Theocrats on the march

"The Theocratic Agenda Is Heading for a Statehouse Near You."

That was the headline for a March 10 AlterNet story by Rob Boston. The article’s focus is on school vouchers – such as the recent push in Utah – faith-based initiatives, and laws promoting so-called creationism over evolution. But it also mentions attempts by legislators to define marriage and/or to ban same-sex marriages.

We saw a bill in the Wyoming Legislature this past session that would have prohibited recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states. It was only narrowly defeated. Many of us wondered why so much time was spent on a bill that would have banned recognition of same-sex marriages when the only state that actually performs them is Massachusetts and to date there is no mass exodus from The Bay State to The Equality State.

Republicans had the last word on this bill. See my March 7 post.

Another stealth fundamentalist bill was the fetal homicide bill that did pass the House and Senate and lanquished on the Gov’s desk before he had the good sense to veto it late last week. Our legislators have returned home, so they would have to return and reconvene to override the veto. No word yet if they will.

The Gov saw the bill as a stealth attempt to define to fetus as a person, thus paving the way for anti-abortion legislation. The bill would have made the killing of a mother and her fetus a double homicide. It also would have made the killing of a fetus during an attack on the mother a homicide.

There were other bills of the same ilk. We can expect more next year, and all of us will have to keep an eye out.

The American Taliban of the Religious Right still has a lot of clout despite recent defeats. But now they’ve turned their attention to state legislatures where they expect to sneak in under the radar. States such as Wyoming and South Dakota don’t have aggressive media to root out these attempts. National watchdog groups are far away in D.C.