It seems like things may have reached a whole new level of crazy in Utah.
Trestin Meacham, a 35-year-old Utah man, is allegedly refusing to eat anything until the state nullifies its recent decision to allow same-sex couples to get married.
At the time the above video was released, Meacham had reportedly gone 12 days without food — surviving only on water and an occasional vitamin — and has lost 25 pounds.
“I cannot stand by and do nothing while this evil takes root in my home,” the 35-year-old reportedly wrote on his blog. “Some things in life are worth sacrificing one’s health and even life if necessary. I am but a man, and do not have the money and power to make any noticeable influence in our corrupt system. Nevertheless, I can do something that people in power cannot ignore.”
Meacham claims he will fast until Utah decides to nullify the court’s decision — nullification being a theory that the states have authority in all matters, not the federal government. It is a theory that has reportedly been used previously in an attempt to prevent integration in the public school system in the 1950s.
Greg Skordas, an attorney interviewed by 4Utah, reportedly stated that nullification is not an appropriate theory in the case of same-sex marriage in Utah. “If people want to change that they have to go through the appropriate processes,” he stated. “When individual personal liberties are at stake the state can’t infringe on that, even if it’s the will of the people.”
This isn’t the first time that extreme anti-gay demonstrations have taken place in protest of a state’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage. In late November, Illinois Bishop Thomas John Paprocki held an exorcism at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception “in reparation” for the state’s decision to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.
