"It wasn't that long ago that discrimination was legal in California..."
Samuel L Jackson telling it like it is.
Far scarier than any ghost, goblin, vampire, or beasty tonight on Halloween is the knowledge that it's the last few hours to donate to the campaign to defeat Prop 8 in California. While some notable Hollywood A listers (Brad Pitt, Ellen DeGeneres, Steven Spielberg, etc... and now Mr. Jackson here) with lots of moolah have donated their names, voices and/or cash to stop this injustice from passing, they haven't raised nearly as much money as various "Christian" churches have --I use quotes because modern Christianity seems to have almost no recognizable connection to its namesake these days. The Mormons are the most despicable and the best fundraisers on the 'Yes on 8' front. As a former Mormon, I would find it very amusing in its boldface underlined hypocrisy --Mormon doctrine is decidedly NOT "one man/one woman" traditional no matter how frequently or how smoothly they lie about it -- if the stakes weren't so high for the future and if it weren't so depressing for the soul. I'm not really comfortable with my country, let alone my tax dollars, being used to prop up discrimination of my fellow citizens. I hope the majority of California voters aren't either.
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Friday, October 31, 2008
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11 comments:
Hey Nathaniel,
I didn't know that you were an ex-Mormon. Guess what? So am I.
Fuck Prop 8, homophobia, and discrimination.
Nothing has made me as upset as watching former ward members cheer and clamor on about this one-woman-one-man crap.
The polls are looking that Prop 8 won't pass and I'll be glad when it's over. But it's been nice to see everyone's true colors show during this election. Nice but sad.
Scott
He-Shot-Cyrus.blogspot.com
i feel badly for all these Mormon families who have given up their life savings. As much as I want to hate them... it's just so fucking sad.
not just that they value their own tunnel vision more than their fellow citizens' lives but just... well, MONEY. it's not exactly an easy economony out there.
whether they win their petty victory or they lose and basic American ideals of equality triumph, it's so sad. they've lost either way in the end.
I am a Californian.
If this proposition passes, I will not only be devastated...but embarrassed.
Someone stuck a yes on 8 sign in my yard and I was horrified to think anyone saw it there!
It went in the trash as soon as I came home and found it.
I think they only lose if they win.
well yes... but i mean, giving up their life savings to try and remove rights from other citizens.
they lose period.
Considering the events of Milk, perhaps it would have been timelier to release that movie two weeks ago or something? I mean, honestly, how sad that you guys are still voting on this stuff?
But, hey, at least you get to. We've never been allowed to vote on anything gay-related.
i agree on MILK. I wish it had been part of the conversation. Might have helped. Yet another reason to hate Oscar season's mandate on Nov/Dec.
I'm also a Californian, gay, Mormon...blah, blah, blah. My family, with whom I maintain a wonderful relationship, by and large supports Prop. 8, which is their choice -- a personal one everyone has to make for him/herself.
However, since we as Americans (and, on a state level, Californians) are all obligated to the same tax codes, then both straight and gay people should be able to take advantage of the same legal benefits/tax breaks of a committed partnership. I honestly could care less about the word, "marriage"; it's just semantics, so call it civil unions and let the straight people have marriage. I don't need their stamp of approval anyway, as long as the principle of fairness in a legal sense applies. This is what I tell family and friends to explain why I could not vote for Prop. 8.
Now, that said, I strongly believe gay marriage supporters in general wildly overplayed their hand and incited the nationwide backlash we see today. Rather than fight for incremental but substantial gains in this area, the "gay community" -- I use that term loosely -- overshot and demanded all at once from their fellow Californians. They talk about tolerance and equal rights, but often demonstrate a galling lack of tolerance for opposing viewpoints and an aversion to compromise that belies the brittleness of their Orwellian notion of what constitutes and who is the arbiter of eqaulity. Any introspective, intellectually honest person should be able to recognize that it does us gay Americans no good to belittle and villify our straight brethren when a measured, well-thought out but passionate argument/response has a more impactful, longer-lasting effect.
are you suggesting that i'm belittling and vilifying by using harsh words like hypocrisy and such?
it's ok if you are. i understand your argument. I really do. But it is very hard sometimes to be civil when the same is never expected of the haters. I've been really impressed with Obama and the way he stays measured and focused and unifying despite obvious differences but i guess sometimes i get angry that it's always liberal progressive minded folks who have to be the better person and reach out olive branches.
it's like we're expecting to behave so that conservative people of all stripes can calm down because they're always working themselves into an intolerant hateful frenzy with all the scapegoating they tend to do.
it's just frustrating. but i hear what you're saying.
it's hard not to lash out at mormons though because they do SO much damage... both to their own members and to the country at large by always getting involved with politics and then repeatedly lying on the airwaves that they don't tell their members how to vote. (I know it was years ago but I'm still angry at the 60 minutes piece where they just lied, plain and simply, and repeatedly right to the camera.
[must calm down now]
and cluster if you'd like to send me a note in private by e-mail about how you maintain a "wonderful relationship" with people who are so disrespectful that they'd vote to take away your basic rights --and donate to make sure the discrimination sticks -- i'd be interested to read it.
//i agree on MILK. I wish it had been part of the conversation. Might have helped. Yet another reason to hate Oscar season's mandate on Nov/Dec.//
I'm not sure (as a lesbian btw) that I agree with that. I can imagine it (Milk) giving the haters something to rally around: "see what will happen to our country if we elect a liberal for president? blahblahblahblahblah
No, I don't think this should have been released before the elections. It would either be preaching to the converted or giving the extremists (on either side, really) another weapon, and I think as such it might have been harmful to the Obama campaign. Sorry, but that's just being pragmatic, not idealistic.
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