The Michigan Daily carried a headline in yesterday’s edition: “Coming Out rally highlights empowerment.” That has got to be one of the dullest, innocuous, sleep-deprived headlines ever. (I know because I wrote a lot of the other dullest headlines ever when I was a page editor in college.)

Anyway, the other unsuccessful aspect of this article was that it spoke briefly about Proposal 2, which it called “a ballot initiative seeking to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage and similar unions.”

Folks, Proposal 2 will not just ban “gay marriage and similar unions.” It will take away health and other benefits from any unmarried couples, whether they’re gay, bi, straight, or any variation thereof. The proponents of this amendment want to destroy any relationship that is not defined by the rite of holy matrimony. That isn’t just gay relationships, although they would love you to believe that.

The University’s Regental By-law 14.06, revised in 1993, reads as follows:

The University is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or Vietnam-era veteran status.

I’m no lawyer, but you don’t have to be one to know that the legality of that bylaw will be in serious doubt if Proposal 2 goes through.

Please remember that when you go to the ballot box on November 2.

And a big fat jeer to the Daily for not pointing out how pernicious and ominous Proposal 2 is, and how many people’s lives at the University of Michigan – not just students, but employees – this hate amendment will affect if it goes into law.