Legislature, governor target the wrong amendment

I have been thinking in the last few days. I believe our so-called leadership in Juneau and residing in the Governor’s Mansion are trying to modify the wrong amendment in our Alaska Constitution.

Senate Joint Resolution 9 and House Joint Resolution 1 are big mistakes. A lot of people have been saying so. I am proud to be one of them. So here is what I would like to see happen — table both resolutions.

After doing that, if our elected leaders want to improve the state constitution I have a suggestion: Amend the constitution to allow legal same-sex marriage before court rulings force the issue.

Ballot Measure 2 was approved in 1998 and modified the Alaska Constitution to say only marriage between one man and one woman is legal in the state. But an eventual lawsuit challenging Alaska’s constitutional amendment seems destined to prevail along the same legal lines as a ruling out of Virginia this past week where federal Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen struck down a similar voter-approved amendment as unconstitutional. In her Feb. 13 ruling, she says the “amendment violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

If we are serious about amending our constitution, let’s strike down this amendment and extend the constitution’s rights and protections to each person, in accordance with the 14th Amendment.

What some of our lawmakers are now trying to do with our education system is a disservice to all Alaskans. Many have spoken up in print and other media sources telling them so.

So instead of pursuing this effort to tear down our public school system, they could right a moral wrong.

I have found Alaska to be a very independent state. Whether conservative, liberal or something in between, when it comes to all things Alaskan many buck the rules and the ideologies in favor of the Alaskan way of life. Why? Because we are proud of being Alaskans and we do things our way.

So how about it?

Do amend the constitution, but don’t gut our public education system.

Change the constitution to allow LGBT people the rights guaranteed them in the U.S. Constitution that have thus far been denied to them out of fear.

This is an opportunity to show the nation Alaska is more than rednecks getting stupid in front of television cameras.

Every state in the U.S. and each individual is guaranteed the same rights and protections in the U.S. Constitution. There are no second-class citizens in the eyes of this document. Equal protection under the law is federal law.

Alaska could be a leader in human rights again, showing the rest of the nation the path forward.

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