While having a discussion with a proponent of California's Prop 8, I asked why they were in support of this obviously unconstitutional proposition. This is their reply:
'Marriage is a union between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court of California did not have a right to redefine marriage, even Justice Baxter of the California Supreme Court said the majority of the court was not within its rights when it changed the meaning of marriage. If people are scared about losing rights, they should be worried about courts changing the meaning of words and redefining social institutions. California already had very inclusive domestic partnership laws and those rights would be preserved if Proposition 8 passes next week. It is not tyranny from religious organizations the people ought to fear. They can only recommend their members support/oppose certain causes. California's Supreme Court was legislating in May; something it is not allowed to do. Now, that is something all Californians and Americans should fear.'
There are so many things wrong with this...starting with the complete inability to understand the function of the Supreme Court. Supreme Court does not 'redifine' or 'change the meaning of' anything. The role of the Supreme Court is to ensure a stable and predictable system of justice by serving as the final arbiter of disputes involving the state's constitution and laws. They can't CHANGE the constitution... they just assure that laws aren't VIOLATING the constitution, which is exactly what they did in overturning the ban on marriage between same gender partners. They determined, after hearing the evidence presented by BOTH sides of this issue, that there is no compelling reason to deny same gender partners their right to marry the person of their choice, and denying marriage to same gender couples was unconstitutional. That's all.
There are more than 1000 federal rights, benefits and privileges associated with marriage...this isn't an exaggeration, it comes directly from the General Accounting Office of the Federal Government. Domestic partnerships and civil unions, while a step in the right direction, don't even come close to conveying those rights, and will NEVER be equal to marriage. No matter how many times people say it, it still won't make it true, my friend. Separate but equal will never work.
California's Prop 8 (along with PROP 102 in Arizona and PROP 2 in Florida) absolutely IS tyranny by religious organizations. The majority of the support, financial and otherwise, for this mean spirited and discriminitory proposition is coming from religious organizations, and mostly from OTHER states. They have fired up religious conservatives by intentionally blurring the line between religious marriage, or the 'RITE' of holy matrimony, and civil marriage, which the Supreme Court has determined is a 'basic, fundamental RIGHT' of American citizens. Their ad campaign contains nothing but fear mongering based on complete and utter lies. We know it, and the sad thing is, they know it too.
I'd like to point out that the Supreme Court doesn't legislate...as anyone who paid attention in 8th grade civics class will tell you. The California General Assembly, who were elected by Californians, DOES legislate. In fact, they twice passed legislation in support of marriage equality, and both times it was vetoed by the governor. THAT is where the legislating takes place...not the courtroom. That's the difference between 'legislating' and being the final 'arbiter' of justice.
Showing posts with label hate groups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hate groups. Show all posts
11 September 2008
My Gay Agenda
I have grown tired of hearing this mythical term 'the gay agenda' that certain groups like to repeat over and over, implying that in some way, gay and lesbian people have created this 'master plan.' According to James Dobson, the founder of the violently anti-gay 'Focus on the Family,' these goals are:
1. universal acceptance of the 'gay lifestyle'
2. discrediting of scriptures that condemn homosexuality
3. muzzling of the clergy and Christian media
4. granting of special privileges and rights in the law
5. overturning laws prohibiting pedophilia,
6. indoctrinating children and future generations through public education, and
7. securing all the legal benefits of marriage for any two or more people who claim to have homosexual tendencies.
I'm not kidding. He and his followers actually believe this crap. Well, let me address these claims:
1. There is no 'gay lifestyle.' My innate sexual orientation is no more a 'lifestyle' than is James Dobson's innate sexual orientation. Lifestyle is largely determined by socioeconomic status. My 'lifestyle' includes working my full time job every day to help my family pay the mortgage and bills, taking care of our home, going to the grocery store, going to weight watchers meetings, watching DVD's on the weekends, occasionally going out to eat, when we can afford it, going to church on Sundays and participating in various church activities throughout the week. What part of this lifestyle is gay, besides the gender of my partner? Incidently, I could care less if some people 'accept' me for who I am, but I will definitely fight back if their lack of acceptance infringes upon my right to peacefully co-exist.
2. When people truly study the scriptures with an open heart and mind, there is very little evidence to support condemnation, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is said about loving, committed same-sex relationships. Out of more than 30,000 verses in the bible, only six contain any possible reference to same sex behavior, and this is usually in reference to a heterosexual person participating in behavior that is contrary to their true nature. I personally feel that if people want to believe their choice of religious belief condemns homosexual behavior, more power to them. My religious beliefs, and many others, do not. The point is that it doesn't really matter what religion has to say about it when it comes to equal rights. Religion does not get to dictate civil law.
3. When Dobson says 'muzzling clergy and christian media' he means 'any confrontation of the religious rights' attempts to legislate based on their perceived notion of morality and trying to force religious dogma on people who may or may not believe the way he does is considered muzzling.' The truth is clergy and christian media are not interfered with, except when they attempt to encourage the passage of laws that discriminate against gay people.
4. I don't want special rights. I want the same rights as everyone else. What's special about that?
5. Overturning laws for child sexual abuse? On what planet are gay people trying to do this? Utter and comeplete bullshit. This is just fear mongering at it's worst.
6. Teaching children about tolerance and diversity - letting them know that most people are straight, but some people are gay - telling them that it's not okay to call someone a fag or a dyke - it's not okay to beat on or shoot someone because they are perceived to be gay - holding them accountable when they participate in homophobic behavior like this - is NOT indoctrination. It's the right thing to do. Schools should be a safe place for children, regardless of their sexual orientation, and fostering a climate of hatred for perceived differences is clearly wrong.
7. I want the right to marry the person of my choice, regardless of their gender, and have that marriage be recognized just like my heterosexual counterparts. Anything less is not equal. Throwing in the 'wanting to secure the legal benefits for any two 'or more' people' is just more fear mongering. Allowing me to marry my partner will not lead to polygamy, which is illegal for good reason. It has historically been found to be harmful to women and children. My marriage, and every other same sex marriage, harms no one.
In a nutshell:
I want to enjoy the same legal rights as everyone else, including the right to serve, fight and even die on behalf of my country in the military; the right to earn a living by working hard and being judged wholly on the quality of my work; the right to be free of fear that I may lose my job because I'm gay, the right for children and teenagers to attend high school without being shoved, punched or otherwise attacked because they are perceived to be different; and yes, the right to express not only love for another person, but a willingness to be legally, as well as morally, responsible for his or her well-being.
If there really is a gay agenda...that is it.
1. universal acceptance of the 'gay lifestyle'
2. discrediting of scriptures that condemn homosexuality
3. muzzling of the clergy and Christian media
4. granting of special privileges and rights in the law
5. overturning laws prohibiting pedophilia,
6. indoctrinating children and future generations through public education, and
7. securing all the legal benefits of marriage for any two or more people who claim to have homosexual tendencies.
I'm not kidding. He and his followers actually believe this crap. Well, let me address these claims:
1. There is no 'gay lifestyle.' My innate sexual orientation is no more a 'lifestyle' than is James Dobson's innate sexual orientation. Lifestyle is largely determined by socioeconomic status. My 'lifestyle' includes working my full time job every day to help my family pay the mortgage and bills, taking care of our home, going to the grocery store, going to weight watchers meetings, watching DVD's on the weekends, occasionally going out to eat, when we can afford it, going to church on Sundays and participating in various church activities throughout the week. What part of this lifestyle is gay, besides the gender of my partner? Incidently, I could care less if some people 'accept' me for who I am, but I will definitely fight back if their lack of acceptance infringes upon my right to peacefully co-exist.
2. When people truly study the scriptures with an open heart and mind, there is very little evidence to support condemnation, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is said about loving, committed same-sex relationships. Out of more than 30,000 verses in the bible, only six contain any possible reference to same sex behavior, and this is usually in reference to a heterosexual person participating in behavior that is contrary to their true nature. I personally feel that if people want to believe their choice of religious belief condemns homosexual behavior, more power to them. My religious beliefs, and many others, do not. The point is that it doesn't really matter what religion has to say about it when it comes to equal rights. Religion does not get to dictate civil law.
3. When Dobson says 'muzzling clergy and christian media' he means 'any confrontation of the religious rights' attempts to legislate based on their perceived notion of morality and trying to force religious dogma on people who may or may not believe the way he does is considered muzzling.' The truth is clergy and christian media are not interfered with, except when they attempt to encourage the passage of laws that discriminate against gay people.
4. I don't want special rights. I want the same rights as everyone else. What's special about that?
5. Overturning laws for child sexual abuse? On what planet are gay people trying to do this? Utter and comeplete bullshit. This is just fear mongering at it's worst.
6. Teaching children about tolerance and diversity - letting them know that most people are straight, but some people are gay - telling them that it's not okay to call someone a fag or a dyke - it's not okay to beat on or shoot someone because they are perceived to be gay - holding them accountable when they participate in homophobic behavior like this - is NOT indoctrination. It's the right thing to do. Schools should be a safe place for children, regardless of their sexual orientation, and fostering a climate of hatred for perceived differences is clearly wrong.
7. I want the right to marry the person of my choice, regardless of their gender, and have that marriage be recognized just like my heterosexual counterparts. Anything less is not equal. Throwing in the 'wanting to secure the legal benefits for any two 'or more' people' is just more fear mongering. Allowing me to marry my partner will not lead to polygamy, which is illegal for good reason. It has historically been found to be harmful to women and children. My marriage, and every other same sex marriage, harms no one.
In a nutshell:
I want to enjoy the same legal rights as everyone else, including the right to serve, fight and even die on behalf of my country in the military; the right to earn a living by working hard and being judged wholly on the quality of my work; the right to be free of fear that I may lose my job because I'm gay, the right for children and teenagers to attend high school without being shoved, punched or otherwise attacked because they are perceived to be different; and yes, the right to express not only love for another person, but a willingness to be legally, as well as morally, responsible for his or her well-being.
If there really is a gay agenda...that is it.
30 April 2008
The Truth
On April 25th, thousands of students had the opportunity to voluntarily participate in an annual 'Day of Silence' in support of their GLBTQ classmates who have suffered bullying and violence as a result of homophobia. In response to this successful annual event, the Alliance Defense Fund, one of those anti-gay conservative groups hosted their 'Day of Truth' protest which apparently was not as successful, since virtually all references to it online ceased about 2 days before the event.
A supporter of ADF responded to this article by saying this:
Joe wrote:
"The truth is that being gay is wrong and immoral.Personally I don't care if you are gay or not, but when groups like GLSEN start to infiltrate our schools and try to indoctrinate our Children I draw the line.The reason that the ADF doesn't have more support is that most parents don't know that GLSEN had infiltrated our public schools starting at the Kidder Garden level.As more and more are being made aware of this, ADF is gaining support. "
You know me, I can't resist telling the truth. Here's my response:
No, it isn't. That isn't truth...it's conjecture on your part.
The truth is there is nothing immoral or wrong about the ability to love another human being, gay or straight.
The truth is there is no 'infiltration' and no 'indoctrination' of children in schools.
The truth is fundamentalists coined these phrases as part of the 'dumbing down' of their followers(read 'voters.')
The truth is that instead of accepting the opinions of thousands upon thousands of medical, psychological, psychiatric, sociologic and pediatric professionals who all say the same thing, fundamentalists expect you to follow along with their hate filled agenda like good little sheep, voting for discriminitory laws and supporting legislation that deprives good, honest, tax paying citizens of their basic fundamental rights based solely on the gender of their partners. They do this by insulting your intelligence through the use of these typical inflammatory buzzwords designed to engender strong negative feelings in people in an effort to illicit the response they want.
The truth is that children need education regarding diversity and tolerance. Tolerance does not mean acceptance...it just means 'live and let live.' Have your beliefs, believe in them with all your heart if you choose to, but don't force them onto people who have a different truth than you, especially when their truth is backed up by thousands of professionals, and yours comes only from your choice of religion.
The truth is diversity and tolerance education makes the world a safer place to be - from people just like you.
Oh, and 'kidder garden?' Lol...dumbing down, indeed.
31 March 2008
OMG! Can people really be THIS stupid?
I frequent a discussion board called Topix.net. It features various news stories followed by reader comments and discussion. Any time there is a story about anything related to gay or lesbian people, it seems the 'christofascists' come out in force to spread the most awful and degrading lies I have every heard. Sometimes I wonder how these people can call themselves 'christian' and keep a straight face.
Today someone was actually trying to convice people that homosexual acts are the CAUSE of AIDS. No matter how many times it was pointed out to him that AIDS is caused by a virus and no matter how many links to correct information he was provided with, he still insisted that no, AIDS was caused by two gay people having sex. Can people really be this stupid? Another poster kept insisting that the APA still considers homosexuality a mental disorder, only they now call it 'gender identity disorder,' when in reality 'gender identity disorder' has nothing at all to do with sexual orientation, as a quick google search of the APA will clearly tell you.
It's scary the kinds of beliefs people will hold onto in spite of factual evidence to the contrary. I think it's called 'cognitive dissonance' -the filtering of information that conflicts with what one already believes, in an effort to ignore that information and reinforce one's beliefs (thanks wiki). The example of this phenomenon I was given in college was something like this: WWI prisoners who were systematically rounded up and marched off for execution were routinely told they were going somewhere else for a purpose other than execution, and although they had seen their neighbors marched off the day before and not return, although they had heard the gunfire at the edge of town, the prisoners chose to believe their captors and go with them willingly. I think those who hold negative views of gay people are caught up in this pattern of cognitive dissonance. They have been told all their lives by society, by their families, by their pastors, by other religious zealots that being gay is a choice, that it isn't a natural thing, that homosexuals are going to hell. In spite of all the evidence suggesting the innate state of sexual orientation, despite knowledge that homosexuality, while certainly not the majority, is a natural variant of sexual orientation and is found in at least 1000 species of the animal kingdom, in spite of a growing recognition by religious scholars that the translations of the bible are not concrete, that homosexuality is NOT a harmful behavior and therefore cannot be a sin, some people continue to twist and filter the information, in an effort to reinforce their beliefs.
Hate groups like NARTH and the AFA prey on these people...and are guilty of using inflammatory speech and spreading terrible lies to reinforce these beliefs in an effort to further their political agenda to block equal rights legislation for gay and lesbian people. How do I know this to be true, and not just 'liberal propaganda?' I listened to what they were saying. I went to their websites and researched, checking their info against the info from the AMA, APA and many other credible sources. I started noticing that every time I would do an internet search for something related to gay/lesbian/bisexual or transgender issues, I would get a bunch of religious websites. So, I did a google search of just the term 'homosexuality.' Of the top ten listings, six are religious based websites offering their viewpoint, instead of factual information. This clearly tells me that there is an agenda...and it definitely isn't 'that gay one.' Thank God there are people out there, both gay and straight alike, who are willing to speak the truth.
Okay, that's my rant for the day.
Today someone was actually trying to convice people that homosexual acts are the CAUSE of AIDS. No matter how many times it was pointed out to him that AIDS is caused by a virus and no matter how many links to correct information he was provided with, he still insisted that no, AIDS was caused by two gay people having sex. Can people really be this stupid? Another poster kept insisting that the APA still considers homosexuality a mental disorder, only they now call it 'gender identity disorder,' when in reality 'gender identity disorder' has nothing at all to do with sexual orientation, as a quick google search of the APA will clearly tell you.
It's scary the kinds of beliefs people will hold onto in spite of factual evidence to the contrary. I think it's called 'cognitive dissonance' -the filtering of information that conflicts with what one already believes, in an effort to ignore that information and reinforce one's beliefs (thanks wiki). The example of this phenomenon I was given in college was something like this: WWI prisoners who were systematically rounded up and marched off for execution were routinely told they were going somewhere else for a purpose other than execution, and although they had seen their neighbors marched off the day before and not return, although they had heard the gunfire at the edge of town, the prisoners chose to believe their captors and go with them willingly. I think those who hold negative views of gay people are caught up in this pattern of cognitive dissonance. They have been told all their lives by society, by their families, by their pastors, by other religious zealots that being gay is a choice, that it isn't a natural thing, that homosexuals are going to hell. In spite of all the evidence suggesting the innate state of sexual orientation, despite knowledge that homosexuality, while certainly not the majority, is a natural variant of sexual orientation and is found in at least 1000 species of the animal kingdom, in spite of a growing recognition by religious scholars that the translations of the bible are not concrete, that homosexuality is NOT a harmful behavior and therefore cannot be a sin, some people continue to twist and filter the information, in an effort to reinforce their beliefs.
Hate groups like NARTH and the AFA prey on these people...and are guilty of using inflammatory speech and spreading terrible lies to reinforce these beliefs in an effort to further their political agenda to block equal rights legislation for gay and lesbian people. How do I know this to be true, and not just 'liberal propaganda?' I listened to what they were saying. I went to their websites and researched, checking their info against the info from the AMA, APA and many other credible sources. I started noticing that every time I would do an internet search for something related to gay/lesbian/bisexual or transgender issues, I would get a bunch of religious websites. So, I did a google search of just the term 'homosexuality.' Of the top ten listings, six are religious based websites offering their viewpoint, instead of factual information. This clearly tells me that there is an agenda...and it definitely isn't 'that gay one.' Thank God there are people out there, both gay and straight alike, who are willing to speak the truth.
Okay, that's my rant for the day.
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