As noted below, the gay-hating forces in Oklahoma are often not very articulate in trying to gin up what sounds like legitimate reasons for their hate. (Vol. 2, Issue 6 of the satirical The Oklahoma Partisan has more on this failure of rhetoric.)

The truth is that many of these people are trying to write their religious beliefs into law so that everyone has to obey them. On a national scale, they can usually come up with easily-disprovable but friendly-sounding "family" rhetoric. In Oklahoma, they're not so good at it, as this statement from the author of new legislation to end recognition of new common-law marriages shows:

OKLAHOMA CITY (March 15, 2005) -- Legislation strengthening Oklahoma marriages by ending the recognition of new common law marriages in the state has passed the state House of Representatives.

“I firmly believe the concept of traditional marriage should be our standard for marriages in Oklahoma,” said Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing, the bill’s author. “We need to strengthen marriage in Oklahoma by returning it to its Christian foundation. Common law marriage does not have a Christian foundation because the man and the woman have not made a commitment to each other before God.”

The headline, "House Votes to Strengthen Oklahoma Marriages," is laughable on its face. Ending the state's century-old recognition of common law marriage does not "strengthen" anyone's marriage - it just makes people who had marriage ceremonies feel superior. That's the kind of weak "family" rhetoric that proponents of this stuff usually use.

Denney wasn't savvy enough to stop there, though, and flatly admitted that she does not want Oklahoma to recognize any marriage except "Christian" marriage. To this woman - another freshman GOP representative who got in thanks to term limits passed 13 years ago - only a man and a woman who "make a commitment to each other before God" should be married.

You also see now why so many of the wingnuts keep trying to convince the country that the founding fathers did not intend there to be separation of church and state, for unless you can get rid of that, you can't possibly support or defend a law that forces the state to define marriage via a specific religious belief. Here's hoping Americans United has some fun with this one.

(Via OkieDoke.)