Black Wednesday with A Silver Lining
Why is it that 100% of Americans get to decide the rights of 6% of the population? It's nice when it works in our favor. It seems that Referendum 71 passed by a razor-thin margin of 51 to 49. But still, why are the rights of a minority, and a tiny minority at that, in the hands of the majority? A lesbian at the Protect Marriage rally in Lynnwood, Wash. a few weeks ago put it succinctly, "I felt like a Jew in 1932 Germany.''
In Kalamazoo, voters decided to keep the anti-discrimination ordinance, which protects gay and transgender people from housing and hiring discrimination. The mesure won 65 to 35.
Jennifer Chrisler the Executive Director of Family Equality Council, one of the orgs working to protect gay marriage, sent out this this statement on Maine's Question 1:
“In the long march to full equality, today we pause to grieve with and for the families and children who have temporarily lost the promise of equality under Maine law. Our freedoms have been stripped away, but we must and will win them back. When the rawness of our pain and grief lessens, LGBT families will do what they do so naturally — stand together and tell our stories. Connecting with other families has always been the key to educating, dreaming and inspiring hope which will lead to the changing of enough hearts and minds to win our freedom. Our visibility as LGBT families is strong and providing positive results nationwide. The fight will continue and we will again make marriage a reality for our families in Maine.”
Good news on the candidate front: In North Carolina, pro-LGBT incumbents (city council and the mayor) won in Durham, Chapel Hill now has an openly gay mayor, Mark Kleinschmidt, and in Houston, out candidate Annise Parker and former City Attorney Gene Locke will face each other in a Dec 12 run-off. And lastly, to steal the headline from Huffpo: Palin's candidate loses NY congressional race. This is good news for those who'd like to stick it in the eye of the Glenn Becks, Rush Limbaughs and Sarah Palins of the world.
Comments [15]
Churches rarely make me feel better. Here is and exception.
This was forwarded to me in an email from Maine. I thought it might help in some small way.
From Rev. Sue of the Sanford UU Church, Sanford Maine
A letter from Rev. Sue
Dear Friends,
What a hard night. I think I only slept about 1 hour. My mind was racing. I felt desperately sad. Sad for the people who woke up this morning only to discover that their basic human rights had been stripped from them. I was angry, angry at ignorance and misinformation. I felt guilty. Did I do enough, campaign enough, donate enough? I felt exhausted and disillusioned. I felt embarrassed. Embarrassed to live in Maine, certainly today it is NOT “the way life should be.” I thought about Thomas Jefferson and how after 200 years we STILL can’t get it right! He said, “Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression." --Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural, 1801.” And I thought, how do I peel myself out of bed and minister to all of you who have worked so hard, who had hope, and in many cases, wedding plans?
But in the light of the morning, my emotions began to shift and I began to feel overwhelming GRATITUDE. Gratitude for everyone who put their heart into this work (long before this week and right up until last night.) I am grateful for every volunteer. Yesterday there were people here from the congregation, from the Catholic Church down the street, from SUUC’s past, from all of the surrounding towns, old, young, gay, straight, many faiths: it was an amazing diversity of volunteer energy. The staff here hailed from Maine, California, Washington, Colorado, Massachusetts and Illinois; many of them had come here to spend their two week’s vacation helping Mainers get out the vote. Finally, I was most grateful for this community. For your openness and willingness to welcome all who come through the doors. For your COURAGE to fly the rainbow flag and offer safety and solidarity to the GLBT community. For all your work and commitment to justice! For inviting the No on One campaign to set up their southern Maine office in our church building. For being UUs working in tandem with UUs across the state.
AND….
What I know more than ever is that our community is ESSENTIAL in so many ways. We have now stood on the side of justice for over 100 years, this fall we stood firmly on the side of love and we will do everything we can to preserve this community for the next 100 years to ensure that every soul on this planet is treated with dignity and equality.
Please let me know if you need any kind of support around this issue.
I look forward to seeing you this weekend as we celebrate an amazing 100 years and look forward to another century!
In despair and hope,
Rev. Sue
As I understand it....
So we won in terms of a Domestic Partnership ruling (with ALL the benefits) but lost on Marriage again? So really what this is all about is people, who do want us to have all the equal rights as them, just don't want us to use the same word. This is stupid reasoning....
-Delayne
SCOTUS
Very few minority rights are won at the ballot box. I think it will come down to the SCOTUS and a favorable ruling on the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause. But I have no idea how long that will take.
"When you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will." ~ Pollyanna
That's the thing.
All the courts recognize the equality issue and rule in our favor. It's that stinking mob rule/mob stupidity/mob fear that's the problem.
Won't you be my neighbor? @theKELword
Yep!
Fear and ignorance are what our democracy is all about these days....too 'hung over' to write anything of substance today.
@kdhales
Thanks for your work.
I know you gave it everything you had. And I thank you on behalf of homos across the land.
Won't you be my neighbor? @theKELword
Purity
"Palin's candidate loses NY congressional race." Looks like the Palin/Teabagger coalition is going after Charlie Crist and the Florida Senate race next. They're not going to give up on trying to purify their party.
"When you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will." ~ Pollyanna
A new tactic
I keep thinking homos need to pull an Anthony Weiner (no pun intended) and start getting measures on ballots that revoke the rights of other minority groups --- not to actually revoke those rights, but to show how wrong it is.
Won't you be my neighbor? @theKELword
Or the majority
Why not push for a bill revoking the rights of hetero couple to marry? After all, statistically they're much more likely to do damage. Just look at over population.
I would settle...
... for the State to get out of the marriage business entirely. After all, as the American taliban is fond of saying, is not marriage a religious institution? Does not the US Constitution forbid establishment of religious criteria, or the granting of certain rights based upon specific religious criteria?
I like the idea of two separate classifications. Civil unions for those who want state recognition, and the rights that come with it, of the particular relationship traditionally called marriage (same-sex, opposite-sex, mono and plural, etc) and marriage is left strictly up to the various religious affiliations, with no State recognition unless accompanied by a civil union contract.
Or, just get the State out of the whole marriage business altogether. This one is preferred by Libertarians, who see the granting of government rights and responsibilities not granted to single adults, including those with children, as inherently unfair and possibly unconstitutional.
Who's pullin' for us?!
Kelly, I'm glad you clarified the "Wiener pulling"! Have you seen this 9-part series yet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF8ldjCJLOU
Love it.
I actually watched the Wanda special in a motel in Montana while traveling. Hilariously funny. I cried with laughter.
Won't you be my neighbor? @theKELword
Crazy ideas
Kelly, as I was sipping my coffee this morning, I was cooking up my "Save Marriage" campaign, in which we would vote on the proposition that all straight divorced people must return to their original spouse. I'm limiting this to straight people because all who are gay/queer, who happened to be married first before coming out, would be able to stay divorced.
This is loco but I can dream, can't it?
Civility is not a sign of weakness.
Been tried
But it doesn't mean it can't be done again.
One idea I'm toying with is putting an end to the so-called "no fault" divorce in California, effectively calling out the religious extremists on their hatred and hypocrisy. The so-called "no fault" divorce costs California taxpayers an estimated $4.8 BILLION a year in court costs and social service programs, the former not covered by the filing fees and court costs collected by the courts themselves. Divorce would be limited to those who can prove abuse, fraud, or adultery. Abuse and fraud already carry criminal consequences, adultery should be criminalized as well under such a concept. I would propose that the state also be barred from recognizing divorces performed out-of-state as well.
This should appeal to religious conservatives, who claim to believe that marriage is between one man and one woman for life, which is clearly stated in the very texts they use to justify their intolerance and hatred towards homosexuality. The appeal to fiscal conservatives, which should be obvious, is the combination of a reduced role for the state in marriage to begin with, as well as a reduction in government spending, and in theory, their taxes (to the tune of about 11%).
Now, here's the really interesting part...
Despite my efforts this year, I cannot get the backing of one individual, group, or religious organization who supported Proposition 8 to back such a proposed ballot initiative, including the Mormon and Catholic Churches.
Seems religious and fiscal conservatives are not actually interested in protecting their concept of marriage after all?
Absolutely.
Dream away, little Minnie. Divorce is definitely more of a threat than we are.
Won't you be my neighbor? @theKELword