Sweden - Gay Marriage Now Legal In.....

[Elphaba]

Some comedic relief while we wait on the votes coming in: Wanda Sykes explaining that it is harder being gay then being of a different race. (if anyone finds it inappropriate, please speak up and I will take it down... but it is a funny piece where the scenarios are flipped on coming out)

YouTube - Out With the Black!

 

[tapu]

Well, I just ran in the Italian Heritage Center or whatever it is down there, and voted No on 1. I felt the "nation's eyes upon" me.

Now to find Maine results online....

 

[Nova]

I would take it to mean that they were gay.. some religion has been twisted and modified to meet personal agendas nowadays.

Jonathan and David may very well have been lovers. And even if they weren't, people at the time the Bible was written understood that young men formed erotic attachments and engaged in sexual behavior.

Being "gay" in the modern sense, however, is about so much more than sexual behavior. It also involves constructing an identity in a society that is basically (though increasingly less so) hostile. Being gay is as much political and social as sexual and personal.

David and Jonathan wouldn't have known anything about that, which is why I hesitate to use the term to describe them. Most scholars avoid using the term "gay" to describe anyone until at least the 18th century (when ideas about minority identity arose that were somewhat similar to ours); many scholars don't use the "g word" for anything or anybody before the very late 1800s.

 

[IrishMist]

Looks like Maine residents narrowly voted down the same sex marriage law.

I just Do. Not. Understand.

This just doesn't make sense to me on any level. Mama always said that life isn't fair, and I guess maybe she was right.

 

[southcitymom]

Looks like Maine residents narrowly voted down the same sex marriage law.

I just Do. Not. Understand.

This just doesn't make sense to me on any level. Mama always said that life isn't fair, and I guess maybe she was right.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091104/ap_on_el_st_lo/us_gay_marriage_maine

So sad.

 

[tapu]

I was really pissed driving into work today and hearing all the "sore winners" calling into the radio station to be all victorious and... angry. WTH?? They sounded like they just liked to sound off, whether they "won" or not.

 

[Snick1946]

I believe that in perhaps as soon as ten years, voters in Maine and all these other states will be ashamed of this- and quietly change it, much like the laws that stayed on the books in some places that institutionalized racial discrimination.
Just a thought- if, 50 to 60 years ago voters in these states would have had a ballot measure to disenfranchise black voters it would have passed in several.
Maybe someone in Maine can tell us- was the Mormon church active in this as they were in California?

 

[southcitymom]

I believe that in perhaps as soon as ten years, voters in Maine and all these other states will be ashamed of this- and quietly change it, much like the laws that stayed on the books in some places that institutionalized racial discrimination.
Just a thought- if, 50 to 60 years ago voters in these states would have had a ballot measure to disenfranchise black voters it would have passed in several.
Maybe someone in Maine can tell us- was the Mormon church active in this as they were in California?

This is the way I feel too, Snick. Homosexuals being granted the legal right to marry is inevitable. It won't happen overnight and battles will be lost along the way and some parts of the nation will be slower to come around than others, but it will happen (is happening).

Comparing this struggle to anti-miscgegenation laws is spot on.

 

[Nova]

This is the way I feel too, Snick. Homosexuals being granted the legal right to marry is inevitable. It won't happen overnight and battles will be lost along the way and some parts of the nation will be slower to come around than others, but it will happen (is happening).

Comparing this struggle to anti-miscgegenation laws is spot on.

So much for gritty, New England independence! I had hoped folks in Maine might resist the propaganda blitz from outside "special interests."

I would like to believe that progress on this issue is inevitable. But let's face facts: how often has a majority voted to give equal rights to a minority? It's true that legislators have passed such laws (including amendments to the U.S. Constitution), and a legislature represents the voters, but can anyone recall an actual vote by John Q. Public doing the same?

After all, anti-miscegenation laws were overturned by the courts, not the voters.

 

[believe09]

I am disappointed in the down easterners.

 

[southcitymom]

So much for gritty, New England independence! I had hoped folks in Maine might resist the propaganda blitz from outside "special interests."

I would like to believe that progress on this issue is inevitable. But let's face facts: how often has a majority voted to give equal rights to a minority? It's true that legislators have passed such laws (including amendments to the U.S. Constitution), and a legislature represents the voters, but can anyone recall an actual vote by John Q. Public doing the same?

After all, anti-miscegenation laws were overturned by the courts, not the voters.

And that might be the way it goes here too. I don't care how we get there - I just care that we do. And I believe that we will!

 

[Nova]

And that might be the way it goes here too. I don't care how we get there - I just care that we do. And I believe that we will!

I hope you are right, SCM!

But I suspect we in the U.S. are in for a long period of economic hardship. Fear and uncertainty do not tend to make folks more tolerant of difference.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Heartbreaking news in Maine. Sorry I'm a little behind. My computer got a virus and has been at Geek Squad FOREVER!

On a brighter note, the battle in Washington ended up passing!!! It's not marriage, and it's not quite where it should be...but it's a step in the right direction. Way to go, Washington!


Washington voters approve Ref. 71

Voters in the state of Washington approved Referendum 71 on Tuesday, Nov. 3, preserving the state’s domestic partnership protection laws.

http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=98742


Ref. 71 makes history: For first time in US, voters have expanded gay rights for families

When voters in Washington State passed Referendum 71, the so-called "Everything but marriage" act, on November 3, 2009, they made history in more ways than one. This marks the first time that legislation to dramatically expand gay rights has been approved by a statewide vote of the people, anywhere in the US.

More: http://www.examiner.com/x-1146-Seat...-voters-have-expanded-gay-rights-for-families

 

[southcitymom]

Just one of many reasons I love my church family:

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/2nd-gay-bishop-for-228618.html

2nd gay bishop for Episcopal Church, Anglicans

ShareThis PrintE-mail
By RACHEL ZOLL
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has elected a lesbian as assistant bishop, the second openly gay bishop in the global Anglican fellowship, which is already deeply fractured over the first.

 

[southcitymom]

Good Lord - this gave me a start and made me realize again how far we have to go worldwide concerning this issue:

Uganda Considers Death Penalty for Gays:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gNOsUTPIL6zoTWAGRTzPqmx3__IgD9CFBHJ00

 

[Nova]

Good Lord - this gave me a start and made me realize again how far we have to go worldwide concerning this issue:

Uganda Considers Death Penalty for Gays:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gNOsUTPIL6zoTWAGRTzPqmx3__IgD9CFBHJ00

Rachel Maddow covered the proposed law at some length the other night. It seems to have been inspired by Christian fundamentalist activists from the U.S. who have acquired some influence in Uganda. (To be fair, the activists are devoted to "curing" homosexuals and say they oppose criminal penalties.)

 

[southcitymom]

Rachel Maddow covered the proposed law at some length the other night. It seems to have been inspired by Christian fundamentalist activists from the U.S. who have acquired some influence in Uganda. (To be fair, the activists are devoted to "curing" homosexuals and say they oppose criminal penalties.)

I just read a few short articles today - one touched on the Christian fundamentalist aspect. It's positively terrifying and indisputably insane.

 

[Nova]

I just read a few short articles today - one touched on the Christian fundamentalist aspect. It's positively terrifying and indisputably insane.

What's weird and sad is that few, if any, non-European countries had a significant history of homosexual oppression before they were colonized or greatly exposed to European values. (As I'm sure you know, the greatest opposition to gay ordination, etc., in your church comes from the African bishops.)

Reminds me of the old saying, "There's no Catholic like a convert!" (Note: I don't know the saying is true of Catholics; it's just something I've heard a number of my Catholic friends say.)

 

[Monaco]

And also Iowa, since the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the ban on Gay Marriage is unconstitutional. Iowa. How wonderful and hopefully soon lawful throughout our land.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/03/national/main4916096.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4916096

I was just coming here to post this! Yea Iowa - 3rd state to legalize gay marriage! :clap::clap::clap::woohoo: It makes my heart swell with happiness.

Was it really the State of Iowa that legalized it? Or was it a miniscule minority of "men in black" judges?

 

[Nova]

Was it really the State of Iowa that legalized it? Or was it a miniscule minority of "men in black" judges?

The equal protection clause of the Iowa state constitution allows for gay marriage.

A panel of judges merely recognized that fact with their ruling.

If the state constitution doesn't represent the state, I don't know what does.