Okay so I'm just one chick with a handful of followers, an irregularly updated blog, and a house I never leave (hey you try working from home and not having a car) but I'mma rant about Prop 74 and why we as decent people need to approve equal marriage rights. (note there will be more Rants in future regarding this and related topics, if this is not your cup of tea, too fucking bad there's an entire internet out there).
Gay marriage does not harm anyone. Period. The fact that someone's religion tells them that a behavior in society is wrong is irrelevant. This is (theoretically?) a secular nation which means that your religious beliefs are (ought to be) a non-starter. Obviously this isn't the case in thirty-fucking-two states (not to mention the repeated failure of ENDA).
Let's take a moment to discuss the definition of secular, shall we? Bare in mind I am fully aware that secular on paper means fuck all in reality but still let's give it a shot eh?
sec·u·lar
So let's focus on the top 3 'cause honestly I've never ever seen / heard the latter 2 usages.
We know that religion is at the root of a lot of the LGBT discrimination rampant in our communities and society. We know this, again, because we are thinking and aware people.
The hilariously pathetic thing is that the go-to justification passage for this evil behavior (yeah it's fucking evil, I said it) in the Bible is not only from the Old Testament, a portion of the bible that many modern Christians seem to forget isn't exactly meant to be addressing them but rather the Jewish nation and people, y'know the ones a lot of these self-same shitheels damn to hell as godless Christ killers? So let's set that aside for a moment.
There's still another glaring well known error here, the book they cite? Leviticus? It's a bunch of laws for priests. I'm not saying that homosexuality etc was de rigueur and a-okay for laypeople back in the day. I have no idea either way. What I am saying is that taking the sacred words from a text directed at the holy persons of a people you likely despise (either actively or through that bizarre 'pity' so many of these particular 'Christians' cough up the 'you poor Jews just don't know the word of Jay-sus!' vibe) in order to abuse, disenfranchise, violate, and perpetrate violence against another group of people is beyond hypocrisy.
So that's it for the religious argument.
What else? Seriously, what else? Studies have shown time and time again that children raised in LGBT homes are not harmed in any way. In fact many experienced less abuse than in a home with heterosexual caregivers.
It's not going to erode our moral fabric but rather, in my very not humble opinion, strengthen it. How anyone can say we're the home of the free with a straight face while this (and a myriad of other institutional and societal injustices rage freely) mystifies me. We've never been the land of the free. Ever.
But, we have been and can still be the land of the brave, every time someone stands up against bullshit injustice that's an act of bravery. Whether it was the freedom riders in the 60s, abolitionists in the 1800s, Suffragettes here and in the UK in the 20s up through today (if you think women are equal thee and me shall chat) OWS protestors today or Pride organizers these are brave people that are putting themselves in the sometimes literal line of fire to demand an end to societally condoned malicious cruelty.
So stand up in November, be one of the brave, look your friends, coworkers, neighbors, and fellow human fucking beings in the eyes the day after election day and be able to say with a calm and easy heart:
Yes, I voted for equal marriage because I give a shit and I will not allow bigotry hiding behind and within a religion to justify abusing my people. I will not stand by and let this pointless fucking cruelty and abuse continue, I voted for equality not because I'm a saint but because I have the fucking gumption to say enough and start turning the goddamned tide, okay?
Because if you don't? If you vote against equal marriage? How can you look anyone in the eye again? How can you stand to know that you stood before thinking, feeling, wounded and disenfranchised human beings, your people and said yes, I believe you are a second class being, yes I believe you should have your rights restricted or revoked simply for falling in love with another human being.
How the fuck can you do that and consider yourself decent? No really, do you want your nieces and nephews or grand kids or shit your own kids to look up from a history book in ten years and ask you about Prop 74 and have to fucking lie because you were afraid or blinded by talking heads and their dire threats this November?
And once you've said yes to Prop 74 and equal marriage turn your attention to D.C. and help us all be a nation that's a little bit closer to our ideals of equality and secularism. Take the pointless hatred out of our laws and stop favoring a single religious view that is damning all of our people to pointless fucking arbitrary suffering and collusion in the same.
And now I leave you with a clip from the West Wing, a clip that left me on the verge of tears and cheering when I first saw it. Yeah I know it's circled the net a bajillion times but I love it so there. (feel free to post other vids etc in the comments, anyone gets trollish you're out and as the blog runner I am god as far as moderation goes. If you're worried I'll knee jerk negative comments you ought to check out some of the earliest posts on this blog and the bigoted comments that were NOT removed)
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| Check out the Seattle Times special on September 16th |
Let's take a moment to discuss the definition of secular, shall we? Bare in mind I am fully aware that secular on paper means fuck all in reality but still let's give it a shot eh?
sec·u·lar
[sek-yuh-ler]
adjective
1. of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal: secular interests.
3. (of education, a school, etc.) concerned with nonreligious subjects.
4. (of members of the clergy) not belonging to a religious order; not bound by monastic vows ( opposed to regular).
5. occurring or celebrated once in an age or century: the secular games of Rome.
All cribbed from Dictionary.com, per usual.
So let's focus on the top 3 'cause honestly I've never ever seen / heard the latter 2 usages.
Alrighty then, basically what we have is a word that is defined as devoid of religion. The idea is that our nation and thus our laws are to avoid favoring a particular religion or, indeed, any religion. Period.
Now as thinking aware people we all know this may be truer of the United States of America than in other areas of the world but it is also way more true in others (say huuuuuge chunks of Western Europe? Yeah those folks).
We know that religion is at the root of a lot of the LGBT discrimination rampant in our communities and society. We know this, again, because we are thinking and aware people.
The hilariously pathetic thing is that the go-to justification passage for this evil behavior (yeah it's fucking evil, I said it) in the Bible is not only from the Old Testament, a portion of the bible that many modern Christians seem to forget isn't exactly meant to be addressing them but rather the Jewish nation and people, y'know the ones a lot of these self-same shitheels damn to hell as godless Christ killers? So let's set that aside for a moment.
There's still another glaring well known error here, the book they cite? Leviticus? It's a bunch of laws for priests. I'm not saying that homosexuality etc was de rigueur and a-okay for laypeople back in the day. I have no idea either way. What I am saying is that taking the sacred words from a text directed at the holy persons of a people you likely despise (either actively or through that bizarre 'pity' so many of these particular 'Christians' cough up the 'you poor Jews just don't know the word of Jay-sus!' vibe) in order to abuse, disenfranchise, violate, and perpetrate violence against another group of people is beyond hypocrisy.
Never mind the insanely ridiculous other 'laws' outlined in Leviticus that these fuckheads cheerfully ignore outright.
So that's it for the religious argument.
What else? Seriously, what else? Studies have shown time and time again that children raised in LGBT homes are not harmed in any way. In fact many experienced less abuse than in a home with heterosexual caregivers.
It's not going to erode our moral fabric but rather, in my very not humble opinion, strengthen it. How anyone can say we're the home of the free with a straight face while this (and a myriad of other institutional and societal injustices rage freely) mystifies me. We've never been the land of the free. Ever.
But, we have been and can still be the land of the brave, every time someone stands up against bullshit injustice that's an act of bravery. Whether it was the freedom riders in the 60s, abolitionists in the 1800s, Suffragettes here and in the UK in the 20s up through today (if you think women are equal thee and me shall chat) OWS protestors today or Pride organizers these are brave people that are putting themselves in the sometimes literal line of fire to demand an end to societally condoned malicious cruelty.
So stand up in November, be one of the brave, look your friends, coworkers, neighbors, and fellow human fucking beings in the eyes the day after election day and be able to say with a calm and easy heart:
Yes, I voted for equal marriage because I give a shit and I will not allow bigotry hiding behind and within a religion to justify abusing my people. I will not stand by and let this pointless fucking cruelty and abuse continue, I voted for equality not because I'm a saint but because I have the fucking gumption to say enough and start turning the goddamned tide, okay?
Because if you don't? If you vote against equal marriage? How can you look anyone in the eye again? How can you stand to know that you stood before thinking, feeling, wounded and disenfranchised human beings, your people and said yes, I believe you are a second class being, yes I believe you should have your rights restricted or revoked simply for falling in love with another human being.
How the fuck can you do that and consider yourself decent? No really, do you want your nieces and nephews or grand kids or shit your own kids to look up from a history book in ten years and ask you about Prop 74 and have to fucking lie because you were afraid or blinded by talking heads and their dire threats this November?
And once you've said yes to Prop 74 and equal marriage turn your attention to D.C. and help us all be a nation that's a little bit closer to our ideals of equality and secularism. Take the pointless hatred out of our laws and stop favoring a single religious view that is damning all of our people to pointless fucking arbitrary suffering and collusion in the same.
And now I leave you with a clip from the West Wing, a clip that left me on the verge of tears and cheering when I first saw it. Yeah I know it's circled the net a bajillion times but I love it so there. (feel free to post other vids etc in the comments, anyone gets trollish you're out and as the blog runner I am god as far as moderation goes. If you're worried I'll knee jerk negative comments you ought to check out some of the earliest posts on this blog and the bigoted comments that were NOT removed)
