Say Anything Blog

The news yesterday that Mark Sanford has been having an affair with a woman in Argentina, and may have even been traveling to see her on the taxpayer’s dime, was gut-wrenching.  I had high hopes for Sanford on the national stage, and while many on the right are trying to defend him it’s clear that this is a man who cannot be trusted by the taxpayers.  Not only did he apparently abuse the power and privilege of his office in this affair, but he betrayed his wife.

If he can’t even keep a promise to his wife, why would we citizens think he’d keep any campaign promises made to us?

But Sanford’s affair raises another interesting point.  In the gay marriage debate we are often told that gays, if allowed to marry, would ruin traditional marriage.  But what would gays do to marriage that people like Mark Sanford, Eliot Spitzer and Bill Clinton haven’t done already?

Sanford is a staunch opponent to gay marriage, gay civil unions and gay adoption.  Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law.  Hell, Senator Larry Craig who got arrested while trying to solicit gay marriage in an airport bathroom favors a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

All of these men opposed gay marriage on the grounds that it allow it has some sort of implications for marriage as an institution.  And yet, none of them had enough respect for that institution themselves to remain faithful to their wives.

Gays aren’t a threat to marriage, folks.  It’s people who can’t keep their wedding vows.  It’s the celebrities who get married for a week then get divorced.