Sadly, the hate merchants (some of whom are pictured at left) - led by NOM and the Roman Catholic Church - prevailed in Maine and we again see a slim majority taking away validly enacted civil rights of a minority group. One has to wonder when the birthers and Christianists will seek an initiative to take away the citizenship of non-white immigrants. What is most disgusting to me is that allowing gay marriage took nothing from these haters, but takes much away from same sex couples. *
The message of Proposition 8 and now Maine is that no minority is safe from the tyranny of a slim majority. It makes me physically sick and obviously any vacation that the boyfriend and I might have had in Maine has been nixed (I'm going to vent my views on the Maine tourism bureau later). I hope that GLBT travelers will avoid the state and make it known as to why they are doing so. Why travel to a place where one is obviously viewed as a second class citizen or worse. Perhaps the most sickening aspect is the role the Catholic Church played - largely to get attention off of the ongoing sex abuse settlements and trials that are still going on around the country and the world. Here are some highlights from the Bangor Daily News:
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Voters on Tuesday repealed the state’s same sex marriage law after an emotionally charged campaign that drew large numbers to the polls and focused national attention on Maine. With 87 percent of precincts reporting, the campaign to overturn Maine’s same-sex marriage law won with 53 percent of the vote vs. 47 percent opposed to Question 1, according to unofficial results compiled by the Bangor Daily News. Gay-marriage opponents claimed victory shortly after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.
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“We went up against tremendous odds,” Marc Mutty, public affairs director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland who has been on loan to the campaign, said from Portland. “We all know we were the little guy going up against the big guy, but we prevailed. We prevailed because the people of Maine — the silent majority — the folks back home spoke with their votes.
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The defenders of Maine’s gay marriage law — which passed the Legislature in the spring but was never allowed to take effect — acknowledged being behind, but held out hope for a bump as the final votes and absentee ballots were counted.
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“We went up against tremendous odds,” Marc Mutty, public affairs director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland who has been on loan to the campaign, said from Portland. “We all know we were the little guy going up against the big guy, but we prevailed. We prevailed because the people of Maine — the silent majority — the folks back home spoke with their votes.
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The defenders of Maine’s gay marriage law — which passed the Legislature in the spring but was never allowed to take effect — acknowledged being behind, but held out hope for a bump as the final votes and absentee ballots were counted.
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I can honestly say that if I were currently in a position to do so, I would leave the USA in a heart beat. This country's promises of equality and freedom of religion are one big fraud. Why doesn't the Catholic Church bring back auto-de fes while at it so they can burn gays at the stake? I will NEVER set foot in a Catholic Church again no matter what.
3 comments:
Goddammit, basic human and civil rights should not be open to discussion or up for popular vote. They are facts, not perspectives. I wonder when this country will mature enough to finally get out of the way of people's access to their own rights...
I'm with you, Michael. I, too, would move to a country that offers what this country does not if I were in a position to do so. My partner and I have seriously considered moving to a better state, but the difficulties facing him and me transporting ourselves somewhere else makes it very difficult.
I made a comment at Pam's House Blend that this kind of Christianist attitude is exactly the same attitude that you see in the Islamist world. Do these patriots really want to take our country there? I'm afraid the majority do.
Que rabia tengo Michael, tu país me decepciona, yo creía que los Americanos habían renunciado al fanatismo religioso, pero veo que no, los repúblicanos han ganado en dos estados, y el matrimonio gay ha sido rechazado supuestamente en un estado liberal.
Si quieres ser realmente feliz, ven a España, que aquí necesitamos gente educada e inteligente como Tú, tu país no te aprecia y creo que ni te necesita.
Y esta vez si que soy anti-americano, pues no puedo tolerar la idea de que tu país este dando lecciones de moralidad y derechos humanos por todo el mundo, mientras le niega derechos básicos a los suyos.
Y vete preparando, porque creo que los repúblicanos volverán a recuperar ambas cámaras, el senado y la cámara de representantes, porque una parte de tu gente es tan infantil, que se han creido la historia de que Obama es un nazi, fascista, comunista, socialista (mira como la extrema derecha mezcla términos que no tienen nada que ver entre sí).
Y no se si me publicarás mi comentario, pero es que me indigna y me cabrea enormemente que en un país como el tuyo, el más poderoso de la tierra, pueda llegar a ser controlado por cristiano-ayatolás y neo-talibans.
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