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Lizbeth Marcs ([info]liz_marcs) wrote in [info]otf_wank,
@ 2007-06-16 12:23:00


Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Current mood:*sporfle!*

Massachusetts Brings the Wank...
Or rather, people from Tennessee bring the wank to Massachusetts via the magic of teh Internets.

Oh, joy.

On Thursday, the Massachusetts state Legislature killed a proposed ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to define marriage as an institution between one man and one woman by a vote of 45 (for the ballot initiative) to 151 (against the ballot initiative). Since Massachusetts is the only state in the U.S. that performs and recognizes same-sex marriage, the vote means that the status quo is safe until at least 2012 (which is the earliest that opponents of same-sex marriage could possibly get the question to the ballot).

[I won't get into the process of explaining how the state constitution is amended here, since it is a little on the complicated side. Suffice to say that there was an election last year where not one supporter of SSM marriage was voted out of office, but more than one opponent of SSM marriage was. Enough opponents were voted out in general elections that the end result was Thursday's vote.]

Most of the folks (with one or two exceptions) on the b0st0n community are pleased with the result. The discussion is not terribly wanky, and what disagreement there is remains somewhat polite between opposing parties.

And that, most people thought, would be the end of that.

Enter blisspath, who has taken it upon himself/herself to inform the b0st0n community that those darn liberals of Massachusetts are...well, I'm not sure, really.

Hypocrite shows up in the tl;dr rant. So does "voter disenfranchisement" (ummmm, did he/she miss the part where pro-SSM legislators were kept in office or voted into office in 2006, while anti-SSM legislators were voted out?).

And also, don't ask me how, the Massachusetts Legislature is somehow guilty of squashing the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (hunh?).

Best part of all?

blisspath is from Tennessee.

Cue response from the b0st0n community: "WtF? Who asked you?"

People point out that in a representative democracy, the voters don't get to decide every little thing by popular vote. Other people pointed out that the state followed the legal constitutional procedure, so the day was won fair and square. Other people point out that the anti-SSM side lost despite some dirty pool to collect signatures from voters, so stop throwing around accusations against the pro-SSM side. And, of course, some angry religion wank.

Overall, not terribly wanky in and of itself, until this post, wherein blisspath announces that he/she is not sticking around to continue the argument (probably because the locals keep beating he/she with clue sticks).

Instead, he/she will zoom off to annoy people on the LJ New Jersey community by telling them how they should govern themselves from his/her home in Tennessee.

Be sure to check out this accusation that the OP deleted responses.

Tiny, but tasty political wank...although probably more amusing if you actually live in Massachusetts.

ETA: For a real sporfling good time, check out this wanky brawl over on honestyisabitch where both sides go at it hammer and tongs in more tl;dr posts than you've ever seen in your life. So much for anomie666 and anyone else trying to be reasonable about SSM. Be careful not to drown in the splooge. (thanks [info]zyna_kat!)

Also, it appears our Tennessee crusader is taking his/her crusade to other LJ comms.



(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]chikane
2007-06-16 09:46 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, it's not as if ZE EVIL GAYZ are trying to make their lavender stormtroopers storm into churches, forcing the priests at gunpoint to declare them man and man/wife and wife.

It's the legal stuff we're after. Pretty ceremonies can be held at other places anyway.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]harrylovesron
2007-06-16 10:06 pm UTC (link)
It's the legal stuff we're after. Pretty ceremonies can be held at other places anyway.

Exactly. I've tried explaining this to anti-gay marriage people, but they DO NOT GET IT. They're all "MARRIDJ IS GONNA BE DESTROYED OH SHI-" without stopping to acknowledge that no, gay folks are NOT in fact, as you so awesomely put it, trying to make the lavender stormtroopers storm into churches and force them to perform unions they don't wish to. Let marriage remain the religious institution if they insist it must, but those fuckers need to stop arguing that granting legal rights is SPESHIL RIGHTS AND WILL DESTROY US OMG.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]chikane
2007-06-16 10:23 pm UTC (link)
I'm quite happy to live in a nation where the crazies aren't that ...popular.
I mean, we got the "gay marriages shouldn't be equal!" people too, but they are much, much more calm about it. It's kinda hard to be all tough against those civil unions when the political ally is led by an openly homosexual ^^;

Thus we have civil unions(not completely equal, but on the way there...), and it's possible to adopt children, too.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]harrylovesron
2007-06-16 11:35 pm UTC (link)
Thus we have civil unions(not completely equal, but on the way there...), and it's possible to adopt children, too.

I'm glad at least some countries have sense. I hope the U.S. starts going in that direction, but I'm not holding my breath. Here we have the loud voices screaming about how gay couples should have no rights at all. I think in some states in the U.S. it is legal for gay couples to adopt children, but there are many people against it. They try to claim that it's psychologically damaging to children to not be raised by a man/woman couple- pointedly ignoring the large number of single parents in the nation and the fact that heterosexual couples can be shitty parents.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]squib
2007-06-17 12:37 am UTC (link)
They try to claim that it's psychologically damaging to children to not be raised by a man/woman couple- pointedly ignoring the large number of single parents in the nation and the fact that heterosexual couples can be shitty parents.

And the incredibly large and growing body of evidence that it's NOT damaging. (I write scientific abstracts for a living, and I've seen at least 3 large studies with that conclusion come across my desk-- and I'm not specifically looking for it. I'm sure any comprehensive database search would turn up a whole lot more.)

There's also the interesting article that was in the Washington Post shortly after Falwell's death about the changing attitudes of Evangelicals. It seems that even amongst the most stalwartly anti-gay denominations, younger adherents are markedly more tolerant of gays and lesbians than are their parents. So I think we'll get there. It'll take way the hell longer than it should, but these people are on the wrong side of both history *and* science.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]harrylovesron
2007-06-17 01:23 am UTC (link)
Thank you for helping restore a little bit of my faith in humanity.

And the incredibly large and growing body of evidence that it's NOT damaging. (I write scientific abstracts for a living, and I've seen at least 3 large studies with that conclusion come across my desk

Yup, and common sense should have said it long before studies did. I'm sure the many successful single parents in the world and the kids they raised would beg to differ that being raised in a non-traditional mother-and-father environment is "damaging". But then again, hang-wringing and "OMG THINK OF THE CHEEEEELDREN" pleas are nothing new from the fundie lot.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]chikane
2007-06-17 07:04 am UTC (link)
The fun fact is that the only reason it is more damaging is homophobia -
"What, your parents are STRRANGE? EWWWW! LOOK THATS THE ONE WITH TWO STRANGE PARENTS!"

And that's not really changing much, for bullies always find something to bully for.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]dragonfangirl
2007-06-17 10:14 am UTC (link)
Because, you know, it's not all that difficult to find a church that will perform same-sex marriages. Plenty of ministers are willing to. Any Unitarian minister will do it, AFAIK, and lots of Episcopalian ministers as well. And those are just the two protestant sects I know anything about.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]antimatterspork
2007-06-17 06:46 pm UTC (link)
I don't even think that Unitarians count as protestant anymore. We've gotten rid of dogma, and I think less than half of our congregation even believes Jesus existed at all.

Also, our minister is practically a Buddhist.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]melusina
2007-06-17 07:59 pm UTC (link)
"Practically Buddhist" describes a lot of Unitarians these days, I find.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]drhenryjekyll
2007-06-20 04:02 pm UTC (link)
I think our minister would do a commitment ceremony, but gay marriages aren't recognized by the United Methodist Church, so I'm not sure what it'd be worth.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]rimrunner
2007-07-02 06:15 pm UTC (link)
You'd have a pretty hard time finding a Pagan minister(*) who WON'T do it...






* yes they do exist

(Reply to this)(Parent)


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