Sen. Gazelka: All men are not created equal

By Tim King

One of the finest principles of Americanism is that we all are equal before the law and that we all have the same rights. That basic principle is right there in our Declaration of Independence from the tyrant Britain. 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Those words of Thomas Jefferson rang out across America and around the world and down through time. They inspired independence movements and movements for human dignity from the Caribbean and Latin America to Asia. 

But living up to those self-evident truths has been a constant struggle for many Americans. There have always been, down through our history, the frightened and small minded people who have denied that we were all created equal by our Creator. Whether it was Native American or African American or Japanese American or American women, there were those frightened little people who said one or the other or all of those groups were not created equal and did not deserve those unalienable rights.

Gay Pride flag - Wikipedia

Our very own Senator Paul Gazelka is one such person. Senator Gazelka believes that some groups of Americans should have less rights than he does.

In 2015 Sen. Gazelka introduced a bill that exempts certain persons from human rights provisions if the provision would violate sincerely held religious beliefs. Gazelka’s proposed law would have allowed ministers, churches, stores, restaurants, florists, and government officials to deny service to gay people who wanted to get married. It would also allow those same ministers, churches, businesses, and government officials to refuse to recognize a legally married gay couple.

Gazelka was proposing to legislate a form of apartheid against gay Minnesotans.

You may recall that we had that in the United States before. It was called Jim Crow. Dr. Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers and others died opposing Jim Crow apartheid.

Now Senator Gazelka wants legalized apartheid against gay Minnesotans. Under his plan flower shops and bakeries will turn gay couples away with signs saying, “Straights Only”. Marriage license bureaus will have special lines for gay couples. 

This proposed second class treatment of a group of Minnesota citizens is reminiscent of Jim Crow in part because it is being promoted by people who call themselves Christians and followers of Jesus Christ. Sen. Gazelka authored it but Senators Michelle Benson, Warren Limmer, Mary Kiffmeyer and Dan Hall co-sponsored it.

It was Christians that upheld Jim Crow apartheid. The extreme and intolerant religious beliefs of the Jim Crow Christians allowed not only a system of blacks-only hotels, drinking fountains and schools but a system of terror and lynching that they, as community leaders, were well aware of. Those Jim Crow Christians said African Americans were inferior to European Americans. They could point to their bibles and show where it said so. And they let their radical translation of their bible trump the American belief that all men are created equal.

Now Gazelka and his group of religious extremists want to create a new Jim Crow apartheid for gay Minnesotans and Americans. Their bible, they say, trumps the American Declaration of Independence. Paul Gazelka says, in his book Marketplace Ministers, that God speaks through and to him. 

I say baloney. He’s tuned to the wrong channel.

Jesus would have agreed with Thomas Jefferson. All men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

None of us are lesser or greater in the Creators eyes. I don’t care what Senator Gazelka says.

Note: This article originally appeared in the Long Prairie Leader.