Thanks to Shawn for pointing this out to me.
The Courage Campaign is trying to uphold a May 15, 2008 ruling by the California supreme court which said in part - laws directed at gays and lesbians are subject to strict judicial scrutiny and that marriage is a fundamental right under Article 1, Section 7 of the California Constitution, thereby holding unconstitutional the previously existing statutory ban on same-sex marriage embodied in two statutes, one enacted by the Legislature in 1977, and the other through the initiative process in 2000 (Proposition 22). The Court’s ruling also established that any law discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation is constitutionally suspect, making California the first state in the United States to set such a strict standard.
Man, can I live in California? Anyway, Ken Starr, Republican, is spearheading an initiative to nullify same-sex marriages that were allowed under the California Supreme Court ruling. Prop 8 passed on November 4, 2008 which essentially reversed California’s progressive stance stating in part - “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” California’s State Constitution put the measure into immediate effect on November 5, the day after the election. I personally wouldn’t care if you married a dog; whatever makes you happy.
These are the same Christian literalists who think the Earth is only 4000 years old, or that intelligent design is a true scientific theory instead of just a way to get around excluding creationism from schools (just call it something else that ins’t specified in the law). Where is the separation of Church and state? Why do Fundamentalist Christians think everyone else should be a Christian and think and act like one? Radicals the lot of them. Who do they think they are? Fear mongers. Live and let live, PLEASE! Maybe we can go back to the strategy of the Crusaders - agree with me or I’ll kill you. Now that’s good old fashioned moral fiber.
Watch this video and try not to cry. It’s set to Fidelity by my favorite female singer/songwritter, Regina Spektor.
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damn! I did cry!! I’d love to try to post this on my facebook. Great music too Ray, I love Regina spektor.
Comment by shannon — 2009.02.28 @ 12:15 pm
Ray
I admit it I am a sap. My eyes welled up.
The Mormon church funded that last anti-gay campaign in CA- another reason not to like or at least be very suspect of organized religion.
Peace
Danny
Comment by danny — 2009.03.01 @ 9:21 am
Some quotes for you:
“These types of marriages are abominable. If allowed they would pollute America.”
“Such unions are not only unnatural, but always productive of deplorable results, such as increased effeminate behavior in the population.”
“They are productive of evil, and evil only, without any corresponding good in accordance with the God of nature.”
This - according to this post, which may or may not be accurate - is what people were saying about interracial marriage in the 1960s. It sounds strikingly similar to what people are saying about gay marriage now.
The situation, regardless of blundering excuses that gay marriage is different because it’s somehow more unnatural than interracial marriage, is the same: people being deprived a civil right for no reason other than the personal discomfort of the voting majority. As amazed as I am that these red-herring arguments about moral decay carry weight in our legal system, remember that there was a time when the voting majority didn’t want to share drinking fountains with black people too, for similar reasoning. It’s possible to justify any kind of madness by claiming to be defending society’s best interests - that’s marketing for you.
I think the bright side to this is the very fact that I can refer to those anti-miscegenation quotes as examples of social policies that are now universally recognized as evil. No civil rights movement has ever failed in America. Winning rights from people who hate you is a long, vicious process, no question. But the fact remains that we elected a black guy last November, and I do believe that gay marriage can’t be too far behind.
Comment by Chris — 2009.03.06 @ 2:55 pm