As Jette pointed out in the comments below, Louisiana just passed a constitutional amendment to ban any sort of marriage AND CIVIL UNION that isn't between a man and a woman. Yes, welcome to the deep and close-minded south. A relative of mine who shall not be named (because she will kill me) said today when I was arguing the point with her that she didn't really want to vote against gays being able to have a civil union, but she didn't want there to be any leeway in the definition of "marriage" because what's to stop "them" from one day saying it was okay for three people to be married? Or four? Or a man and an elephant? To which I said, "And exactly how does this hurt you?" To which, there is no answer. It's just that they have become convinced that this somehow diminishes the value (the legal value) of a marriage bond. No, that isn't logical. And given that it's completely born out of right-wing propaganda, which is prevalent here, I don't know how to combat that, since actual logic does no good. I pointed out that if we really wanted to make sure that marriage was not devalued legally, we wouldn't have allowed for divorce. To which most of the opponents sort of nod, knowing that's correct, knowing they aren't on solid footing but they're going to win because there's enough of them to do so.
Sometimes, I really hate this state.
I expect the vote to get a lot of civil lawsuits almost immediately because there were a large number of voting booths which did not get delivered to quite a few precincts in New Orleans, the one place where there is a large, openly gay population. In many of the precincts, the voting booths weren't delivered until after two p.m. -- when the delivery people had tried to deliver them in the morning at the appropriate time, no one had been at the precincts to take delivery. This occurred in many places, not just one, so there are going to be lots of shouts about that, as there should be. The commissioner said that if anyone in New Orleans was in line at eight o'clock, they would get to vote, even if the polls closed, but that's not going to help all the people who showed up in the morning because they couldn't go back at night. I hope it's enough to get the entire amendment thrown out and up for another election. (Not that it'll do a lot of good, but you never know.)
I hate politics.
Posted by toni at September 19, 2004 12:15 AMWell, I have no illusions about my own state -- if a similar constitutional amendment reached Texas voters, they would vote the exact same way. Sad but true. And it may very well happen here next year. All we can do is fight not to get the amendment to the ballot in the first place.
What hurt me about the Louisiana vote was knowing that my immediate family and probably all my relatives all voted for this thing. Knowing that they're all that bigoted. And yes, I think if you voted for this, you are a bigot. I don't have any sympathy for religious or moral arguments in favor of this crap. Sorry.
Posted by: Jette at September 19, 2004 10:33 AMThat's not politics; it's bigotry and hatred. And that argument about what's to stop them from saying it's OK for a person and an elephant to marry? Is bullsh*t. (And bigotry and hatred of an even higher order.) Because, in essence, what they're saying is that homosexuality=bestiality. Wanna make a rule? Define marriage as one human being creating a union with another human being. End of that ridiculous argument. Except of course then they start talking about how it's all going to lead to incest and child molestation, which, of course, is when my head explodes, and I can no longer argue with them, because anyone who equates two adults loving one another with an adult sexually abusing a minor or an animal makes me so angry that I can barely breathe, or compose a cogent argument in a comment box...which is why I should just shut up now.
The end.
Posted by: Tiny Coconut at September 21, 2004 06:46 PM