My Letter to Governor Jim Douglas

My letter to Vermont Governor Jim Douglas is below.
Gov. Douglas has vowed to veto the legislation currently passing through the state's legislature with overwhelming support that will grant equal marriage rights to the GLBT community in Vermont.


Please feel free to copy/paste and send the same message (or, even better, something personal from you instead) to him here:

http://governor.vermont.gov/contact.html

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Governor Douglas,

I'm writing to you on behalf of people just like me in your state.

I'm gay. Don't stop reading this here.

My parents struggled with knowing that I didn't choose to be gay and that I was going to grow up in a world where legislators purposely elected to exclude me from the equal rights under law that everyone else had. I was a gay child who didn't understand why he wasn't equal to everyone else. They didn't know what to tell me.

What should they have told me, Mr. Governor? As one of the legislators who has vowed to exclude people like me from equality under the law - what should the parents of gay children say? That a person in a position of power is allowed to legislate his or her personal and/or religious beliefs into law and that we all must adhere?

Here's your message to gay children: the law doesn't accept you, and you're less than human for it.

Is that a message you're willing to keep sending to children who deserve a chance to be happy, just like you?

Gay penguins given own eggs to care for (Y! Australia)

Gay penguins given own eggs to care for

Penguins caught stealing eggs from straight couples in an attempt to become fathers have been given their own to look after following protests.
Zoo keepers moved the male birds away from the rest of the penguins to avoid problems as hatching season approaches.
But angry visitors to Polar Land in China complained it was not fair for the males to stop becoming surrogate fathers.
Following the protests, zookeepers gave the pair two eggs laid by an inexperienced first-time mother.
"They've turned out to be the best parents in the whole zoo," on zoo keeper said.
"We will try to arrange for them to become real parents themselves with artificial insemination."
Despite being gay, it is understood the three-year-old male birds are still driven by an urge to be fathers.

link: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5217215/gay-penguins-given-eggs-care/

CNN Commentary: Why there's a 'day without gays'

In this great piece, David Craig - a film, television and Web producer, an adjunct professor at the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California, and a gay rights activist - talks about why there is a 'day without gays.' His personal story is moving: the tragic death of his partner while outside of their home state. The hospital refused to let David be by his partner's side as he passed (though he was calling out his name) because his civil union was only valid in California.

There's also a great reference to Barack Obama's support of full protections for GLBT community members who wish to marry. I think it's pretty clear that Obama is on our side, and I don't mind that he had to pay lip service to conservative America on this issue in order to get elected.


Commentary: Why there's a 'day without gays'
By David Craig
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- My battle for marriage equality began in 1990, after my partner, Brian Binder, and I had a commitment ceremony. The ceremony was held at the end of a conference for Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays and was attended by more than 300 friends and members of both our families.

(...) In addition, the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act by Congress in 1996 denies civil unions what Barack Obama's campaign described as the more than 1,100 benefits of marriage including immigration, taxation, Social Security and veteran's benefits.

(complete article)

Newsweek: Our Mutual Joy

The following is a great article from Newsweek (Dec. 6/08, in print on Dec. 15/08) about the Biblical arguments for and against gay marriage.

Our Mutual Joy
Opponents of gay marriage often cite Scripture. But what the Bible teaches about love argues for the other side.
By Lisa Miller, NEWSWEEK

Let's try for a minute to take the religious conservatives at their word and define marriage as the Bible does. Shall we look to Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servant when he discovered his beloved wife Sarah was infertile? Or to Jacob, who fathered children with four different women (two sisters and their servants)? Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and the kings of Judah and Israel—all these fathers and heroes were polygamists. The New Testament model of marriage is hardly better. Jesus himself was single and preached an indifference to earthly attachments—especially family. The apostle Paul (also single) regarded marriage as an act of last resort for those unable to contain their animal lust. "It is better to marry than to burn with passion," says the apostle, in one of the most lukewarm endorsements of a treasured institution ever uttered. Would any contemporary heterosexual married couple—who likely woke up on their wedding day harboring some optimistic and newfangled ideas about gender equality and romantic love—turn to the Bible as a how-to script?

(complete article)

Why Yes on 8 Lied

A friend of a friend posted this on a Facebook note. It spells out why California specifically allows for religious institutions to refuse to marry anyone, so they can't be sued for it. She goes on to explain why the legal definition of marriage and the theoretical religious definition of marriage are different and not mutually defining.

I may not be gay, but I have best friends and people I admire who are, who had weddings planned that will now not happen. They are torn apart and I'm witnessing their suffering. Civil rights are number one on my personal philanthropy list, so don't tell me to "just get over it." Everyone has their hot-button issue; this is mine.

As to your claim that religious clergy could be sued, they couldn't. They are completely protected under California law:"SEC. 7. Section 403 is added to the Family Code, to read:403. No priest, minister, or rabbi of any religious denomination,and no official of any nonprofit religious institution authorized to solemnize marriages, shall be required to solemnize any marriage inviolation of his or her right to free exercise of religion guaranteedby the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or bySection 4 of Article I of the California Constitution."Source: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/ab_43_bill_20070409_amended_asm_v98.html


Furthermore, the word "marriage" was taken and used by the government to describe the legal union of individuals in the eyes of the government: tax/insurance benefits, custody issues, etc. The word "marriage" has a dual meaning: it can be a religious word, and it can be a term for a function of the government. In this case, it is a purely government, not a religious ceremony. It's unfortunate that the fellas who wrote our constitution decided to use that word, but they did. By law, separate but equal is not permitted; if straight unions are called marriage, so must be gay ones. If they change them all to "civil union," so be it, provided it's equal. That's kind of the point of having constitutions in the first place..You go up to my dearest friends whose relationships have just been invalidated and tell them to "just get over it." I'd love to see their reactions. I for one will continue gathering support to see another amendment passed.

Tell your CA friends: Vote NO on 8!

Hi everyone,

Please, if you haven't already, encourage everyone you know in California to vote NO on Proposition 8 - the constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, a right that we already have in California.

This will be the first time since the internment of American Japanese (yes, Japanese in internment camps), probation of interracial marriage and refusal to allow Armenians to own homes that California will legislate discrimination.

Last night, a friend of mine was heckled by a "Yes on 8" group for being gay. While he was stopped at a red light, they yelled things like:

"Be Straight, Yes on 8"

"You're a faggot"

and,

"We don't want AIDS anymore."

This is not about a right to maintain your personal religious beliefs in civil law. This is about creating another "separate but equal" status for a group of people who are still being murdered on American soil for who they are. This is about legitimizing the lessons that closed-minded, discriminatory parents teach their kids.

It's about weather or not it was okay for that 15 year old girl last night to tell my friend that he was a faggot and that she didn't want AIDS anymore - as if it was his fault.

Please, from someone who has faced discrimination all of my life, and as someone who has pushed from an early age to change something that isn't changeable (believe me, I tried) about my identity as a human being AND an American, vote No on 8 if you live in California. If you don't, encourage your friends in California (and Arizona and Florida) to vote no on the ban on gay marriage.

I can tell you from first hand experience how being separated from everyone else by law slowly eats away at your self worth. It's not okay for ANY American to be in that position.

All we want is to be equal. We want to swim in the same marriage pools and drink from the same marriage fountains and sit in the same marriage bus seats as all of the rest of you. We want to raise happy, healthy children and visit our spouses in the hospital. We want to be able to share our lives with another person without ever having to worry that the law might prevent us from enjoying all the benefits of a healthy, happy marriage.

Don't take that away from me, or from us. Please.

With thanks,

Ryan

New No on 8 "Mac vs. PC" spoof

Don't mess with our constitution!
"YES" tries to "ammend" the state constitution.