Up to this point, this has been a rather welcoming blogsite, if I do say so myself. But tonight I noticed a new comment on this recent post left by Gary Glenn, President of the American Family Association of Michigan, supposedly. What's such a high-ranking, broadly-respected spokesperson doing looking at my little blog?* I can't tell if AFAM is really synonymous with Glenn or if it actually has a small membership. Regardless, AFAM is quite inaccurately named if you ask me. They are not really concerned with families. In fact, they'd sooner see my family in financial peril than allowed to continue the risk-reducing domestic partner benefits that my employer currently provides. And he'd wish this on any domestic partnership - straight or gay, childless or with a brood. Like many similar organizations, AFAM seems to thrive on condemnation, condescension and fear. But go read his circuitous comment to get the scoop on his point of view. He uses pretty good grammar, but fails to appreciate the underlying argument - domestic partners are not claiming to be married and therefore receive spousal benefits; DPs currently recieve benefits as DPs. Additionally, I really don't believe that the majority of Michiganders or Americans are as narrow-minded and malevolent as his type likes to argue. You can find a poorly questioned survey result to support any point of view. Dingleberry.

I really believe that all Americans should receive health insurance and other important social supports as a birthright. Just like free public education and social security. Good idea? Of course it is. One day we'll have single-payer health insurance for everyone and this silly little argument will be irrelevant. I guess if we can continue to freely subsidize US corporations like Haliburton and Lockheed and Bechtel, we can provide some basic necessities for our US citizenry, damn it.

I purposely did not link to the AFAM website as I do not wish to have the S&S address show up on their sitemeter. Yick! If you really, really want to find them, I know you can.

^*Warning: Extra-heavy sarcasm