Gay Marriage Battle Lost in Maine

Depressing. I don't think that relying a majority to guarantee the rights of minority is a very reliable strategy. Here's my take on strategy: http://daisybrain.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/seme-sex-marriage-the-maine-event/

We will continue to be defeated by foolish dedication to the single word "marriage," which never has described what we want or even what to call each other. We could have civil unions in enough states to repeal DADT and DOMA with strokes of a few pens if we weren't mired in the church-owned twaddle of "marriage." What guy or girl wants to be publicly called a "husband" or "wife?" We're partners and that's that.

We will continue to be defeated by foolish dedication to the single word "marriage," which never has described what we want or even what to call each other. We could have civil unions in enough states to repeal DADT and DOMA with strokes of a few pens if we weren't mired in the church-owned twaddle of "marriage." What guy or girl wants to be publicly called a "husband" or "wife?" We're partners and that's that.

No more Mr. Nice Gay. We need to stop wasting time and money on losing popular vote battles. I am tired of all of the politicians who want our votes and money but who end up doing nothing for us. Democrats may not have their majorities in Congress after the 2010 elections, so these issues must be handled NOW. The "fierce urgency of now" requires action by a "fierce advocate." We need to FLOOD the court system with lawsuits. We need to think: "What would Harvey do?" Go to http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_2915120374#/group.php?gid=173640560745&ref=ts and join No Change, No Money to send a message that our hard earned and unequally taxed dollars will not be taken for granted any more. The GAY-TM is closed.

Listen up Iowa! These people will stop at nothing. They will work tirelessly. They will fight dirty. They will not rest until they have taken away your civil rights. You are in their cross-hairs!

Stephen, You somehow missed my point by stating: " Great BP! NOw we are blaming the victim for the crime! It is definitely NOT gay peoples' fault they are being discrimnated agianst....i understand this is upsetting and that a lot of people are upset, however blaming gay people is an odd way to express that!" This seems to be a rather knee-jerk response. I am in a thirty year relationship and I am NOT "blaming the victim." I am blaming the lack of political "smarts" the gay community seems to muster. I am also stating once again that insisting on the term "marriage" turned socially moderate voters against us. My emphasis is on obtaining Federal rights and I would be happy to let go of the term marriage, to achieve those. You can keep your wedding cake, I just want my partner to get my Social Security benefits if I die.

By all accounts the Catholic Church played a major role in this human rights disaster. How the planet's Number One pedophilia-cover-up institution can purport to be an authority on sexual morality, and be taken seriously, is beyond me.

Church tax breaks are intended for religious purposes only! Proponents of marriage equality cannot deduct donations from income tax because its for a political cause, but opponents of equality who funnel their donations through churches and religious organizations like the Knights of Columbus do get tax deductions. That's unfair! At the very least, churches and religious front organizations that flout their tax-exempt status should be forced to pay income taxes on that portion of the collection plate that they donate to political advocacy campaigns or that they spend directly on advocacy themselves. As a result of allowing religious organizations to flout tax law with impunity, the opponents of marriage equality get more political bang for their buck than do the proponents of equality. Moreover, ALL taxpayers are, in effect, forced to subsidize the social aims of those who advocate for their agenda in the name of religion. That's not just unfair, its also illegal, and its un-American!

To Tetunicois: again, forgive me if my information wasn't accurate, I just had a quick look on the net, apparently Sweden and Norway also joined the countries where same sex marriage is recognized. My point is: that is still a minority of European countries to enable to call Europe a tolerant continent on the matter. And responding on the French fight: just like in the US, French activists are fighting and I wish them all the luck in the world, but you proved my point stating that you still have to “fight” for your rights in France, just like people do over here in the US (and I repeat, I’m a Belgian citizen in the US, I have no reason to defend Americans). I just would like people to stop picturing the US as the only “retarded” country where gays have to battle for their rights, that is making an unfair parody of reality. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of retarded countries, and some of them are also situated in Europe.

To Thomas NYC: I do apologize about my statements about Hungary. I was indeed referring to the extreme right wing reactions over there, comparable to mentalities in some of the US-states… but that doesn’t say anything about the legislation in Hungary of course, I shouldn’t have confused both. My message remains though: a lot of people at both sides of the Atlantic picture Europe as a haven of “gay marriage tolerance”, which doesn’t correspond to the reality at all. Just like it is not fair picturing the US as a bastion of gay marriage intolerance. For some reason, this doesn't get media attention: the population of my State of Washington has approved domestic partnership yesterday by a 52%-48% margin. Analizing the figures, it's obvious that rural areas rejected DP, urban areas accepted it. I think that this a fairer generalization that can be made allover the globe: rural areas are conservative, urban areas more tolerant. Unfortunately there's a lot of rural areas in the US!