Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Some Good, Some....Well, Not So Much


I woke up this morning and was a little annoyed; or peeved as my mother was apt to say. But now, I am, quite simply, pissed off.

I am glad for the victory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where they voted to extend anti-discrimination protections to LGBT individuals, making Kalamazoo the 16th city in Michigan to adopt a gay-rights ordinance that grants protection to the LGBT community in areas like housing, public accommodation and employment.

It's a big day in Kalamazoo. Bravo!

And it's a nice day in Washington state, too, where it looks like Referendum 71, the so-called "everything but marriage" bill, is leading by a narrow margin this morning. Still, it looks positive that a form of equality, albeit not full equality, for LGBT people in Washington state will happen.

And then there's Maine, and the reason why I'm pissed off.

Up that'a'way, voters repealed the state’s same sex marriage. So, once, when we were thisclose to being allowed equality, we have now been told we don't count.

And, I think what pisses me off, is these holier-than-thou fucktards who sing and dance and talk about how ""traditional marriage has been preserved"when what they are really doing is trampling on the Constitution and denying equal rights to a segment of the population because they don't agree with who we love.

It sickens me.

And I'm going to tell all you idiots who don't get it, again:

There is no such thing as traditional marriage.

Marriage wasn't being changed, marriage has always changed.

Used to be a woman was given to a man in marriage by her own family.
Used to be marriages were arranged to strengthen familial power over others, uniting two families into one all-powerful family.
Used to be women were owned by their husbands.
Used to be you didn't marry outside your faith.
Used to be you didn't marry outside your race.

So, keep prattling on about traditional marriage when you don't really have a clue what you're talking about. And keep braying like the asses you are about religion and marriage and listen up while I explain that away also.

No one, no one, in this country is married by a church. Got that? Oh, you might have a pretty white dress and the guy in a tux and eight tiny reindeer.....wait, I'm mixing up my stories....eight bridesmaids and grooms men, and you might march down an aisle toward a minister, rabbi, pastor reverend, high priestess, dog catcher, who spouts a few words and pronounces you man and wife, but you aren't man and wife.

You aren't man and wife because the Catholic or Jewish faith said it, or the Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalians, Protestant, Wiccan or Mormon faith said it.

You aren't married until the government says it.

So, quit calling it a religious institution because it isn't; it's a legal one. And you have used your "faith" to affect the laws. You have used your "religion" to keep people as less than; you have used your "church" to trample on equal rights.

I hope you're happy, because one day, maybe, some other church or other faith or other belief will seek to trample on you and you'll have no one to blame but yourselves.

Shame on you, Maine, shame on you.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:16 AM

    There are several things I do well but putting my thoughts and feelings into words is not one of them. Thankfully we have Bob. Thanks Bob for doing that for me.
    I. appreciate. it.!
    Neal

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  2. Well put, Beth has posted several times about this. Marriage is a legal entity, not a religious one. Keep up the good race. Marathon, not sprint.

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  3. Crossing our fingers that 71 stays ahead in WA. It's all mail in voting so it will take longer.

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  4. I am pissed off as well - the majority should never be allowed to vote on the rights of the minority.

    In the times they occurred, "the majority" would have voted to continue slavery and segregation, ban interracial marriage, and withhold a woman's right to vote or to choose.

    This was simply wrong.

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  5. Anonymous10:07 AM

    Thanks for saying this so well. Some people just don't get it.

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  6. Bob, please, don't blow a gasket! Not over Maine. As Ken said this is a mrathon not a sprint. Eventually, conservatives here will use all their energy in the beginning of the run and have nothing left when they really need it at the end of the race.

    While I'm extremely disappointed with the outcome, Maine has a habit of repealing social issues via referendum. Time and time again I have watched it happen, from across the border. It is difficult to change people set in ways from seventy or eighty years ago, but their political sway will falter here in the Northeast. I'm much more worried about down south and in our nation's bread basket. Religious conservatives seem to have huge strongholds in those states and they aren't going to go away with the population shift. That's a real threat.

    Time is on our side here in the Northeast. Social conservatives are about undergo a mass extinction and I'm pretty sure they will be replaced with more socially liberal voters.

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