Comments on: Daigle: Maine, Marriage and Marc

By: codydaigle

codydaigle — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:54:09 +0000

Pragmatism wouldn’t have changed the minds and hearts of those voted against us in California and in Maine. As we’ve seen in both places, pragmatic change from above caused the rejection of that change from below.

We can’t just change laws — we also have to change minds. We don’t do that by just saying, “suck it up, things are changing whether you like it or not.” We do that by speaking the truth, again and again, until it does stick.

By: Yhitzak

Yhitzak — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:08:19 +0000

The emotional demonstration here is the very thing that keeps GLBT people from obtaining legal equality. Homophobic/anti-gay entities have demonstrated a total lack of care for our emotional states, and in fact see our emotional satisfaction as an indicator of the normalization of Very Bad Things. Yes, marriage rights are about privacy and love and all that cute stuff, but that cute stuff has not won us nearly as many allies as it has enemies. And I’m sorry, but marriage LAWS are not about allowing ANYONE to lay in bed with their sick partner (homo or heterosexual), you’re already allowed to do that without question; they’re about taxes, about medical decisions, about the most utilitarian aspects of society. Religious marriage and civil marriage are two totally different things, and you have, like so many others, effectively blurred that line or simply ignored that it exists at all. Please, please, please stop painting the gay marriage fight as a primarily emotional battle; it is about utility and citizenship and the success of our nation AS a nation. Emotionalism as a battle tactic has so far failed us. It is time, now, to use pragmatism and utility in our defense.

By: Christopher Winston

Christopher Winston — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:07:11 +0000

Great article. This is also a great reminder of what we are really fighting for. We are fighting for people’s lives and livelyhood, not just politics. Since I have started voting, I have never understood why others would want to take away others people’s rights, no matter who they are! This has always been taught to me as a family value.

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:49:29 +0000

The fact that we have come so far shows what direction the momentum is moving in, and how much farther we WILL GO. Tomorrow isn’t looking good in a lot of ways. It’s looking exactly the way California did. I am afraid for tomorrow, but I am not afraid for the future. We will get where we need to go, first we need to get off our duffs and stop being so nice about it. I want to see someone have the guts to post an ad that confronts people with the lack of security children of gay/lesbian parents face because of their selfish votes against gay marriage. I want someone to be confronted with what it is like to have a loved one dye in the back of a hospital while you are begging to be by their side. I want these things to be forced on the America that is too lazy and comfortable in their own bigotry to bother looking up. I want these people who think of themselves as fair minded open individuals to have their comfortable lie taken away from them and shown what they really are. I don’t want this because I hate them, I want this because deep down most Americans are good people. It’s why when confronted with the truth most of them make the right decision. Our culture allows them to avoid that truth far too easily. It’s time we stopped asking nicely to be treated fairly and make America understand just how unfairly we are treated.

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:35:59 +0000

Thanks, again Cody. Calm and peaceful, as usual. Being a longterm partner, I have a sense of ALL the water under the bridge. (Bridge Over Troubled Water, was first song I heard on his new stereo, just purchased at PX after return from Vietnam.)

….but being in California.. all of my life.. essentially. I am just a zombie and wish I had a fever and could sleep the day away.

Thanks for all the hard work in Maine, Washington and Kalamazoo.
And, yeah, we may get New York, New Jersey and Wash DC next year. And now Oregon is going for a repeal DOMA in 2012 bid….
but tomorrow is another watershed.