"Religion is far more a choice than homosexuality."
Last night Mike Huckabee was the guest on The Daily Show, and he and Jon Stewart debated the issue of gay marriage. And it was amazing. Guys, I know I've been fangirling over him a lot lately, but seriously, I just have to say...JON IS MY HERO.
The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Mike Huckabee Pt. 2
Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview
Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video
Apparently Huckabee believes that we shouldn't redefine marriage because the Bible defines it as between a man and a woman, and "anatomically it doesn't make sense" to allow people of the same sex to marry because we need to continue the human race, blah blah blah. Sadly, Jon didn't bring up a point that I think he really should have -- the fact that marriage does NOT equal making babies, or else why do we allow people who can't or don't want to have children get married? But even still, he stated the case in a very calm, rational, respectful way that we should really not be looking towards a thousands-of-years old book to determine how we should define marriage now in the 21st century, especially since marriage has already been redefined many times in the past. He made many other awesome points as well, but...you'll just have to watch the clip.
I just...it touches me so much when I see someone like Jon Stewart, who is a straight man, advocate so strongly and so passionately for our side. You can tell how deeply he cares. It's great when gay people advocate for queer rights, but it's our straight allies who really set my heart aflutter. This is why I love my extremely supportive straight friends. I think they're our most vital tool towards actually getting pro-gay marriage laws passed in this country, because once the anti-gay marriage people see that it's not just us weird GLBT people who care about this -- that there are millions of straight people who are just as outraged that we're being denied the same rights as everyone else -- then it'll be obvious that there is really no reason why the government should bar two people of the same sex from getting married.
As Jon pointed out, the insistence that marriage be defined in terms of gender makes it an issue of just semantics, which the anti-gay marriage people use to try to mask their homophobia. And yes, I disagree with Huckabee and I think it IS an issue of homophobia -- why else would they view the idea of two people of the same sex having a marriage (and NOT a civil union) to be so threatening? I'm sorry, Huckabee, but you cannot say that you believe that everyone is equal and then say that "there's a difference between the equality of people and the equality of what we do [a.k.a., how we define our relationships]." That's just bullshit. It comes down to the idea of: you are not the same as me, therefore you should not be allowed to use the same terms to define your relationship. As someone said on the Fark.com thread about this interview, "Calling them 'marriage' to the anti-gay marriage crowd means that society is now recognizing a male-male relationship to be on the same plane as a male-female relationship. Anti-gay marriage people are not OK with that."
I know this sounds odd, but I was actually kind of disappointed when Wanda Sykes came out of the closet last month, because for the longest time I was kind of holding onto her as one of those straight allies. Not that her being gay makes her pro-gay marriage stance any less valid of course, but I liked the idea of her as someone who was extremely vocal about standing up for our rights despite not actually being gay herself. At least her coming out meant an increase in GLBT visibility, though -- I think a lot of people didn't expect that from her, and it shows that we really are everywhere. Hell, I even support the hell out of Clay Aiken for coming out, despite the fact that I'm not exactly a fan of his music.
So, changing topics a little bit -- the whole reason why I'm able to type all this right now is because I called in sick again today. I felt pretty damn miserable last night, and I'm still in no position to run around at work today. Erika is being a total darling by providing me with medicine and soup (I love you, baby!). I also feel kind of bad because when I called work this morning to say I couldn't make it in, my boss was actually really understanding and sweet. Now I feel kind of bad for talking trash about her so much. As I told Erika, I would know what to do with her if she was consistent, LOL. There have been times when she has been really nice to me but there have also been times when she has been...not so logical or understanding.
Ironically today, Wednesday, December 10th, is "Call In Gay To Work Day." Someone started up a Facebook group suggesting that everyone should "call in gay" to work today to show our support for queer rights. How convenient that I actually was sick and couldn't work this morning. XD It's a sign! I needed to take this day off to stand up for my queer brothers and sisters!
Also -- I'm sure you all have heard about the Governor Blagojevich controversy by now. And I have to say that I was extremely saddened when they started saying that, despite earlier reports, it was not in fact Obama's Chief of Cracking Skulls Staff, Rahm Emanuel, who blew the whistle on Blagosdoqsdfjkswhatever. Scott says he still feels "90% sure" that it was Rahm and that he just doesn't want to admit it. I'm going to go with that theory, because, seriously...how kick ass would that have been?! As if I didn't have enough reasons to love Rahm already. <3
The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Mike Huckabee Pt. 2
Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview
Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video
Apparently Huckabee believes that we shouldn't redefine marriage because the Bible defines it as between a man and a woman, and "anatomically it doesn't make sense" to allow people of the same sex to marry because we need to continue the human race, blah blah blah. Sadly, Jon didn't bring up a point that I think he really should have -- the fact that marriage does NOT equal making babies, or else why do we allow people who can't or don't want to have children get married? But even still, he stated the case in a very calm, rational, respectful way that we should really not be looking towards a thousands-of-years old book to determine how we should define marriage now in the 21st century, especially since marriage has already been redefined many times in the past. He made many other awesome points as well, but...you'll just have to watch the clip.
I just...it touches me so much when I see someone like Jon Stewart, who is a straight man, advocate so strongly and so passionately for our side. You can tell how deeply he cares. It's great when gay people advocate for queer rights, but it's our straight allies who really set my heart aflutter. This is why I love my extremely supportive straight friends. I think they're our most vital tool towards actually getting pro-gay marriage laws passed in this country, because once the anti-gay marriage people see that it's not just us weird GLBT people who care about this -- that there are millions of straight people who are just as outraged that we're being denied the same rights as everyone else -- then it'll be obvious that there is really no reason why the government should bar two people of the same sex from getting married.
As Jon pointed out, the insistence that marriage be defined in terms of gender makes it an issue of just semantics, which the anti-gay marriage people use to try to mask their homophobia. And yes, I disagree with Huckabee and I think it IS an issue of homophobia -- why else would they view the idea of two people of the same sex having a marriage (and NOT a civil union) to be so threatening? I'm sorry, Huckabee, but you cannot say that you believe that everyone is equal and then say that "there's a difference between the equality of people and the equality of what we do [a.k.a., how we define our relationships]." That's just bullshit. It comes down to the idea of: you are not the same as me, therefore you should not be allowed to use the same terms to define your relationship. As someone said on the Fark.com thread about this interview, "Calling them 'marriage' to the anti-gay marriage crowd means that society is now recognizing a male-male relationship to be on the same plane as a male-female relationship. Anti-gay marriage people are not OK with that."
I know this sounds odd, but I was actually kind of disappointed when Wanda Sykes came out of the closet last month, because for the longest time I was kind of holding onto her as one of those straight allies. Not that her being gay makes her pro-gay marriage stance any less valid of course, but I liked the idea of her as someone who was extremely vocal about standing up for our rights despite not actually being gay herself. At least her coming out meant an increase in GLBT visibility, though -- I think a lot of people didn't expect that from her, and it shows that we really are everywhere. Hell, I even support the hell out of Clay Aiken for coming out, despite the fact that I'm not exactly a fan of his music.
So, changing topics a little bit -- the whole reason why I'm able to type all this right now is because I called in sick again today. I felt pretty damn miserable last night, and I'm still in no position to run around at work today. Erika is being a total darling by providing me with medicine and soup (I love you, baby!). I also feel kind of bad because when I called work this morning to say I couldn't make it in, my boss was actually really understanding and sweet. Now I feel kind of bad for talking trash about her so much. As I told Erika, I would know what to do with her if she was consistent, LOL. There have been times when she has been really nice to me but there have also been times when she has been...not so logical or understanding.
Ironically today, Wednesday, December 10th, is "Call In Gay To Work Day." Someone started up a Facebook group suggesting that everyone should "call in gay" to work today to show our support for queer rights. How convenient that I actually was sick and couldn't work this morning. XD It's a sign! I needed to take this day off to stand up for my queer brothers and sisters!
Also -- I'm sure you all have heard about the Governor Blagojevich controversy by now. And I have to say that I was extremely saddened when they started saying that, despite earlier reports, it was not in fact Obama's Chief of Cracking Skulls Staff, Rahm Emanuel, who blew the whistle on Blagosdoqsdfjkswhatever. Scott says he still feels "90% sure" that it was Rahm and that he just doesn't want to admit it. I'm going to go with that theory, because, seriously...how kick ass would that have been?! As if I didn't have enough reasons to love Rahm already. <3