Letters to the Editor
-
Don't be fooled by Bush the Discreet
Bush stayed relatively quiet about the gay-marriage issue in 2004 and left it to his (rather Rove's) pulpit puppets to inflame the true believers. The "media" simply didn't bother to cover the sweet efflorescence of downhome hatred.
Don't kid yourself. The Bushies will try the same thing again.
-
Whistling past the graveyard
This article sounds exactly like a very scared man whistling as his passes the graveyard ...
-
Why this remains the greatest taboo with rednecks
I was raised in the most backward city in the Bible Belt: Springfield, Missouri is the home to Baptist Bible College, Evangel College, the Assembly of God Headquarters (where John Ashcroft handles snakes on Sunday). It is so backwards that while the theater professor at the local state university premiered Larry Kramer's AIDS play, the Ku Klux Klan burned down his house with a dozen pets inside. Homosexuality still is a taboo worse than murder. I gauge this by whether the average person would rather have a known murderer living next door, or a homosexual. Homosexuality is not tolerated in any way whatsoever and your life is in jeopardy if you are know to be gay.
That having been said, I grew up on a farm and it seemed that every goodlooking farm boy from 30 miles in all directions eventually hooked up to experiment with some level of homosexuality. This ranged from circle jerks and "corn holing" in the hayloft to the full monte love affair depicted in Brokeback Mountain. I would notice that sometimes when this was going on, others would actually be wise to it but would pretend to ignore it. You could never, then or now, discuss this with them to probe their level of hypocrisy, but let's just say that it became apparent that the homophobia was less reflexive than an orchestrated act aimed at impressing kids with the absolute, total, unmentionable forbidden nature of the act. And this was simply because of a common mistaken assumption that a person who experiments with homosexuality might like it and "go gay," leading to the necessary shunning and embarrassment that families still go through there.
Never mind that a person can know he's homosexual and never practice it, or that someone with plenty of practice might never decide they're even bi. To give it society's approval, or anything less than the greatest taboo of all, is to these dumb-as-rocks rednecks the same as encouraging their kids to be gay. And it is this stupidity that remains at the core of the religious/rural intolerace of homosexuality, and the GOP's successful playing of the issue to their electoral advantage even while they are a bunch of closet cases themselves.
-
Greg for Senator!
Seriously, Greg hit the proverbial nail on the head.
In addition to this, every tax paying citizen of and in this country should have the same rights, the same legal protections under the law as everyone else. Anything less is discrimination. Period.
Religious conservatives attempting to deny basic rights and protections of other tax-paying U.S. citizens is just as ludicrous as gay citizens denying religious citizens the right to worship.
The religious fanatics can believe whatever they want - it's a free country(for some). But they CANNOT and WILL NOT force and legislate their beliefs on other U.S. tax paying citizens. Period.
I applaud the State of New Jersey's decision to extend Civil Rights to ALL of it's citizens.
2 down, 48 to go...
-
Salon Voters
Why do we allow just anyone to vote? Some of them have never even heard of Salon.com.
But seriously.
I think its ironic that Salon is leading with a story on Harold Ford Jr making headway 'in the pews' at the same time Glenn Greenwald is pontificating that gay marriage won't matter.
People will make sacrifices if it means protecting their culture, or that amorphous,'way of life'. Ford's campaign for senate is finished. Bob Corker only needs to endlessly repeat: "Sanctity of Marriage, Sanctity of Marriage, Sanctity of Marriage" for the next two weeks.
-
Race for "Most Backward City" title......
"....I was raised in the most backward city in the Bible Belt: Springfield, Missouri..." writes "greg".
Dear Greg,
You may be amused to hear that the Rev. Mark Lewis of New Jersey's "Lewis vs. Harris" grew up in West Plains, Missouri.
I've only visited there, but my guess is that, by comprison to West Plains, Springfield looks like San Francisco.....
----david terry
www.davidterryart.com
-
Republicans love same sex unions
As long as it's between older men and their employees. And they're not married. To each other.
-
Maybe someday I'll understand
What is the difference between "equal marital rights" for gay couples and "gay marriage"? How can someone oppose the latter while being supportive of the former?
-
Can't work forever
I agree that it's difficult to see exactly what effect this will have on the election. Most polls have shown that opinions on same-sex marriage have changed significantly since 2004 and I think this is reflected in the lukewarm reception of referendums.
Ford has been a pretty vocal opponent of same-sex marriage. He voted for the ridiculous Federal Marriage Amendment and has voted against benefits for same-sex couples. True, by virtue of being a Democrat much of this is obscured but it will complicate trying to paint him as gay-friendly (much easier to hint at interracial sex, I guess).
I happen to come from a deeply red part of the country (rural Nebraska) and while there was a lot of hue and cry in 2000 and 2004 over same-sex marriage I don't think it packs the same punch today. I think people have been thinking much more seriously about the fact that the local guard unit is currently in Iraq, and just had their deployment extended an additional 3 months. Sometimes reality does matter.
-
Here we go again
I'm so glad that republicans are out there saving us from the horrors of interfaith marriage. Wait... lost that one? Oh, then at least they don't let people of different races marry! Wait... lost that one too? Huh. Well I suppose all we have left is to prevent gays from marrying or any consenting adults will be able to marry! The horror! We must "protect marriage" at all costs! What do you mean the divorce rate is around 50%? That's fine, that's an honored tradition of marriage! By "protect" republican's naturally mean "restrict". How can something be important if you can't lord it over others?