I’m not Keith Olbermann’s biggest fan.  Honestly, even today I feel like his passion is sometimes misdirected, but his comments supporting same-sex-marriage [ no on Proposition 8 ] are spot-on, and he deserves accoldades for his passion, professionalism and journalism.  Take a minute to hear his word and try to explain how you could possibly justify voting to change the constitution to segregate a portion of the population based on their sexual preferences.

Ranter

The Jehovah’s Witnesses came to my door this morning and when my wife saw them through the screen door she started to head them off with a simple “we’re not interested, thank you,” but before she could get the whole sentence out the lady interrupted my wife to say, “we’re Jehovah’s Witnesses.  We have something we’d like to share with you.”

Not to be deterred my wife added, “I know who you are, we’re not interested.”

Without missing a beat the lady outside said, “oh, I didn’t want you to think we’re Mormons.”  And then she went on her way.

My wife was quick to respond that they’re all the same to us, before she and I realized what she had said.  How appalling it is that one religion would try to justify their own organization by degrading another?  My readers already know that I’m unhappy that the Mormons are supporting Proposition 8 but I’m even more appalled that a Jehovah’s Witness, generally a non-voter, would take advantage of someon while they’re getting bashed in the news.  Aren’t religious folks supposed to stand up for each other?

Ranter

Deirdre Bourdet, left, and Leslie Caccamese spent Saturday with hundreds getting married in San Francisco, March 2004.

There are so many reasons that I’m proud to live in California, and a few that make my stomach turn.  I’ve used this blog to show my support for the rights of gay couples wanting to get married in California, and although I thought that I’d done my piece to help, seeing the press today brings tears of frustration to my eyes and renews the anger that I feel towards the majority of Californians that consider it acceptable to legislate discrimination.  Where is their conscience?

Right now my biggest hope is that I won’t have to explain to my daughters that we live in an environment that discriminates against people because of the color of their skin, where they go to church or their sexual orientation.  I hope that my daughters will know that all Americans share the same rights and privileges under law because we, as a country, have voted to maintain those rights.  Ultimately, I hope that our “don’t ask, don’t tell” military will continue to defend those rights so that someday it might be possible for all world citizens to share those same rights.  For now, I’ll tell them that how Connecticut does it is right and that California will catch up at some point in the future – hopefully sooner rather than later.

Reading through some of the political pieces that are out there and even trolling through craigslist.org, the arguments against gay marriage are so far out there it’s difficult to completely understand how people can put those words together and still sleep at night.  Seriously, to clarify for those of you looking to support the ban on gay marriage, this isn’t going to get rid of gays, force your children to be homosexual, teach gay sex in school, or change what it means for you to be married to your husband or wife.  It’s not going to change anything for you – other than allowing you to sleep at night because you know that you’ve worked to uphold the constitution.  If your religious beliefs that are impacting your beliefs of what constitutes husband and wife, I would recommend that you look really deep and make sure that the institution that creates your church is translating the words of the bible correctly and not interpreting them to meet what the church wants to continue their stranglehold on it’s flock.

For those of you that continue to support equality for everyone and the rights of gays to marry, I applaud you and wish you success.  I will continue to fight from my stand here and in the community until we have distanced ourselves from the blight of discrimination.

Ranter

It’s obvious from the polls and from the results that Californians don’t understand the ramifications to a large number of Californians.  They claim same sex marriage is a religious issue and I’m calling bullshit.  This is an issue of human rights and all you Catholics and Mormons out there that are supporting this belief that it’s okay to legislate discrimination need to start voting with your conscience, because your child-molesting, polygamyst lifestyles are next.  If you’re going to bring together church and state it’s only a matter of time before the state tries to make decisions about your lifestyles and right now I can’t wait to cast my vote on that issue.

One of the Proposition 8 strategists, Jeff Flint, is quoted as saying:

“I think the voters were thinking, well, if it makes them happy, why shouldn’t we let gay couples get married. And I think we made them realize that there are broader implications to society and particularly the children when you make that fundamental change that’s at the core of how society is organized, which is marriage.”

From my perspective – as a straight, married male with two young children, that sounds like a load of crap.  Society isn’t fundamentally organized by marriage – it’s organized by equality.  Even the churches preach that we should treat everyone equally – except the homosexuals, I guess, they should be treated differently.  I’m surprised they can still come to church… I guess that’s probably next.  I’m not a religious zealot, and I don’t believe that this is really what any God would approve of.  The Maker isn’t going to make people worthy of less than any other people.

At the same time this was happening in California, Florida and Arizona quietly passed similar legislation with similar bullshit reasoning.  And, I really hope, when all this plays out over the next few years that the American public will begin to realize that the things we hold most dear – the democracy, equality, and right to free speach and religion – can be taken away based on race, gender, sexual preference and religion.  Don’t think it can’t happen, because the more we take away from one group of people the more likely it is that everyone risks losing something.

Ranter

Ranter

I’m against Proposition 8 – let people marry who they want.  He’s for it – believes there’s something wrong with the law.  Figuring that didn’t make much sense I asked, “what do you think is wrong with the law?”  Now, I’m not much of a legal mind, but his response saying “it’s not written correctly” sounded odd to me. He’s married to a Fillipino, so I added in there, “how would you feel if they said you couldn’t stay married to your wife because she’s not the same race?”

He paused for a minute and said, “I’m still voting for Prop 8, because it’s not written right.”  Now I was getting a little frustrated – this didn’t make sense to me.  We’re not even talking about writing a law here we’re talking about repealing a law that’s already been written.  So, I asked my question again, “seems like a stupid response considering how its written isn’t the point.  Are you voting to legislate discrimination or not?”

His response: “It’s not written right – marriage is between a man and a woman.”  After that and my comment about the next change being race related we parted ways and finished our Trick or Treating with the kids separately.  How do you feel?

Ranter

Apparently not all mormons feel the same about California’s Proposition 8, which I guess leaves the dissenters wondering why they’re spending so much time, money and energy donating to the church when their fundamental beliefs about human rights contradict those of that same church.  This same supposition could hold true for all of California’s Catholic bigots bishops (because we know how some of them feel about little boys), some of the Christians and many of the Orthodox Jews.  These groups seem to feel that they have the most to lose by controlling the sacred rights of marriage between a husband and wife.

Right now it would appear that he Mormons are receiving the most negative attention caused by their support of the Yes on 8 campaign, but at the same time it’s my belief that church and state should remain divided and any organization that chooses to support a cause as controversial as removing human rights from a class of people deserves to be treated with equally as any other – church or not – and they open themselves up to any critisiscm that comes of it.  At the same time companies like Apple are showing their worth committing $100,000 to defeat Proposition 8 and putting their money where their mouth is – showing that big business isn’t all evil.

Of course, it shouldn’t bode well for supporters of Prop 8 knowing that the parents of children featured in the latest prop 8 ad are now demanding that the commercial using their children be taken off the air.  That same ad, suggesting that now California teachers will have to teach same sex union in classrooms is being condemned by educators, and even actors are almost universally vocalizing their oppostion to Prop 8.  Look around and you may quickly find that the religious zealots are pretty much the only people supporting this cause.  Where do you want to be when this comes to a head?

Vote No on Prop 8.

Ranter

I’m not gay, and frankly I could care less about those that are.  In all my years not one of my gay friends has tried to sneak one on me.  In their defense, they’re not too overt about it either.  On the other hand, some of my straight friends would have tried to fuck sheep if they could catch them while drunk.  So what do I care if they find someone with similar interests and they want to get married?  Why should they suffer any less?

Next to the “they’re gonna fuck me” argument from these people seems to be what the bible says.  Do I have to get started on this?  Do these people really think that God wrote the bible?  Wow… a hell of a lot of people are going to be really disappointed in their afterlife and for what?  Because they believe the literal translation of the words “man and woman,” they believe it’s okay to sacrifice the rights of a human being?  News flash, not everyone believes in the bible and they’re all doing okay – why do they all have to listen to your ideals and stupid ass opinions?  I’ve never once see a proposition on the ballet saying that all Christians should be nailed to the stake just because.

The final argument that seens totally over the top to me is the argument about education and how we’re going to have to teach our kids that a prince can marry a prince.  My wife is a teacher and I have two daughters – from the teacher perspective, my wife doesn’t think it will be a big deal.  From the parentaly perspective – who cares – I think it’s good for my daughters to know that some people are gay and that it’s okay.  What I think is more important is that they know I think it’s okay if they want to be gay and that I will treat them and all gays equally.  In my mind, and what I hope to instill in my daughters, is simple: human rights come first.  Period.

So there you have it – my first rant – my opinions on gay rights and my slamming on those against Proposition 8.  Hope you enjoyed it – plenty more to come.

Ranter

Finally,