7 posts tagged “gay marriage amendment”

Sean muses...

I keep turning to this ad and listening to its inspiring words. The last line "You got to give them hope!" truly inspires me everytime I hear it. Harvey Milk wasn't a perfect man and he certainly wouldn't have passed the muster of "decency" in many quarters. One thing ran true about Harvey, however, he inspired others to take up the lance against the windmill. And that is what we need in the gay community and with what we are told to call our "gay allies." We need to have someone, something rally us all to charge the windmill and beat it.

Is the leadership today in gay organizations around the nation doing that? Are we "coming out" and giving money and time to fight the right's challenge against our lives and families to be counted the "same?"

We need to give ourselves hope and wake this nation up and say we matter too and tell them why.

I fear that the economic crisis at the moment will allow President Barack Obama, the Congress, the nation's governors, and the state legislatures to push aside our concerns in the coming 2 years and we will not progress toward securing our rights in the "pursuit of happiness" because it is not seen as progressing the nation as a whole economically. To that I argue, we are families in economic disadvantage. The difference is we are not looking for a hand out. We are looking for justice under the law.

• We want laws to secure our jobs in protection of our "sexual orientation." Thirty states still do not do this although many of the Fortune 500 do. 
• We want laws that protect our families. There should be laws allowing us to marry so we can enjoy the same benefits all American do already: to choose who we love and create a legal partnership between two people so that mutual financial assets are secured. 
• We want laws protecting our children. We want all gays and lesbians to have the ability to choose whether to adopt children or participate in the right to second parent adoption. We want to ensure both parents biological or not have a legal care-giving role in our children's lives even if the relationship does not work out.  

How is this not what straight Americans want themselves? We want to be secure in our job, secure in our home, and security for our children. Are we not the same?

We must challenge tradition openly in the next two years. We must not shy from asking our President, Senator, Governor, Congressman, State Senator, State Representative, Councilman, County Supervisor, and Ward Leader what their position is on our issues.

We must ask what our employer's discrimination policy is and does it include us.

We must show our neighbors that we are families supportive in every way they are. We must in the end show ourselves and have our voice heard. This is a time to wake up not be discouraged. We must take the battle to the parlor not just the street.

We must take it to each person in America and ask them why should we not have what we have and listen respectfully but demand respect in return when it is our time to speak.

We must take up the flag ourselves now and use these four losses in California, Florida, Arkansas, and Arizona and show America how much we care and how much we want to be a permanent part of the American quilt. Because if we do not fight, noone will and noone will know to join us.    

We are nearly at the summit. We can do it!    

Sean ponders this "evil" idea...

What if the gay community started a petition drive in all 50 states that asked for a referendum on the marriages of their governors?  

Question: Should the marriage of Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Maria Shriver be dissolved? Yes or No

We wouldn't discriminate. We wouldn't make exceptions. If they are unmarried, we select the Attorney General. Make it real. Take it home. Force the issue. If our marriages as a group can be on the ballot why not theirs?

Maybe we take the tact of a Washington state activist who tried to put on the ballot a referendum that took the literal comments of the Washington State Supreme Court and advocated that marraiges that did not produce a child in 2 years after the marriage date should be dissolved. Now this is something that wouldn't work, but I think you understand that tactic.

If there isn't a ballot initiative process, find another way to put something on a ballot or in legislation that takes a real person and forces America to look at the whole issue at a microscopic level. Most of the measures wouldn't get on the ballot or pass even. But there has to be a way of truly shocking America in a way that is not violent but really takes the issue home. Is it a stunt? Of course. But a true gay ally could even step up and put their own marriage on the plate.

We must drive home the notion of our marriages being the "same" and not different. Sometimes stretching the idea to the extreme sometimes really shows that idea.

Just an idea to stress a point.

The McFreeds report...

SFGate.com and AfterElton.com are reporting the following about retired NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback and MVP of Super Bowl XXIX Steve Young and his wife Barb Young are coming out against Proposition 8, donating money to the cause of deating it, AND have a yard sign on their front lawn!  Even more significant is that the Youngs are doing this against their church, which they are very devoted to! Thanks Steve!

From AfterElton.com:

This weekend, Steve Young and his wife, Barb Young, made it clear they don't support anti-gay discrimination in California by coming out publicly against Proposition 8 and donating $50,000 to help defeat the measure. Via Equality California, Barb Young issued a statement saying "We believe all families matter, and we do not believe in discrimination, therefore, our family will vote against Prop. 8." The lawn of the Young home also sports No on 8 signs. (Note: While it is Barb Young's name on the check to No on 8, she also made another statement making it clear that Steve agrees with and supports her.)

It should be noted that Young, a Hall of Fame player and MVP of Super Bowl XXIX, isn't just any old retired NFL quarterback. He's also a member of the Mormon Church that has poured millions of dollars into into passing Proposition 8. And Young isn't any old Mormon either — he's a direct descendant of Brigham Young (the second president of the Mormon church) and has been one of the church's most visible Mormons. Frankly, the Youngs' stance on Proposition 8 is rather shocking given how invested the Mormon church is in passing the anti-gay amendment.

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From SFGate.com Political Blog:

The signs on the front lawn of former 49er quarterback Steve Young's Peninsula home say "No on Prop. 8," which normally wouldn't be much of a story in the Bay Area, a gay-friendly region which is the center of opposition to the effort to ban same-sex marriage in the state.

But Young isn't only a Hall of Fame quarterback. He's also the great-great-great grandson of Brigham Young, the second president of the Mormon church. The church has pushed hard and publicly for Prop. 8 and Mormons have pumped millions into the campaign.

Young also isn't just any church member. During his years in the NFL, he was one of the nation's most visible Mormons. He graduated from BYU, which was named for his ancestor, and received his law degree there. In a 1996 "60 Minute" interview, he said that he still had plans to go on the church mission he missed in college and had no problem tithing 10 percent of his earnings to the church. He retains close ties to Utah, married his wife, Barbara, at a temple in Hawaii and even served as narrator for a short video on the Mormon church and its history, done for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah.

Given all that, it's surprising to see Young's family lining up on the opposite side of the church, especially after Mormon leaders in Salt Lake City sent a letter last June that asked all California church members to do all they could to support the Prop. 8 effort by "donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman."

While it's Barb Young's name that appears on the checks, she made it clear in a statement issued today through Equality California that the contributions are a family affair.

"We believe ALL families matter and we do not believe in discrimination, therefore, our family will vote against Prop. 8," she said.

Later, she clarified her remarks with this update: "To expand on my earlier email, I am very passionate about this issue and Steve is completely supportive of me and my work for equality. We both love our Church and are grateful that our Church encourages us to vote our conscience. Steve prefers not to get involved politically on any issue no matter what the cause and therefore makes no endorsement."

The McFreeds share this commentary...

We devote this blog entry to an editorial singer/activist Melissa Etheridge wrote in opposition to California's Proposition 8:

When my official sample ballot for the November 4th general election arrived I was in the kitchen, where my eldest son was practicing tricks on his yo-yo. As I thumbed through the pamphlet I turned to page 5, state measures. There it was, right between prop 7: The Renewable Energy Generation Initiative Statute, and prop 9:The Criminal Justice System Victims’ Rights Parole Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute:

Proposition 8: Eliminates Right of Same-Sex couples To Marry.

I called my son over. I said “Read this, tell me what you think”. He, being 9 years old and very proud of his reading skills, read “Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same sex couples to marry.” He looked at me, very matter-of-factly and said, “Wow, that’s lame.”

A rush of memories came over me. What a long strange trip it has been.

I remembered being a new mom in 1997. I followed the long trail of red tape to find a way to adopt my children so they could be covered by health insurance, or so I could see them in the hospital in case of some emergency, along with dozens of other reasons. I was fortunate enough to have the financial resources to find a lawyer that would help me through the heart breaking adoption system. The social worker would come to my house, numerous times, evaluate me, have me fill out all of the forms and then regretfully deny me my right to adopt my children because California law prohibited social workers from adoption approval of same sex couples. Then my lawyer would take my case to a judge that would read the social worker’s words “regretfully deny” and then the judge would say, “overruled, “allowing me to adopt my children within the legal system. I give thanks to these great people who truly believe in equal rights and risked so much for so many families.

There were the dark times, when proposition 22 was put on the ballot in 2000. It was a strange act, more like a true or false question: ”Marriage in the state of California is defined as being between a man and a woman.” Okay…? It passed.

Then I remembered my own wedding in 2003. I had found my true love, Tammy. It was a magical ceremony that started with my children walking with me down the aisle to meet my bride as the two aisles merged into one. I wanted to stand in front of my community of family and friends and declare my promise to be committed to my partner, now my wife, through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, something that would be tested with my breast cancer diagnosis and treatment later that next year. The day before the wedding Grey Davis gave same sex couples domestic partnership rights, one of his last moments as governor and we proudly hung our certificates on our wall. They were limited rights, but doggone it, it was a beginning.

I will never forget the day earlier this year when the news came down the wire that the Supreme Court of CA. had declared same sex marriage legal. We told our children about it and all danced around the room in family glee. I have four children now, my 11-year-old daughter, my 9-year-old son and boy and girl twins, aged two. We knew the only way our rights could be taken away was through a ballot measure and a constitutional amendment revoking the rights of same sex couples.

And now here it is.

Prop 8 is a blatantly hateful, and fearful proposition that I believe the great citizens of California can see through. The proponents of it have run the most fearful of television ads telling the people that if this doesn’t pass they will have to teach about homos to small grade school children. I can’t seem to recall any relationships ever being taught in school and I can’t find anything about that in this proposition. Now, I know my preference of life mate freaks some people out. Maybe it is just their fear of sex or intimacy. I know that they hold up the bible and say that it’s wrong. Fine, let me stand before my creator and take any consequences there might be to living my life in truth and balance with my spirit.

I believe in our democracy. I believe in our constitution. I believe we live in the greatest country in the world. I believe that we are as strong as our weakest link and if we deny any of our citizens the right to “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” then we deny it to all of us.

I will be waking up with my children on November 5th and I will be fixing them breakfast as I usually do. I look forward to telling them that prop 8 was defeated. I am sure my son will say, “Good, that was lame.”

Yes, lame indeed.

The McFreeds announce...

Connecticut's state supreme court announced today that it was legalizing same-sex marriage in a close 4 - 3 ruling on Kerrigan and Mock v. the Connecticut Department of Public Health:

"We conclude that, in light of the history of pernicious discrimination faced by gay men and lesbians, and because the institution of marriage carries with it a status and significance that the newly created classification of civil unions does not embody, the segregation of heterosexual and homosexual couples into separate institutions constitutes a cognizable harm...

...our conventional understanding of marriage must yield to a more contemporary appreciation of the rights entitled to constitutional protection. Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice. To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others. The guarantee of equal protection under the law, and our obligation to uphold that command, forbids us from doing so. In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry."

- Justice Richard N. Palmer for the majority

The only way this can be changed in the state constitution is by amending it via a state constitutional convention. Ironically, Connecticut places a question about calling a convention on the ballot every 8 years or so. Guess what is on that ballot this year??  The Republican Governor says she would not work to change the ruling although she is personally against same-sex marriage. She originally supported the state's current civil unions law.

Since New Jersey is going to legalize in 2009, maybe Delaware will continue the East Coast trend and legalize it in time for our wedding October 10, 2009!

The McFreeds share the following letter from Barack Obama with you...

Barack Obama

Dear Friends,

Thank you for the opportunity to welcome everyone to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club's Pride Breakfast and to congratulate you on continuing a legacy of success, stretching back thirty-six years.  As one of the oldest and most influential LGBT organizations in the country, you have continually rallied to support Democratic candidates and causes, and have fought tirelessly to secure equal rights and opportunities for LGBT Americans in California and throughout the country.  

As the Democratic nominee for President, I am proud to join with and support the LGBT community in an effort to set our nation on a course that recognizes LGBT Americans with full equality under the law. That is why I support extending fully equal rights and benefits to same-sex couples under both state and federal law.  That is why I support repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, and the passage of fully inclusive laws to protect LGBT Americans from hate crimes and employment discrimination. And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states.

For too long, issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It's time to move beyond polarization and live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect. This is no less than a core issue about who we are as Democrats and as Americans.

Finally, I want to congratulate all of you who have shown your love for each other by getting married these last few weeks. My thanks again to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club for allowing me to be a part of today's celebration.  I look forward to working with you in the coming months and years, and I wish you all continued success. 

Sincerely,  
Barack Obama

Sean reports...

Well, another federal U.S. Constitutional Amendment has been submitted before Congress. With the Democratic Party majority in charge, the amendment will probably not even come up for a vote. Here is the text:

Section 1. This article may be cited as the Marriage Protection Amendment.

Section 2. Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.

The congressional sponsors? Senators Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and David Vitter (R-Louisiana).

(pauses for laughter)

It's nice to see that an allegedly (thank you Kathy Griffin) closeted gay man who thinks being in Congress means laws don't apply to him as well as his word (Didn't he say he was going to resign Sept 2007?) and an admitted former client of the DC Madam can in good conscience introduce legislation together affecting other people's lives especially in the area of defining marriage. Hypocrisy at its best.

I am sure there are other sponsors to this but I am just appalled.  I know forgiveness is a virtue best practiced but this is to easy to just shake your head at and just groan at the audacity.