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Loading ...Gay marriage supporter receives death threat
11.20.2008 3:32pm EST
(Montpelier, Vermont) Police are investigating a death threat against Vermont Senate Majority Leader John Campbell, made a day after the Democrat announced he would introduce a marriage equality bill in the new session of the legislature.
The threat was made by an anonymous woman angry over the proposed bill who telephoned Campbell. Campbell said she threatened to blow up his home.“It is disturbing,” Campbell told the Times Argus newspaper. “You never can tell if this is someone who is giving an emotional reaction or if there is some seriousness to it.”
Campbell said the threat was not just directed at him but also at his family.
“They should not be exposed to threats of this type,” Campbell said. “You don’t expect that in Vermont.”
Campbell already has drafted the same-sex marriage bill. It would amend Vermont’s landmark civil union law to allow gay and lesbian couples full marriage.
Vermont was the first state in the country to legalize civil unions in 2000.
Campbell acknowledges the marriage bill will likely face opposition and will depend on the support of Gov. Jim Douglas, who has not yet taken a stand on the legislation.
Last year, an 11-member commission was set up by the leaders of the Vermont House and Senate, both Democrats, to look into Vermont’s civil unions law to see if it is providing equality for gay and lesbian couples.
It submitted its report to the legislature in April, but made no recommendations on revising the law to allow for same-sex marriage.
The Vermont Commission on Family Recognition and Protection detailed months of hearings it held throughout the state, where same-sex couples complained they were still discriminated against because employers, hospitals and insurance companies do not see their relationships as the equivalent of marriage.
The commission was chaired by former state Rep. Tom Little (R). Little was chairman of the House Judiciary Committee when it passed the law legalizing civil unions in 2000.
Little said the commission purposely decided not to include recommendations in the report. “That’s a decision for Vermont’s elected officials,” Little said at the time.
A public opinion survey earlier this year found that the majority of people in the state believe gay and lesbian couples should have the right to marry.
Earlier this week, the Boston-based group that won equal marriage rights in Massachusetts and Connecticut announced an ambitious plan to fight for equal marriage throughout New England and predicted success in the four additional states by 2012.
Wow, I can truly feel the Christian Love that comes from these, uh, people.
>To bash someone elses religion is showing the same kind of disrespect that they tend to show us.
I know that this has been the party line for a long, long, LONG time. However, I think that we give religious beliefs undue respect. I hope the time is coming soon when we can honorably challenge religious belief in the same way we have challenged the equally strong beliefs that the world is flat and that the stars/planets revolve around the earth. Just because people believe something strongly doesn’t make it right or worthy of respect. (The trick is to respect the people while not particularly respecting their beliefs.)
Jason in the Dark Ages in Europe stepped the Celtic-language speaking monks of Ireland (Eire) who brought reading and writing and learning to Europe. Whose word “clog” for bell bacame clock in English, klukkan in Icelandic, and became the word “clog” in telling time in Irish Gaelic a haon a chlog, a do a chlog, a tri a chlog (counting one a clock, two a clock, three a clock in English).
The momks had reading and writing.
And later came the Gutenberg Bible. Gutenberg invented a printing press making copies bacame faster.
All of these inovations and things brought reading and writing on a larger and more varied scale closer to more and more people as time went on.
As we get progress in our rights, it comes partly because of people with cool and rational heads are able to make our case and our cause better understood by more of the mom-gay population and also because of the many progay clergy saying that gays are your “brothers and sisters” as well and all are deserving of civil rights, of fulfillment, of advancement in every part of life, of security and freedom from discrimination.
I saw many gay and progay clergy time and time again on the steps of the MA statehouse in Boston, all holding progay marriage placards and signs. So many times, I traveled from Maryland to Massachusetts for progay marriage rallies at the statehouse and I saw the progay clergy there each and every time.
I have seen again and again the good the progay clergy do. Something so often very lacking in the prevailing negative tone and undertandable and persistent chanting about hate, hate, hate.
Don’t get me wrong, the hate is very real, but the good is often forgotten in a place like here unless someone (like myself who has been a first-hand witness to the acts of true Christian decency and good) is there to remind people that yes the good in God exists and it exists in Massachusetts and it exists in California where I have also been.
I talked to a young man in San Francisco and his girlfriend. Their church like mine has a very active feed the hungry program and this young couple WERE GOING TO VOTE NO ON PROP 8 and showed me where the No on Prop 8 headquarters was located.
Dave W is exhihibiting the same hate that the antigay religionist krazies are.
There are many very good and very progay and gay religious people who do a lot of good for society. I am a liberal Democrat gay who tried atheism and found atheism unhappy, empty and lacking. I am a guy who has friends, family, a house, a car, all kinds of things, good money but still feeling a void, a hunger inside that those things aren’t filling. That is why I go to a nice church. I am much more settled and content within now.
I have found that there is good and bad religion. It can be used to build up or to tear down and oppress.
Fortunately our church is one that builds up people and encourages them to do great things with their lives and to help those less fortunate.
There are churches that actively promote things like gay rights and gay marriage like Metropolitan Community Church (founded by a gay pastor for gay people and their allies) Unitarian Universalist Church is very progay rights and progay marriage, (I know because I went to one that had an openly gay minister whom everyone liked, I delivered Equality Maryland’s civil marriage/civil rights signs to another one that always kept plenty on hand in case one got “stolen” or vandalized)
There are liberal Episcopalian churches like mine that has had a gay Episcopal priest and great female priests, one permanent and one current interum that have gay couples as well as young liberal-minded straight couples with kids.
It goes beyond anger management. It goes to the psychopathic nature of some of the right wing religious leaders, whose only goal is control, control, control.
And when their predictions of doom are proven false, when the average citizens realizes that gay people marrying is supporting this institution, while str8 people are destroying it with their infidelity and greed. Ultimately the leadership of these conservative churches will be exposed for all to see and understand.
The same kind of mentality that gave the world a thousand year dark ages, with zero social and economic progress, while the church combined with kings and emperors murdered 50 million Muslims during the crusades.
Does anyone think that this history has something to do with how Muslim culture has evolved, and buried in that culture is a hatred of the west that made it easy for maniacs like Bin Laden to give us 9/11.
And then ‘they’ – the successors of who committed monstrous crimes during the middle ages, talk about moral values.
Hmmm – that is a perversion if there ever was one.
Ah yes, as usual, hatred in the name of God. From the people who speak about moral values, but are little different then those who stood on the schoolhouse steps in – was it in Arkansas 50 years ago, and had to be removed to allow integration of the school system.
People whose religion always has to have someone to hate.
And whose final destination will be God’s re-education center. Perhaps He will pardon the average person of this mentality, but for their leaders – whose real belief is only in their arrogance and power, look out baby – it is hot down there.
It is unfortunate that some people really get into an uproar over something that has nothing to do with them at all. We had similar incidents, one in particular, that happened in Canada a few years ago when the Gay Marriage was still being brought into law. One gentleman in Atlantic Canada threatened substantial violence if the law went through. He ended up having to go to counselling for his anger management issues. For the most part, I think people like this are truly suffering from mental health issues and more than anything deserve our compassion. It is amazing what sets people off though.
To bash someone elses religion is showing the same kind of disrespect that they tend to show us. I will not stoop to that level. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, however misguided I may think it is. The comments I have read here make you sound just as bad as they are. We as a comunity are better than that.
This is disturbing…yes. But it also shows how “right” we are. Crazed people (I’m not going to even attemp to match Bud’s characterization…love it!) show us just how wrong they are with this type of comment. If she had the upper hand in this argument there is no need to threaten violence.
So we will win. And if we trample on a few bigots on the way, like getting a CEO or two fired, too bad. Lets see how they like it for a change.
Keep up the momentum, we cannot let this energy peter out.
I continue to plea for this community to get behind the anti-religion movement. We can kill to bird-brained bimboista bigoted buffoons with one stone (sorry Bud, couldn’t resist).
A Konservative Kristianist Kultist Krazy (KKKK), no doubt.
You will know they are Kristianists by their HATE.
Bud Burgoon-Clark
2nd class citizen in California
for AWHILE