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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

To the 61%

Before starting this, I want to make something clear.  I don’t agree with lots of people, and I know that many don’t agree with me.  That’s cool.  In this post, I’m addressing a specific type of person.  I’m addressing first, the 1,082,198 individuals that voted YES on Amendment One last night in my home state of North Carolina.  I’m also addressing anyone that has voted against marriage equality in another states, and the ones that didn’t vote but agree with the ideology that says gays shouldn’t have equal rights.  I have several friends that are theists or deists like Abby, Lakesha, Brooke, Kristie and Jonathon, but they don’t believe in the same type of Christianity that the ones I’m talking about do.  They wouldn’t take away rights, because they didn’t agree.  If they didn’t want gay marriage, they just wouldn’t marry a person of the same sex.   Also, regardless of religious belief or political divides or any other division, thank you to the 700,837 people that voted against this Amendment.  From the bottom of my heart…
THANK you
Thank YOU
THANK YOU!


To the 61% of bigots, living in N.C.

                Yeah you heard me, but I don’t know why you’re mad.    You should be proud.  Honest.  If you don’t think so, then there must be some sort of miscommunication, so I shall elaborate.  

                A bigot is defined as “One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.”  This definition lists off religion, race, or politics, but other groups commonly include sex, sexual orientation, region, people who are disabled… the list goes on, but I think I’ve cleared it up.  Now, last night a vote was held in my home state of North Carolina.  An Amendment was put for a popular vote to add discrimination to the state’s Constitution.  OH! Discrimination.  Bigoted and discriminatory..  You guys are both, but don’t get mad.  You should be proud.  Honest..   So anyway, the Amendment went up for a popular vote, and it passed, which prevented gays from being able to marry.  Wait..  That was the case before..   What did the Amendment do then?   I need to re think this…    I will build this blog entry like a pyramid; one block at a time.  

Discrimination –  

                Discrimination is when you take actions against a group which you do not belong, and don’t approve of.  It’s prejudicial treatment.  If you are hiring, and two people apply, and you hire one and not the other because the other is not of the same race, then it is discrimination.  

                Now the Amendment that was voted on last night, was to ban, on a state constitutional level, people being able to marry if they happen to share similar no-no units.  Over a million people voted for this ban, so they took actions against a group that they don’t approve of.  It’s the very definition of discrimination.  It’s textbook.  

                Now when you talk to people who have now voted against equal rights in 30 states, they will 99% of the time site biblical references.  It’s against the will of God, or so they claim.  See, their motives, or motives in general don’t have any bearing, and cannot offer contrition for the actions taken during discrimination.  Read that again.  Discrimination is discrimination, regardless of motive.  It’s only concerned with the action.  

                So, a person can commit discrimination, based on what they think are good reasons, but it’s still discrimination.  The Amendment did add discrimination to the N.C. Constitution, it’s just that the over a million people that voted for it, think that form of discrimination is full of virtue.  They seemed to do this almost exclusively, because of religious teachings.  So when I say they should be proud, I mean it honestly.  They have religious reasons for making that choice; surely they hold their religion as more important than what rights gays have, so they decided to vote with their religious understandings.

                Like I said, don’t be mad.  If you get mad, then you either don’t understand English words, or you are ashamed of your religion.  Be proud.  Honest.

                Bigotry-

                I gave the definition earlier, but now I’m building a pyramid, so forgive my reiteration.  Remember a bigot is  “One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.”  Well, one is hard pressed, I think, to look at the final vote held last night, and walk away thinking that there were no bigots in that majority.  

                Is the average person in that majority strongly partial to their own group?  I’d say so.  Since this was dominated by religion, I think anyone can safely say that they are partial to their own beliefs.  So yes.  They are strongly partial.  

                Was the motivating factor in voting for that Amendment based on politics, race or religion?  You are damn right it was.  In fact I’ve encouraged people to formulate arguments against gay marriage, without a reference to religion at all, and they stumbled for a while before mumbling something that was more of an opinion than any cognitive argument.  So yes.  Religion played a role, and since the voting majority holds the same book (Leviticus highlighted and everything), then I feel safe in saying they are a collective group.  

                So, the majority voting bloc last night are strongly partial to their own group (Christianity) and they voted the way they did because of religion?  Yes.  Onward!

                The topic was over marriage, and the rights of gay North Carolinians to get married in order to have the same rights as straight couples.   Voting against those rights was a display against homosexuals.  Did that vote show anything less than intolerance towards the rights and happiness of homosexuals?  I think certainly not.  If anyone has a reason why that isn’t the case, please record it and listen to it, then ask (outloud) “how is that not intolerance?” and see how weak your argument becomes.  (I’ve done this exercise many times for other topics).  

                So… the majority voting bloc last night:
 are strongly partial to their own group(Christianity), voted the way they did because of religion, and in doing so showed intolerance towards people that were different. 

                Bigotry is defined as:
One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion… and is intolerant of those who differ.
               
                Don’t be mad.  Be proud.  Honest.  Don’t shoot the messenger.

Discrimination written into the N.C. Constitution by bigots… did what?

                Well, you hurt a lot of people.  No, "people", not the “gay scum”.  People-people.  Straight people.  Oh, did they not tell you that?  I’m sensing some bewilderment, so I shall explain…

                Have you ever heard a lawyer speak in court?  I have, usually when I’m listening to oral arguments on C-SPAN or reading transcripts.  They use big words.  Even I can’t follow everything, because I have not been through law school.  They use big words and make points that many times don’t make sense.  This is because – Law is complicated.  It’s the reason lawyers are paid out the ying-yang for their work, and why when you need one badly, you look for the best big word user you can find.  The law is extremely complicated, which is why teams of them write laws.  They use wording that is meant to specifically define what they are talking about, so that the law passed doesn’t end up accidentally saying that the U.S. is now a part of Sweden.  

                So which lawyer team wrote this amendment?  Well, only one.  Granted he is a lawyer, but how many lawyers looked at this product of Mr. Peter Brewster, and saw issues?  Lots.  When I say lots, I mean, like almost everyone.  There are implications to this law taking effect, and even if none turn over Appalachian State to Stockholm, the effects could be in a wide range of areas such as:

               -  Domestic Violence Laws- See, the new amendment says only married straight folks can be recognized as domestic legal unions.  The domestic violence laws that protected people living together but not married may be ignored.  Just what you want to hear when your mom or daughter is living with a man that drinks and tends to get mad when Tony Stewart doesn’t win.  This applies to everyone, including you straight folks.

                - Do you have a child with someone and aren’t married to the father/mother?  Child custody and visitation laws may have to be altered.  Straight folks will be affected.

                - Let’s say you live with someone, you work, she’s a home maker, and you have a kid together.  At some point decide to split.  Private agreement laws would offer some protections for the child and the homemaker.  Now, him kicking her out on the street with nothing but a stroller is easier, because they aren’t married.  See, now in the N.C. constitution, those are the only relationships that count.  Married straight folks, think that may have an effect on someone you know?

                - If you have a will, power of attorney, or end of life arrangement, and live with someone you aren’t married to, you better get your happy ass to your lawyer’s office quick.  Well, not yet… See, lawyers don’t really know how much you are going to have to alter yet.  They are still trying to figure out how much has to be changed.

                All of these things could have been brought up in the floor of the N.C. legislature, so people could have asked questions and had debate on the floor about it.  I mean that is a part of democracy, right?  Debate issues, ask questions…  Oh, did they not tell you?  No questions were allowed by the public on this issue.  It was rammed through by Republican legislature.  This was a fucking state Constitution, and the public had no voice.

                On a side note, anytime a law is pushed through, and no debate or conversation or questions are allowed to review it, it’s probably not something you want to support.  Ever.  

                I hope that all of these issues I’ve listed above turn out to be corrected soon.  I really do.  It sucks that discrimination is so valued in the state, but I don’t relish the idea of women and children and decent folks losing protections just because they may/may not be some gay haters.  I’ll protect a kid, no matter how much bigotry his parents have.
               

                My point-

                My point is that I wish people did two things.  First, demanded more from their lawmakers, and educate themselves better before they run out and pulled a lever.  If you know who Snookie is, but not who Eric Cantor is, you are part of the decline of this country.  

                Second, I wish these bigots would face the facts- You think you are right.  You think you are right because the Bible says so.  You voted to discriminate.  You voted to discriminate because of what your bible says.  You feel this way, because you are a bigot.   You are a bigot because of what you believe your bible says.  God wrote the bible, so you think it’s true, right?

Don’t you see?  You are a discriminating bigot.  Don’t be mad, and don’t shoot the messenger.
Be proud.
Honest.

7 comments:

  1. If I would set aside time to work on my blog, I fantasize that it would be as good as yours.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They don't even know they are shooting themselves in the foot, it's double sad T_T

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  3. It's "Snooki" and "Eric Cantor".

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  4. I'm waiting for the unmarried heterosexual couples to have their "Wait. What?!?" moment when they realize Amendment One affects them. However, if your Snookie-v-Cantor assertion is correct, they may never realize their condition until it is too late.

    ReplyDelete