October 3, 2008
Once Again, Only You Can Save Marriage
California, Please Vote No On Proposition 8 from Stop8.org on Vimeo.
While Sarah Palin held her own last night during last night's debate, more or less, and Joe Biden shed an effeminate tear that touched millions, both team McCain-Palin and team Barack-Biden bit it hard when it came to human rights. Take, for example, their stances against same-sex marriage, which both candidates, it seems, are 100% against. (But Palin doesn't mind the queers doing her hair and makeup; she's very "tolerant" of people, you see. All of them.)
And what with those cheap Yes on Prop 8 commercials bashing Mayor Newsom -- featuring Pepperdine University law professor Richard M. Peterson, who, according to his bio, "has more than thirty years experience working with adolescents and teenagers in a variety of capacities including service as a director of youth organizations for his church, athletic coach, adult leader for various troops of the Boy Scouts of America, and has taught numerous religious classes." What? Just saying is all. -- we think this is a perfect time to revisit efforts to strike down Proposition 8, the anti-marriage Constitutional amendment. Because, in the words of Mattymatt, "Who knows what kind of 'impure' unions they'll target next? This is an important showdown for all of us: gay, straight, and whatever."
How can you help? Find out after the jump. Please.
If you're a queer couple and you'd like to help out, drop Matt a line at contact - at - stop8 - dot - org. He'd like to sit down and interview you for a half hour or so, This-American-Life-style. Don't worry, he's super friendly and extremely gentle.
And if you're not a gay couple? Well, you can still be a part of it; create a 5-second video clip of yourself saying "I'm voting No On 8" and email it (in whatever format you like) to the same address, contact - at - stop8 - dot - org. Or take a photo of yourself with an "I'm Voting No On 8" sign and tag it noon8.
Otherwise, go and visit sto8.org to check out interviews, Digg it, peruse the gallery of people (like Matt, Lev, Violet Blue, Sarah from Curbed, your editor Brock, and more) with an "I'm Voting No On 8" sign, and find out other ways you can help.
Really, there's loads that you can do to help; so do something.
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You forgot to point out that Biden claimed he and Obama are also 100% against. You wonder why Nader calls Obama gutless.
i'll do it as long as you don't make my boyfriend and i speak in unison.
Its a little much to say she held her own. She can recite the pablum but can't defend it, she's a deep as a birdbath.
to paraphrase dennis green, she is who we thought she was, and Biden let her off the hook. so if you wanna crown her, go ahead.
I have a great aunt who's like a grinning skull TV fossil of great antiquity. She used to say things like, "when I was in high school, my best friend was a black girl!" When she said these things, I imagined a teenaged version of her, sepia toned and wearing the latest hipster youth fashions of the Depression Era, chasing after this poor African American girl who didn't know what she did to deserve being stalked like that but she sure wished she could live her life without being harassed by my great aunt. Something tells me that these events never actually occurred. Something tells me my aunt saw it on a TV someplace and in her decrepitude mistook it for events from her own actual life.
Anyway, Sarah Palin reminds me of my great aunt. One of her best friends "chose" to be a lesbeing? Who'd choose that dreadful fate? I guess that's sorta like white trash hottie, Levi Johnston, "choosing" to marry Palin's slutty teen daughter. Is it still a choice if you have a family of snowbillys at your front door, rifles in hand?
I feel sorry for Sarah Palin.
i mean i guess i can understand where obama/biden are coming from. there are politicians who cling to their beliefs even if it takes away their viability, but anyone who wants to get elected needs to be practical. outside of SF, most of the united states is wishy-washy about gays.
At that point in the "debate" they both sounded like they just wanted to move on and not piss anyone off. The democrats know they'll get the votes of those who support gay marriage, so why would they say something that would abandon the dipshits who are against it? Pandering to the dipshits...gotta love politics!
Where were you all when my marriage needed saving? I could have done with a few votes
@TAYM:
Just because Bristol Palin got pregnant does not mean she was "slutty." Any female who isn't a virgin could have wound up in her shoes, she's almost 18, for crying out loud. Luckily for most of us, our mothers weren't crazy, anti-choice, abstinence only education people willing to throw their own daughters under the bus in pursuit of political goals.
You wanna knock Sarah Palin, do it all day long and I'll agree. You want to heap misery on this poor kid who probably wishes she was dead right now? That's just cruel.
I agree with the rest of your post.
I agree with Nader re Biden/Obama's stance re gay marriage. When your loved one is in the emergency room, do you really want to stand there, papers in hand, arguing about what rights a civil union entitles you to? No one will quibble when you say "we're married," and I think the Democrats' stance on this is wrong.
When LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act, he said "we just lost the south." And he was right, but he knew he was doing the right thing. THAT is leadership. How hard would it be to say "I think gays should have the same rights everyone else does" and move on? If that one little admission would sink his candidacy then this country deserves to spiral into third-world toilet status.
Thanks bluecanary...I totally agree with you...there is NO leadership, both sides speak in this "benign" code that their constituency understands and that they hope the critical-middle portion that doesn't agree with them, won't pick up on. It's disheartening.
There's even more you can do to stop Prop 8! Locate your nearest NO On Prop 8 headquarters at www.noonprop8.com and join a group of folks talking to voters about this unfair amendment.
I agree everyone should be equal but I still thought these statements were progressive for the rest of the country. (not for me i am with nader on this one gay marriage is a equity issue)
Pro: It’s a step in the right direction and a better alternative then Palin and Co.
Clarification Biden and Obama are for civil unions. They even got Palin last night to agree on that point, even though she is against all of gay marriage and civil unions in her belief system. Biden explicitly said it’s up to everyone’s religious institutions (he should have said state constitutions like Obama has said in the past) to define their own concept of marriage. As far as rules and regulations everyone would be for the most part equal in the federal governments mind (outside of verbiage between marriage and union). Plus traditionally marriage rights and regulations have always been a state right to define.
Con: The biggest draw backs would be the systematic acknowledgement of a government that views gay people as second class citizens (by establishing a second tier for marriage by using the word union, we tend to do that a lot here in this countries history). As well as the unwillingness to stop the federal loopholes in federal taxes where people in civil unions and domestic partnerships pay at the single household level (higher level) instead of receiving the tax breaks of family/joint filing.
Con: Another draw back about civil unions is that states are usually able to recognize or not recognize other states marriage licenses/unions. But if everyone had to accept civil unions there would be fewer differences (you would have to marry in California or other places that have (good) civil unions and then come back to the state that doesn’t do them, with the idea that the state then had to recognize federal law because they aren’t going to get an amendment to the constitution for this. This would cause some strain between state and federal powers similar to the medical marijuana issue.).
Conclusion: Let’s beat the shit out of Prop.8 and continue to make our state the haven for diversity, progress and acceptance.
Here are some quotes:
“Absolutely,” Biden said. “Do I support granting same-sex benefits? Absolutely, positively. Look, in an Obama-Biden administration, there will be absolutely no distinction from a constitutional standpoint or a legal standpoint between a same-sex and a heterosexual couple.
http://glassbooth.org/explore/index/joe-biden/2/gay-rights/15/
Good website with various links to what Biden has said on the issue.
http://glassbooth.org/explore/index/sarah-palin/21/gay-rights/15/
Sarah palin on the issue
@Bluecanary
Fair enough. To be honest, I regretted the choice of that word almost immediately. It occurred to me that I was being sexist. I'm a bad, selfish Angry Young Man.
I watched the debate last night in a far flung airport bar, surrounded by a cross section of Middle Amurrica. I traded comments on Biden and Plain's performances with a fellow standing next to me. At the beginning of the debate, he made it clear that he was one of those dullards who is still undecided. I think I talked him over to Barry's side. I put it this way - Barry was frequently criticized for not having enough foreign policy experience, among other things. He chose Biden, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as his running mate because their skills and experience complement one another. McCain chose Palin for one reason and one reason only - he needed to appeal to the Fundies and he needs the Fundies if he's going to get elected. She brings nothing to his ticket, excluding her appeal to white trash Amurrica, and is actually a liability. Barry chose a running mate who will make him a better leader. McCain chose running mate who will get him elected. That says it all.
I've always found the anti-gay marriage position taken by democrats to be disingenuous. However, considering what most of this country thinks of the issue and the gays in general, I thought Biden's remarks last night were very brave.
Well put TAYM.
anyone who has read even the most basic of cultural anthropology textbooks knows that "marriage" is pretty loosely defined around the world. most of the standards for marriage were based on land and wealth acquisition, not some jeebus notion of one-man-one-woman. fark! the divorce rate in the US is like, what, 51 percent? god forbid we should have loving couples commit themselves to one another for the right reasons.
'cause if teh gays start actin like us, what'll we hate em for?
aside from the folsom street fair?
i can't even think of a dirty-enough word to call people who don't agree with same-sex marriage.
The only reason to be against same-sex marriage is because you're in the closet.