Maine joins up; Marriage Bill passes handily

Originally Posted By Mr X

<a href="http://www.tips-q.com/896035-breaking-marriage-bill-passes-maine-house-89-58" target="_blank">http://www.tips-q.com/896035-b...se-89-58</a>

Another body slam for the bigots, Maine becomes the 6th (right?) state to okay equality in marriage.

Is it me, or has Prop 8 sort of set off this firestorm? Certainly seems to have accelerated the process, I wonder if the anti-equality folks expected that to happen...

I get a real sense of happiness when I think about all those self-righteous people sending more and more of their money away to fight this...I hope they all go broke.

 

Originally Posted By Mr F

Another slap in the face for Anita Bryant...er, I mean Carrie Prejean, NOM, & all the pro discrimination bigots out there. Is this just KARMA taking it's toll. After all those groups wasted so much $$$ and time to get Prop 8 Passed, they are only getting what's coming to them.

 

Originally Posted By gadzuux

The momentum is definitely on the side of equality. And thank god for iowa - it indicates a broader acceptance of marriage equality and prevents people from just waving this away as a "regional" issue peculiar to new england.

It's a human rights issue, and the opposing arguments against it always boil down to either religion or what some call the "ick" factor - neither of which are valid arguments for denying equal rights.

 

Originally Posted By ecdc

A new CNN poll showed that the issue is entirely generational. People over forty only show 22% support for gay marriage, while those 18-35 are well over 50% and growing as they learn more about the issue.

 

Originally Posted By SuperDry

^^^ I think this issue is well known among the political powers that be, and that especially the Republican leaders are aware of this and are concerned. They may very well find themselves having to de-emphasize this issue as time goes on. I suspect that a poll would show a similar age disparity in approval rates for interracial marriage, considering that many of the older generation were raised in a time when it was illegal and many people preached that it was immoral.

 

Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan

>>A new CNN poll showed that the issue is entirely generational. People over forty only show 22% support for gay marriage, while those 18-35 are well over 50% and growing as they learn more about the issue.<<

Oh yeah, and the anti-gay-marriage folks know it. Time, and history, just isn't on their side. That's why they are in a frenzy to force through ballot measures.

The fact that, eventually, fairness seems to win out is one of the things I love most about this country. I wish it didn't always take as long as it seems to, but it's good to know that freedom and equality do usually win in the long run.

 

Originally Posted By Inspector 57

Yes, there's definitely backlash to the very narrow and church-financed result of California's Prop 8. Gay people all over the country are mobilized like never before. And so are straight people who support their gay friends and relatives.

And yes, of course it's generational. Older people (NOT ALL!) can see gay marriage primarily as a moral issue or as a threat to social order. Younger people (NOT ALL) tend to look at it more rationally and see it as an equality issue.

Step back and look at the big picture.

We're smack in the midst of a big transitional social period on this issue. The pendulum will continue to swing both ways for several more strokes. But it now seems clear that when the pendulum comes to rest, gay marriage in the US will be a reality. The only question is how much longer it will take. It'll be "a while." Maybe ten more years? Maybe another generation? If so, that's okay. Social change takes time.

To me, more important than the timing of the actual result is the fact that we've just actually passed the point at which it looks like gays getting the ability to marry is ultimately inevitable.

 

Originally Posted By dshyates

OMG!! Hell in a handbasket, I tell ya. Another state telling them...ya know... sicko queers its OK to be queer. By the way queer is OK because its in the dictionary and means odd. Look it up.

PS, I'm gay and the above sentiment is to be taken as sarcasm.

 

Originally Posted By DAR

I look forward to the day Gay people can look forward to having a nagging spouse.

 

Originally Posted By Inspector 57

Trust me, that day has existed unofficially for at least the past 20-something years.

 

Originally Posted By dshyates

Lol. They already have them, its just the state isn't involved in the breakup.

 

Originally Posted By Inspector 57

Granted, if the bad came to outweigh the good, I could always leave. Of course, I'd be leaving without ANY of the financial security that I'd have if I were legally married to the whiner.

 

Originally Posted By Inspector 57

Oops. You said it more concisely, dshyates.

 

Originally Posted By Dabob2

Question for the Californians here: couldn't Prop 8 be undone by another Prop? Prop 8 barely passed, and doesn't it seem likely that in 2010 or 2012 the results would be different? Are California-based equality groups working to get something on the ballot?

 

Originally Posted By SuperDry

Prop 8 most certainly can be undone just as easily as it was done. The California Constitution can be amended by a simple majority vote of the electorate through the initiative process. That's one of the criticisms of the California Constitution as far as constitutions go: it's not like the US Constitution, which is actually quite difficult to amend, thus guaranteeing that rights aren't added or deleted on the whim of whatever's popular that month. It was relatively easily to amend the CA Constitution to remove a right, but the flip side is that it's just as easy to amend it again to put it back.

It would be interesting to know what would happen should it go up to a vote again, especially now that it's known just how much manipulation and influence there was from places like Salt Lake City. I don't know about all states, but I would think that especially in California, it's only a matter of time before a majority of the electorate votes to undo Prop 8. Once that happens, and people realize that all of the dire things that were predicted (such as the end of religious marriage, forcing churches to support gay marriage, teaching the morality of gay marriage in the public schools and all of that other nonsense) doesn't actually happen, I suspect that it will be there to stay, at least in California.

 

Originally Posted By Dabob2

Thanks, SD, I was hoping that was the case.

 

Originally Posted By gurgitoy2

"A new CNN poll showed that the issue is entirely generational. People over forty only show 22% support for gay marriage, while those 18-35 are well over 50% and growing as they learn more about the issue."

True, and I think that's why so many have latched onto Miss California, because she falls into the latter age group and holds the old ideals. They are probably hoping she'll convince others of her generation and younger to think like she does.

 

Originally Posted By utahjosh

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."

 

Originally Posted By Dabob2

The interesting thing is, one could take that same passage and think it applied to those who would deny certain citizens equality under the law.

 

Originally Posted By piperlynne

wow . . proselytizing much?