North Carolina: Bigotry In. Indiana: Lugar Out.

Two big pieces of primary news this morning after voting yesterday: In North Carolina, voters overwhelmingly supported adding an amendment to the state constitution that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman and bans same-sex marriage and civil unions; and in Indiana, Republican primary voters overwhelmingly ousted six-term Republican Senator Dick Lugar in favor of Tea Party favorite Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

On the former: I cannot believe this bullshit is going on in the year of our lord Jesus Jones two thousand and twelve. Seriously, anyone who honestly believes their marriage will be undermined by making the institution inclusive of same-sex couples should maybe consider building their marriage on a foundation more solid than rank, rickety bigotry. My marriage is built on a foundation of love, and love isn't threatened by more love.

(For the record, it ain't threatened by marriages of convenience, either.)

But of course virtually no one actually believes marriage equality will undermine different-sex marriages. That's just a thin rhetorical veneer used to mask the vile bigotry of privileged assholes who are ashamed of, but not decent enough to acknowledge, the desperate insecurity about their super-special relationships losing the shimmering, golden glow that only denying equality to same-sex couples conveys upon their gloriously gilded unions.

Marriage is ours, dammit! That's what this garbage is really about. Greed. Prejudice is stingy, because privilege is a zero-sum game.

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On the latter: Well, as a born and raised and resident Hoosier, who regards "Senator Lugar" with approximately the same inured indifference as a state monument, it's strange to see him booted in a primary for reasons of habit, but not so strange given the current political culture. He's old guard GOP—which basically means he's terrible, but not terrible enough.

That Republican voters have sent Dick Lugar packing for insufficient conservatism eradicates all pretense that there's a shred of tolerance for moderation left in the party. Whoooooops.

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