U.S. Rep. Paul Broun of Athens announced last week he would introduce, once again, a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit same-sex marriages, an amendment that was obviously inspired by the growing tendency of states to allow gay marriage.
Now, this amendment has exactly zero chance of either being voted on or passing in Congress. Even when Republicans controlled the House and Senate, they couldn’t get the anti-gay amendment approved. Broun’s latest effort is the rather typical kind of political grandstanding that goes on among members of Congress and is harmless enough.
It would be nice, however, if the media that reports on the activities of people like Broun would also provide the useful context about the politician’s personal history. The Athens Banner-Herald dutifully ran an article in its May 8 edition about Broun’s latest “attempt” to ban gay marriage. Blake Aued, who’s normally a decent enough reporter, failed to mention that Broun himself has been divorced three times and is currently in his fourth opposite-sex marriage.
It’s not really that big a deal, but come on. If a guy has failed at the number of heterosexually oriented marriages that Broun has, then hasn’t he pretty much destroyed any credibility he might have as a critic of other marriages between persons of the same sex? I’m just asking.
It’s also worth remembering that Broun’s 18-year-old son, Paul Collins Broun III, was arrested by Athens-Clarke police several weeks ago on charges of drug possession — six months after he was charged with driving under the influence in Oconee County.
I don’t wish to single out young Broun for undue media attention here, but again: shouldn’t Congressman Broun be devoting his time to resolving the issues within his own family before he launches a pointless legislative attack on gays who have the desire to marry each other?
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