prop 8 revisited

[applegoddess]

So thinking back, I think there's this huge disconnect between people who support equal rights for gay people and people who don't, purely because the latter don't fully understand the situation. I'm sure there are some people in the latter group who do understand everything fully, I think it's then safe to call those specific people bigots.

I believe there are two things that are indisputable. They are:

• that marriage is more than a religious union of two people. The way it works now is both social and legal as well. So the term "marriage" is usually taken to be possibly a civil marriage recognized by the government and possibly a religious or spiritual marriage (as appropriate), mix and match them. Only when the question of who is getting married does the term "marriage" become abused and selectively defined as strictly a religious institution. It definitely is not strictly a religious institution in common usage.
• that marriages and civil unions and domestic partnerships are separate but equal. The California Supreme Court outlines exactly how, even in the fairly liberal state of California (let's just ignore those weirdo Central California people ;) ) that actual marriages and the benefits that come with them are not quite the same as the ones one would be entitled to with a domestic partnership, in In re Marriage Cases from May 2008.

So the conclusion: marriage should remain a strictly religious institution if people so insist, and civil unions should be equal. Not separate but equal, but equal. See http://remiel.info/post/59602554/marriage-for-nobody-civil-unions-for-everybody for a great discussion of this topic.

There's a few tangents regarding Prop 8 that are worth considering as well:

• What is the big deal over educating kids about equality? Sex ed doesn't generally involve describing in explicit detail how to have sex. A vagina is a vagina, a penis is a penis, here's how to use a condom or dental dam, go have fun, or don't go have fun that's up to you. Nobody is saying anything about a dildo up a vagina or two penises. Nobody is forcing kids to believe that they need to change genders. It's simple education to not introduce or reinforce the idea that people of the same gender in a relationship are immoral and it's common sense to be fair.
• The people who voted Yes on 8 to protect "marriage" are not doing anything to make civil unions equal. Let's just wait until they have to deal with marriage inequality that they were partially responsible for perpetuating some other day.
• The economy sucks right now, but more marriages and divorces would be helpful. Just think about what goes into a marriage! And a divorce!

Anyway, that being said, I'm sadly laughing at what's going on in recent news. People are outraged nationwide. People are boycotting restaurants. Yes on 8 is claiming that they have a right to vote without being harassed..except they're not being harassed over their vote, but rather their actions and donations...and nobody has a right to have customers. Focus on the Family is firing 20% of their employees.

Pot, kettle. But it's nice to see that there are so many people out there now truly realizing what needs to be done to change the situation in this country, although it can be depressing to see people on the good side be so antagonistic sometimes..but I expect that to die down soon to be replaced with activism. It's too recent and it was a huge slap in the face for many, so I can understand.

And on an even more distant tangent, and the reason why I felt like writing all this, was because someone mentioned that other nonprofits donated massive amounts of money to No on 8 and nobody was protesting them like people are the LDS church. All I can say is that I wish the IRS were more strict about political activities for nonprofits (it's fairly subjective at this point) and that religious orgs not be able to receive nonprofit status unless they provide charitable services and others that are also secular in nature. Lastly, I think that any nonprofit that does get involved in too many political activities that are partisan in nature be taxed and their nonprofit status potentially be revoked. Sad to say that might even include the LA Gay and Lesbian Center, which I believe provides more services than the LDS church could ever dream of doing, but it might. I know it was for a good cause, but not taxed and tax deductible donations? I don't know..even though it is a civil rights issue..