose wisely.

You just have to have the guts to take it up. Since when are Alaskans afraid to take up a challenge?

Wasilla resident Daniel D. Grota retired from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of service.