Friday, February 15, 2013

I Didn't Say It ....

President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union speech:
"We will ensure equal treatment for all service members, and equal benefits for their families – gay and straight. We will draw upon the courage and skills of our sisters and daughters, because women have proven under fire that they are ready for combat. We will keep faith with our veterans – investing in world-class care, including mental health care, for our wounded warriors; supporting our military families; and giving our veterans the benefits, education, and job opportunities they have earned."

I stand with you.


Mark Dayton, Minnesota governor, in his State of the State address:
"I believe that every Minnesotan should have the freedom to marry legally the person she or he loves, whether of the same or other sex. Last year, Minnesotans began a conversation about why marriage matters, and we found our common belief that it is about love, commitment, and responsibility. I want Minnesota to be a state which affirms that freedom for one means freedom for everyone, and where no one is told it is illegal to marry the person you love."

It’s on people. The march is still going along and more and more states, and the politicians of those states, are joining in.

Brian Sims, openly gay Pennsylvania state representative, on being gay and playing college football:
"The truth is I was gay my whole life. I had dated girls in high school. I think I knew I wasn't straight long before I knew I was gay. I knew by the time I got to college that I was gay. My team actually came to me to ask me whether I was gay. They wanted to talk about it. They asked me about the struggle and when I was going to tell people. I didn't go through the same struggles as people today. Today, you have 14-15-16 year olds so confident and secure in their sexuality. I was not. I wasn't a gay 17-year-old ready to come out to the world. When I got to college, I realized I was gay. I just didn't know how to go about it. My college didn't have a LGBT group to give me the language to come out. It was my quarterback who asked me first."

This is what openness does. It takes away the stigma and leaves people free to ask questions, to understand what being gay means and what it doesn’t mean.

Evan Wolfson, of Freedom To Marry, on the pro-marriage equality movement in Europe:
"With France and Britain poised to become the next countries to embrace the freedom to marry, it's clear that the momentum we see here in the United States for ending marriage discrimination is, in fact, a global movement toward greater freedom and equality for all - and the U.S. should be leading, not lagging. America cannot afford to fall behind its closest allies and trade partners in this global economy, and needs to do right by its families, as a right-of-center British prime minister and left-of-center French president have called on their parliaments to do, with resounding success."

We think we're oh-so-progressive in the US and yet we are lagging behind on this one.
When Spain allows marriage equality, and England and France are poised to do the same, and we sit here on our hands, well, that's not progress at all.

A.J. Spiker, Iowa Republican Party, on the members of that state's GOP who either no longer want to push for the 2009 marriage equality law to be overturned or who accept same-sex marriage altogether:
"Well, the party wants to be welcoming and we're a big tent and we want to have people of a lot of different views that are part of the party.  But what they also need to understand is that there is a gay marriage party in the state of Iowa and that is the Iowa Democratic Party.  The Republican Party embraces one man, one woman marriage and embraces the right of the people to vote on the definition of marriage."

Isn’t it funny how these politicos can say they want to be the inclusive party in the same breath that they say they want to continue denying equal rights to The Gays?
They aren’t fooling anyone.
And neither is Spiker's bad case of 'Gay Face.' ALLEGEDLY.

Dick Morris, political strategist who predicted a Romney landslide, on marriage equality:
"My view on gay marriage is that if a state decides to go for gay marriage, the legislature or the voters, that's great. That's up to them. I've got no problem with it. I don't believe that the courts should jam it down anybody's throat....If people want it they should be able to do it but it's got to be a decision of the community."

So, the "community" gets decide on my rights?
Is that at all American?
I'd like the "community" to decide on Dick Morris and whether or not he is an asshat for pay on FoxNews, or just an asshat.

Mike Piazza, on the 'gay' rumors:
"I found it hugely insulting that people believed I’d go so far out of my way — living with Playmates, vacationing with actresses, showing up at nightclubs — to act out a lifestyle that would amount to a charade. If I was gay, I’d be gay all the way."

It’s nice to hear, Mike, but it would have been nice to hear, say, ten years ago when you addressed the same rumors with a defiant ‘I’m not gay’. Had you said, ten years ago, that if you were gay you’d be ‘way’ gay, perhaps professional athletes would have stepped further along the equality road a lot sooner.

3 comments:

  1. Poor Dick Morris - he recently got axed from Fox News.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12:39 PM

    Yes, Mike could have said that 10 years ago but remember what 10 years ago was like? Especially for pro athletes? There are still active and retired players who wouldn't say today what Mike now says. Good for Mike.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We're making progress Bob, albeit two steps forward and one and a half steps backwards. The day when some announces they are gay and it's not news, that is when we have arrived at equality.

    ReplyDelete

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