As regular as the tides

*sigh*

Via the Union Leader (because the KJ has buried the story somewhere on its site):

A state representative from Windham is leading an effort to bring a constitutional amendment on gay marriage to voters this fall.

Republican Rep. David Bates, a gay marriage opponent, plans to discuss his work today in Concord to place the question before town meeting voters on March 9.

"This grassroots effort has been preparing for months to launch the 'Let NH Vote' campaign," Bates said in an e-mail announcing his media event. He declined to discuss details when reached by phone yesterday.

So much sound. So much fury. So little significance.

Town meeting votes will, of course, have exactly zero effect on state law. As some other articles have made a bit more clear, these resolutions are totally non-binding, and have no actual effect. In order for the state law to be changed or a constitutional amendment to be enacted, it would have to originate in the very legislature that passed the marriage equality bill in the first place. Its chances of doing so are not so good.

My tiny, cramped little brain is having a lot of trouble with this. Gay marriages have already occured in New Hampshire, and the state (so far as I can tell from the lack of seismic activity here in neighboring Maine) has neither burst into flames nor sunk into the earth. The Antichrist has not assumed control of the government. (He would probably start in Massachusetts, anyway.) A wave of wife-swapping and child sacrifice to Baal has not gripped its hapless heterosexuals. So why the hell does anyone care about this issue, other than the gays and lesbians whose lives would be improved?

I cannot fathom this. These town meeting farts in the wind are just a waste of everyone's time, and yet some group of schmucks feel like it's worth their time to make them happen. Why? What is wrong with me that I cannot grasp the motivation?