Jim Seaman – web log

I understand states’ rights and, being a Southerner, I do have a certain amount of sympathy for them. (After all, we did fight a war over states’ rights a while back) But … when it comes to the civil rights of a particular group being trampled upon, that is just wrong. The US constitution and our judicial system are there to protect the rights of the people.

We went through this same bull with women’s suffrage 100 years ago – and again with Black civil rights (separate but equal) 50 years ago. Well it’s that time again and the country is arguing over the right of Gays to marry each other. Does anyone really think that Alabama would have approved integration if it was left up to the voters of Alabama. The courts MUST decide these things.

The flag shown above shows stars for the five states that have approved of marriage equality for gays, lesbians and heterosexuals. That’s equal marriage – not separate civil unions – something that has also been approved in our nation’s capital – the District of Columbia as well as in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Sweden.

BTW … the flag and many other signs and slogans supporting marriage equality are from the website Gay Marriage Signs.

I ran across this bit in a news article today …

Meghan McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain, posted on her Twitter account in January, “I think more Republicans need to start taking a stand for… civil rights in this country and set the example that this is not a partisan issue.”

McCain said this after she and her mother, Cindy, participated in the “NoH8 Campaign,” a silent protest via the Internet to oppose Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in California.

I’m surprised … more Republicans seeing the light.

There is more and more evidence that my thinking on this one isn’t far from the truth … The most vocal homo-phobes (mostly republican) have a lot of skeletons in their very dark closets.

These closet-cases are hypocrites. A few examples:

Just in the last few days this one has come out … State Sen. Roy Ashburn, a California Republican and former State Assemblyman, is a father of four. He is a proud anti-gay lawmaker, voting against things like knocking down Prop 8, recognizing out-of-state gay marriages, and even creating Harvey Milk Day. Mr Ashburn is also a patron of Faces, a gay bar in Sacramento, where he was arrested on DUI charges after leaving the venue, with another man in his car.

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The Washington Post and ABC News conducted another of their nationwide polls over the last week and they have released the results along with the results of polls conducted in the past that had the same question included. It’s really interesting (and surprising) how opinions have changed over the years.

The two questions that I pulled out the synopsis are related to gays serving in the military. It appears that those who are against it are much more in the minority than I thought. They just seem to be rather vocal or to be getting much more news coverage than they deserve.

Note: the numbers below are percentages of the total number of interviews

Do you think homosexuals who do NOT publicly disclose their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the military or not?

         Yes    No   No opinion
2/8/10    83    15        1
7/13/08   78    18        5
1/15/01   75    22        3
5/23/93   63    35        2

Do you think homosexuals who DO publicly disclose their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the military or not?

         Yes    No   No opinion
2/8/10    75    24        1
7/13/08   75    22        3
1/15/01   62    35        3
5/23/93   44    55        2

There’s no good reason why gays and lesbians shouldn’t serve openly in the military.

Yesterday, Adm. Mike Mullen chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates went before the Senate Armed Forces Committee to testify that don’t ask, don’t tell should end. A couple of worthwhile quotes from Adm. Mullen:

“No matter how I look at the issue I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”

“For me it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.”

Also at the hearing, Sen. Mark Udall cited conservative Barry Goldwater’s famous dictum —that it mattered not whether you were straight, but whether you could shoot straight.

Britain, Canada, Israel and Australia are among countries allowing gays to serve openly without issue. The primary argument against repealing the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” order is that it will undermine cohesion of the units. But there’s nothing new in that argument. Harry Truman faced the cohesion argument when he integrated the forces in 1948 — the same time Omar Bradley, the five-star general, said the Army was the wrong place for “social experiments.” These same arguments were also used against enhancing women’s roles in the military.

Polls show most Americans favor gays and lesbians serving openly (they are already there anyway). The only real argument against it, in fact, is the outdated workplace argument: that being around gay people makes some straight people uncomfortable.

The National Organization for Marriage is challenging a Maine campaign finance law requiring it to disclose its donors. They have donated about $1.5 million to Maine’s Yes on One campaign, and are asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order against Maine’s State Ethics Commission.

The group must believe that their fund raising efforts will be hurt if they cannot allow their donors to be anonymous and remain in the shadows. I think the group is right, their donors should be ashamed of their anti-gay sentiment. Most causes such as theirs can’t stand examination in the light of day.

The Church of Sweden has formally agreed to recognise same-sex marriages and conduct gay weddings and blessings. The Lutheran denomination said that it would begin marrying same-sex couples on 1 November 2009.

The change comes after the Swedish parliament legalised same-sex weddings earlier this year, changing a law permitting legal unions but not formal marriage. The church board voted 176-62 in favour of the change. Sweden’s Lutheran Church split from the state in 2000 but remains the country’s largest religious community.

“It is a question of being human. One of the Bible quotations central to the Lutheran tradition is, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’,” Archbishop Anders Wejryd said in September 2009 on Swedish public television. “This means that as Christians, we have a responsibility to think independently on the basis of what we believe is good for love, fidelity and equality, at all times.”

As I see yet another church giving support to gays I recognize that it isn’t a religious thing when people reject gays or even gay marriage – it is strictly them trying to justify their bigotry.

From the news wires this morning:

DALLAS (Reuters) – The largest American Lutheran denomination cleared the way on Friday to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve in ministry, ending a policy that had opened leadership posts to them only if they remained celibate.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America also encouraged its congregations to find ways to support or recognize members in “accountable lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships.”

Saturday evening, Gabino and I went to an AIDS fundraiser put on by the Crape (sp) Myrtle Festival. It was held in downtown Raleigh in a renovated church directly across from the Old City Cemetery.

Leslie Jordan was performing and there were to be two shows. People were invited to see both shows for the same entrance fee and it seemed that everyone was taking them up on the offer. The old church couldn’t quite stand up to the crowd and the floor support beams began to break loose!

Bottom line they emptied out about half of the people and went on with the first show. When it came time for the second show they were a bit more cautious and moved Leslie outside to the roped off parking lot. They moved the sound system and setup a folding table and then they put Leslie up on it. Leslie Jordan really is a very short man and seeing him prancing around on a table only added to his comedy act.

An art finance company that lent celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz $24 million against the value of her entire collection and her properties has sued her for violating the terms of the agreement. Basically they say she isn’t being real cooperative in their attempts to start foreclosing on some of her stuff … but why does she owe $24 million anyway?

Photographer Annie Leibovitz recently took out a loan against her photographs and properties in order to pay off her outstanding mortgage debt. Miss Leibovitz is perhaps not alone in suffering from the global economic crisis, but most of her financial woes are not her doing but rather stem from her inheritance of her long time partner, Susan Sontag’s, estate.

Same-sex couples do not have the same privileges as straight married couples when it comes to inheritance. If your partner passes away and leaves their estate to you, you have to pay up to 50 percent of the value of your inheritance in taxes. However, if you and your partner were recognized as a married couple, you wouldn’t have to pay a dime. And it is precisely this unjust double standard that got Annie Leibovitz into financial trouble.

How would you feel if you suddenly had to pay half of the value of your home to the government in order to keep on living there?

Remember the Quakers? – you know … Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn for the religious freedom of the Quakers a few hundred years ago. Well they are still around in various parts of the world (including here in North Carolina) and they are making news on the gay marriage front!

In Great Britain, the Quakers have come out in favor of gay marriage. For decades they have recognized gay unions and performed ceremonies of religious blessings for them. Now they want to take it one step further.

The Quakers plan on formally asking the government to change the country’s laws to allow them to perform same-sex marriages. The British already recognize same-sex unions but do not call it marriage and do not grant same-sex couples the same rights as those enjoyed by male-female marriages.

So different from here in the United States where most religious organizations are the ones fighting against same-sex unions. It’s nice to see a bit of sanity.

The cited original URL of this is no longer valid but I had to pass it on:

1.Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control.
2.Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. Infertile couples and old people can’t legally get married because the world needs more children.
3.Obviously, gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
4.Straight marriage will be less meaningful if Gay marriage is allowed, since Britney Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.
5.Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are property, blacks can’t marry whites, and divorce is illegal.
6.Gay marriage should be decided by people, not the courts, because the majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have historically protected the rights of the minorities.
7.Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.
8.Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
9.Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
10.Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why single parents are forbidden to raise children.
11.Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven’t adapted to things like cars or longer life spans.
12.Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because a “separate but equal” institution is always constitutional. Separate schools for African-Americans worked just as well as separate marriages for gays and lesbians will.

This one is almost too good to believe … but IT IS TRUE!

The mayor of San Angelo, Texas, has resigned just ten days after a landslide re-election victory to pursue his relationship with his gay partner, an illegal immigrant from Mexico. J W Lown was elected in 2003 as the city’s youngest ever mayor at the age of 32. He has been re-elected three times, gaining 89 per cent of the latest vote, held ten days ago.

Lown said he had chosen not to take the oath of office while “aiding and assisting” a person who was illegally in the country.

“I made the final decision when I knew it was the right decision to make for me and my partner and our future – and for the community,” he said. Lown hopes to eventually return to the US with his partner.

“I don’t know how long this is going to take. It could take months. It could take years, but I’m prepared to wait as long as it takes,” he said.
“It wasn’t a decision that any U.S. citizen should have to make,” former Mayor J.W. Lown said in an interview from Mexico. “I left a home. I left a ranch. I left a promising political career.”

Here is a politician that actually seems to be honest and to have ethics and he is leaving the country because he can’t be with his partner otherwise. A sad state of affairs when we lose promising talented people because of stupid laws.

It’s time and I’m damn tired of the bigots that are against it hiding behind their religious beliefs in their arguments. Marriage is a legal state. It is not a Judeo-Christian religious ritual. Atheists can and do marry – Buddhists can and do marry – the Godless communists marry. It also isn’t reserved for reproduction of the human race. Sterile persons can marry – old persons well past menopause can marry.

WHY SHOULDN”T GAYS BE GIVEN THE RIGHT TO MARRY THOSE THEY LOVE?

Former Senator for North Carolina, Jessie Helms died today. For many years, this man was supposedly represented North Carolina in the US Senate. He was actually NC’s longest serving Senator. His stances against anything remotely liberal (or even moderate) earned him his nickname of Senator No.

He was another one of those who believed that AIDS was God’s punishment for gays. His beliefs and actions in the US Congress did immeasurable harm to hundreds of thousands of people. His backwards positions earned him the well deserved hatred of the gay community throughout the entire United States.

He made his home here in Raleigh and I happen to know that, after his retirement, his beliefs regarding AIDS moderated considerably. I don’t know if his beliefs actually changed or if he simply dropped a political front that he may have had surrounding himself. At any rate it was too little, too late.

Over two years ago I wrote a blog entry on this subject and observed that throughout history the United States has been slow to grant basic rights to its citizenry. Since that blog entry on the subject, still more countries throughout the world have recognized the rights of their citizens to marry whomever they wish. Meanwhile, United States citizens are forbidden this basic human right.

To date, the following countries have recognized the rights of their citizens and now permit various forms of unions between two people of the same sex. The rules vary from country to country and range from total equality with heterosexual couples to various forms of civil unions:
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