I didn't vote so I can't complain, right? Bite me. I wanted to vote but procrastinated on getting a new card since I moved back into Davidson County. No excuses there. I just dropped the ball on that one.
That said, I wasn't really very passionate about either one of our candidates for Senate. I would have voted for Ford Jr. but that would only have been me voting the party line. The thing that has me blogging is that right now, with 50% of the polls reporting, 930,660 (or 81%) of the voters have voted YES for the amendment to ban same-sex marriages. I won't dare argue someone's moral beliefs on that matter. I'm still young and I am far from wise, but it just seems like such a mean thing to vote for. I am a straight man and I have several gay friends who are feeling yet another slap in the face from society.
Whatever your religious beliefs, let's just approach this from a strictly legal standpoint. Let's just think about people and their rights. This is about hospital visitation if a loved one is sick or dying. This YES vote is about denying certain humans basic rights that the rest of us take for granted. Is it just the word marriage that scares people so much? What if it's just called something else? I know I need to do my homework on this before going on and on about it. I'm sure it's more complex than I know. It just makes me mad to read about so many people voting so passionately about something that really doesn't affect them at all.
I see amendments like these and think that it's just a ploy by one party to get people to the polls ("Don't have an opinion about taxes? How about gays?"). But then, in a tight race where Corker is currently winning with 53% and the amendment winning by over 80%, that tells me that a lot of Ford voters are voting YES, too. (Or does that mean that a lot of YES voters aren't casting a vote for the senate at all?)
I'm still learning, I guess.
7 comments:
You know, I don't know enough about it either, so I'll keep up through you, but I agree completely.
It doesn't affect their lives, but they can decide whether it's "right" or not.
These people have their lives, families, they can go to the hospital and ask questions, or make decisions. god bless them. Just screw the gays they do not know love. I guess I was blind to the fact that so many Tennesseans hate me. Thanks for the words and support.
I voted. Some of my candidates won & some didn't. BAH.
I have a friend that's gay & he's been with his partner longer than most married couples. I seriously hope Americans change their minds in the coming years. We are doing humanity a disservice JUST because of their sexual preference. It's dissapointing that gay couples can't have the same rights as straight couples.
M~
If you look only at the surface of the wording of the ammendment and read no further, the ammendment "defines" marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman. Well, duh, look at Webster's principle definition, you'll see the same, traditionally accepted, societal phrasing.
I do believe that using the word 'marriage' is the problem. I detest the idea that the state has any say whatsoever in what I consider to be an agreement between my wife, myself and God. Yes, I want that agreement and what it means to my extended church family. I also believe that there needs to be a TOTALLY separate, legally binding, contractual agreement filed with the state that covers our relationship as it relates to property, inheritance, any anything monetarily related...other than that, the state should keep the hell out of relationships between people straight or gay. Whatever the state sanctioned contract is called, call it something besides MARRIAGE! The very word and its long standing historical useage is a MAJOR cultural icon/foundation that cannot be discarded as easily as the word 'gay' was tranformed to describe gender/sexual preference.
This ammendment was doomed from the start in Tennessee. We were too f*king distracted watching two senatorial candidates sling dung at each other rather than discussing the flaws in the ammendment and/or the impact on all who would be affected. Shame on us all!
I think what surprised me most was the absolute land-slide. I was really shocked by that. I think so much attention was on Ford and Cocker's campaigns that no one really campaigned much for the amendements. I didn't even know about the property tax one until the day before the election!
I don't think you need to do much more homework on it at all: the fact that gays and taxes can be mentioned in the same breath as though they are comparable issues makes me want to throw things. The sooner people realise that marriage isn't in the gift of the state - it's a gift from one person to another - the better.
It makes me sad that a country like America - potentially the world's greatest force for good - is passing such dreadfully narrow-minded and cynically crafted laws. What happened to positive law-making that enabled things to be better?
Where Adam and Eve even married? After that fling with the serpent I'm pretty sure they would have filed for divorce if they could have.
I don't think they really had a concept of either relationship.
Politically this is a firewall against the courts enforcing the equal rights of homosexuals.
It is a coldly calcuated political ploy to divide the electorate along lines that destroy good government, cooperation, compromise, and compassion. Shame on them.
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