We had a confrontation with some YES ON 8 activists today.
Today there were a bunch of people on every corner of this big intersection between my house and Peter's, all holding up YES ON 8 signs. (There was one guy with a NO on 8 sign and I give him major props for being able to stand there ALL DAY with those fanatics.)
We were actually so mad about it that we walked over and tried to talk to them. Lulz, you guys. The first corner we hit (which ended up being the only corner) had two guys on it, they looked like barely early 20s, probably they were both still in their teens, and we asked them why they wanted to vote yes on 8.
The first guy was like, "Because..." in this super hesitant voice, like it was really funny that we asked because he had no idea what to say. I pressed it and he was like, "Why should I tell you?" and I was like "Because I'm a registered voter. I'm the person that sign is trying to convince, so convince me to vote yes on 8." But he just said that he didn't want to tell us his reason.
We asked the second guy and he at least had SOMETHING, but his first one was ...gosh I can't even remember, it was kind of dumb though and we got him to drop it really fast. His second one was about gays spreading AIDS and we were like "ACTUALLY NOT TRUE and why does that matter about them marrying anyway?" So we got him to drop that argument too.
Haha I actually kind of felt bad for these kids. We were just like "You should probably think about your opinion and WHY you're voting yes for this proposition instead of voting yes just because you're being told you should." We basically steamrolled their entire arguments, but then this woman walked over to handle us and she was much more prepared and better versed than both of them.
She didn't know the definition of abstinence only sex education though which was really frustrating =|a esp when I kept trying to tell her that her definition of the word was wrong and she wasn't listening. ANYWAY. Her whole thing was KIDS WILL BE TAUGHT GAY MARRIAGE IN SCHOOL and btw King and King is a terrible book that demeans women, and when she gave her argument against the book I was just like "...what" and I wanted to say "SOUNDS TO ME LIKE YOU WANT A BOOK BANNING, NOT AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW." But yeah, basically, apparently the whole argument against gay marriage is IT BEING TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS OH NO :O=-<
idk about you guys but uh my public school system did not educate me on the subject of marriage, straight or otherwise.
Also she had like 6 kids out there on the corner with her all holding up signs and we asked her about it and she was like "OH THOSE ARE MY KIDS" and we told her it was wrong to have them out here supporting a political stance they can't vote for and don't know enough about to decide on for themselves and she was just like I THINK IT'S GOOD TO GET THEM INVOLVED IN THINGS THEY FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT AT A YOUNG AGE BECAUSE IT SHOWS THEM PERSERVERENCE or some BS like that and we were just like lolwut? Okay lady use your kids to further your political cause that is totally kosher, indoctrinate them yeah!!!
She said that gay couples already have full rights under civil union (they don't, they only have partial rights, this is a complete misconception) and allowing them to marry would CHANGE THE DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE. We bring up the fact that this is how people thought when interracial marriage was coming up on the books and she's like THAT'S NOT THE SAME THING AT ALL. Um, well, actually it IS. It is EXACTLY the same thing and it got EXACTLY the same arguments. (I wanted so badly to walk up to one of the other corners and be like "YEAH DON'T LET FAGS MARRY. WHILE WE'RE AT IT LET'S QUIT THEM NIGGERS STEALIN' OUR WOMEN.")
Ugh the civil union argument pisses me off. It actually doesn't work the way it seems to say it does. Civil unions don't afford you hospital visitation rights, for one thing. The person's family can deny you access to visit them, something they can't do if you're married.
Ohhh man she also made a big thing about kids needing a male parent and a female parent to grow up healthy so gays shouldn't be allowed to adopt and single parents should remarry as soon as possible. We cited that Peter's father was divorced, single dad, HATED his ex-wife and was in fact TRAUMATIZED by the relationship and so never wanted to get married ever again, and she just kind of blew off that argument by saying, "But he tries to do what's best for you right?" Yeah but uh that doesn't involve remarrying just so he has a mother present. Also, like gay parents aren't trying to do what's best for their kids? I think it's better to let a loving gay couple adopt a kid they really want vs letting kids sit around in the foster care system waiting for a permanent family.
Jeeeez.
It was frustrating but at least it was a thoughtful discussion and nobody got vicious, though I kind of wanted to start punching some faces.
Later on in the day, after I took Peter home, I drove back through and found several of the Yes-ers had gone home and a few No-ers had taken their place. That was pretty nice.
We were actually so mad about it that we walked over and tried to talk to them. Lulz, you guys. The first corner we hit (which ended up being the only corner) had two guys on it, they looked like barely early 20s, probably they were both still in their teens, and we asked them why they wanted to vote yes on 8.
The first guy was like, "Because..." in this super hesitant voice, like it was really funny that we asked because he had no idea what to say. I pressed it and he was like, "Why should I tell you?" and I was like "Because I'm a registered voter. I'm the person that sign is trying to convince, so convince me to vote yes on 8." But he just said that he didn't want to tell us his reason.
We asked the second guy and he at least had SOMETHING, but his first one was ...gosh I can't even remember, it was kind of dumb though and we got him to drop it really fast. His second one was about gays spreading AIDS and we were like "ACTUALLY NOT TRUE and why does that matter about them marrying anyway?" So we got him to drop that argument too.
Haha I actually kind of felt bad for these kids. We were just like "You should probably think about your opinion and WHY you're voting yes for this proposition instead of voting yes just because you're being told you should." We basically steamrolled their entire arguments, but then this woman walked over to handle us and she was much more prepared and better versed than both of them.
She didn't know the definition of abstinence only sex education though which was really frustrating =|a esp when I kept trying to tell her that her definition of the word was wrong and she wasn't listening. ANYWAY. Her whole thing was KIDS WILL BE TAUGHT GAY MARRIAGE IN SCHOOL and btw King and King is a terrible book that demeans women, and when she gave her argument against the book I was just like "...what" and I wanted to say "SOUNDS TO ME LIKE YOU WANT A BOOK BANNING, NOT AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW." But yeah, basically, apparently the whole argument against gay marriage is IT BEING TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS OH NO :O=-<
idk about you guys but uh my public school system did not educate me on the subject of marriage, straight or otherwise.
Also she had like 6 kids out there on the corner with her all holding up signs and we asked her about it and she was like "OH THOSE ARE MY KIDS" and we told her it was wrong to have them out here supporting a political stance they can't vote for and don't know enough about to decide on for themselves and she was just like I THINK IT'S GOOD TO GET THEM INVOLVED IN THINGS THEY FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT AT A YOUNG AGE BECAUSE IT SHOWS THEM PERSERVERENCE or some BS like that and we were just like lolwut? Okay lady use your kids to further your political cause that is totally kosher, indoctrinate them yeah!!!
She said that gay couples already have full rights under civil union (they don't, they only have partial rights, this is a complete misconception) and allowing them to marry would CHANGE THE DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE. We bring up the fact that this is how people thought when interracial marriage was coming up on the books and she's like THAT'S NOT THE SAME THING AT ALL. Um, well, actually it IS. It is EXACTLY the same thing and it got EXACTLY the same arguments. (I wanted so badly to walk up to one of the other corners and be like "YEAH DON'T LET FAGS MARRY. WHILE WE'RE AT IT LET'S QUIT THEM NIGGERS STEALIN' OUR WOMEN.")
Ugh the civil union argument pisses me off. It actually doesn't work the way it seems to say it does. Civil unions don't afford you hospital visitation rights, for one thing. The person's family can deny you access to visit them, something they can't do if you're married.
Ohhh man she also made a big thing about kids needing a male parent and a female parent to grow up healthy so gays shouldn't be allowed to adopt and single parents should remarry as soon as possible. We cited that Peter's father was divorced, single dad, HATED his ex-wife and was in fact TRAUMATIZED by the relationship and so never wanted to get married ever again, and she just kind of blew off that argument by saying, "But he tries to do what's best for you right?" Yeah but uh that doesn't involve remarrying just so he has a mother present. Also, like gay parents aren't trying to do what's best for their kids? I think it's better to let a loving gay couple adopt a kid they really want vs letting kids sit around in the foster care system waiting for a permanent family.
Jeeeez.
It was frustrating but at least it was a thoughtful discussion and nobody got vicious, though I kind of wanted to start punching some faces.
Later on in the day, after I took Peter home, I drove back through and found several of the Yes-ers had gone home and a few No-ers had taken their place. That was pretty nice.