It is wrong. It is wrong. It is wrong.

Following the lead of Wisconsin's state assembly last week, Thursday the state senate approved an amendment that would ban same-sex marriages and civil unions. The senate at least did this during daylight: The assembly pulled an all-nighter to do it under cover of darkness.

And the justification for their stupid, stupid move is the same thing I have railed about before: "Wisconsin statutes already define marriage as a contract between a husband and a wife and do not recognize gay marriage. But backers said they feared a judge could rule the statute unconstitutional and require the state to recognize gay marriages as happened in Massachusetts." In other words, we can't let those wacky activist judges have a say--let's circumvent the constitutional system and separation of powers and all that!

So now we wait until January, when the amendment must be passed again by both houses of the legislature in the next session, and then it goes for a referendum, which could be as early as April 2005.

The title of this post comes from my guy for the 4th congressional district race, Tim Carpenter:

Sen. Tim Carpenter, the only openly gay member of the Senate, told members of the discrimination that he and his friends had faced over the years in urging them to reject the amendment.

He also reminded lawmakers Wisconsin was the first state to pass an anti-discrimination law for gays more than 20 years ago and complained the amendment catered to the dark side of politics that appeals to the prejudice in people. He accused some supporters of scapegoating homosexuals and questioned why the main priority of a Republican-controlled Legislature was to discriminate against gays when there were more pressuring issues like the rising costs of health care.

"It is wrong. It is wrong. It is wrong," said Carpenter, D-Milwaukee.

He doesn't have a campaign web site yet, but you'd better believe that when he does, I'll be asking you all to show him some love.

For now, though, start preparing to fight the referendum. Those are your marching orders.