My feelings have nothing to do with gay, lesbian, etc etc etc - It has to do with corporations.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ruled that disallowing corporations the ability to freely spend on political campaigns went against the corporation’s First Amendment Right to Free Speech. Corporations are being given Free Speech, as a person, because legally, they ARE people. People have gender. Therefore, corporations have gender. And if corporations have gender, and the right to free speech, they also have the right to marriage, and if same sex marriage is legalized corporations could also marry, thereby bypassing any anti-merger laws, no?
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It’s scary stuff.
5 comments:
What an intriguing fallacy. Yes, corporations are artificial entities with certain Constitutional rights. However, gender is not a Constitutional right; gender is biological. Simply put, corporations do not have gender and will not be granted gender "just because people have gender." If there were any concerns about corporations and gender rights, I am certain that Judge Stevens would have raised them in his 90-page dissent to the ruling.
Similarly, corporations do not have a particular race because people have a race (and, incidentally, the highest Constitutional protection is offered to race, not gender, though gender is a close second.).
The reason I bring up race is that the same-sex marriage debate somewhat echoes this country's history of upholding and overturning anti-miscegenation laws. For a very brief overview, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-miscegenation_laws
Here are some other links for you to consider as you start to take your well-informed stand:
A summary of the Constitutional aspects of same-sex marriage debate:
http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=425
A summary of the history of the precedent for maintaining a corporation's "personhood" -- with an especially ironic last line:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2469/how-can-a-corporation-be-legally-considered-a-person
The actual SCOTUS decision, all 183 pages of it:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf
Same-sex marriage in Canada:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Canada
**
I'll just leave it at that.
Cute. =P
And to Anonymous, we don't really know if gender is biological or a social construct. Now sex, yes that's biological. But there are also people who are intersexed, so it's not even a hard an fast truth. Neither is genger, as there are individuals who consider themselves non-gendered. Sexuality isn't even a binary. There is heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and asexual.
That said, the whole coporations as peope thing bugs me, and I think there are a lot of issues at stake when the supreme court starts handing out "personhood." But that may be because I'm still pissed over Australia granting personhood to fictional characters. (Though I should look into that and see if it's been changed/clarified.)
Oh but this "if same sex marriage is legalized corporations could also marry, thereby bypassing any anti-merger laws, no?" has nothing to do with same sex marriage. Because we go back to gender not being equal to sex. (Gender is what's in your head. Sex is what's between your legs. Sexuality is who you want between your legs.) Wouldn't hetero-company marriages violate anti-merger laws?
I am fiesty today. Sorry.
I would never have considered this. Leave it to my Clauie to mystify and stump me.
You would think it would be easier to just make a law that says, "And, no, corporations aren't allowed to legally marry. WTF is wrong with you anyway? JEEZ. Step AWAY from the money. Go play with your children, or a puppy, or your peepee, or something *normal* for Christ's sake."
And leave the poor same sex couples out of corporate political BS. They're having enough trouble being treated sanely as it is. :/
--Ceci (who can't remember her Google password. And if THAT doesn't completely invalidate any validity to my intelligent opinions...)
I LOVE YOU, MY CLAUIE! :D
I love you too!!! :)
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