Yes We Did!

[dawn_felagund]

As I posted about on Monday, I was not particularly nervous about President Obama's chances of reelection yesterday, as--popular vote aside--he seemed to have more than enough electoral votes. My true worry was Question 6, the Maryland ballot question that would extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. As I said Monday, this issue is one of the

Comments

[oloriel]

So glad to hear that reason prevailed... on both counts! I checked for the result of the presidential election yesterday morning - which was easy enough - but didn't know about the results of Question 6 until now. Great news! Congratulations - even if it's only a symbolic victory for you! \o/

[dawn_felagund]

We're all very excited! It was a very victorious night for progressives: the presidential race, of course, but a number of key Senate races won, and many states passing progressive measures. (Every last one of the seven ballot measures that we wanted in Maryland passed.) Question 6 will be the biggie of this election for me, though. It feels a huge turning point; even though I still feel it's wrong for people to vote on other's rights, that it represents a majority being willing to extend those rights is huge, imo.

[marta_bee]

I have nothing of substance to add to this and the earlier post, really. I'll be doing my own post about why this matters so much to me (and it's not just that Silver Springs is one of my favorite communities from the summer I worked in DC, so MD has a soft spot in my heart. But mainly I wanted to say how much I enjoyed these posts. I'm working on my own post re: the votes, and I'll probably be linking to yours. The immediate reaction, the reasons this vote mattered so much to you - it came through so clearly.

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you, Marta--and I'm glad (and a little relieved! :) that something meaningful came across in these posts. It's such a personal and emotional issue for me that distilling that down to something coherent--and something that others are able to connect to--can feel challenging for me.

the reasons this vote mattered so much to youI've always tried to talk about this issue as it impacts my family ... because it does. As I noted in a comment on the previous post, my family has been done actual harm so that others can live in a world forced to conform to their personal beliefs. I sometimes think the discussion on marriage equality becomes more a clash of values; there's nothing wrong with those kinds of discussions, but the fact that there are real people and families in there, being affected every day, can get a little lost. So I try to bring it back to that, in talking about it, and also to make it more personal for people. It's easy to oppose rights for "them"; it's harder when opposing those rights affects real people that you know

conga-rats to Maryland on marriage equality

[livejournal]

User fidesquaerens referenced to your post from conga-rats to Maryland on marriage equality saying: [...] and here [...]

[brookeoflorien]

:D I'm glad it passed! I was keeping track of it and a lot of other races here in Indiana. I wasn't too terrified about Obama's chances either, I was more frightened that my state was going to elect Mourdock as a Senator. Luckily, though it was far closer than I ever thought it would be, we didn't.

Maryland has much more sense than my state does. I'm so glad so many states are starting to wake up to the fact that this is the 21st century.

[dawn_felagund]

When my husband and I got to the Dem's party on Tuesday, news that Mourdock had been defeated was one of the first pieces of news we saw on TV! Yay! Definitely a move in the right direction. :)

I think the momentum re: same-sex marriage is beginning. All of the chatter I've heard about now the Republicans have to revamp their party has mentioned changing their stance on same-sex marriage, which is rapidly becoming Not A Big Deal At All to most people in the U.S.

[brookeoflorien]

It was! Of course, for me, I was watching the results of that race as they came in - it was terrifying to watch as county after county came in with Mourdock winning it. My family is odd, I suppose, in that a lot of the people around us were supporters of him, whereas no one was supporting Mourdock (including my father, who was furious when Mourdock beat Lugar in the primaries. My dad is very much a conservative, but he's the type that thinks the Tea Party is ruining it all. Whereas I'm very, very liberal.)

I think it is too! I'm happy for it, though once again I'm the odd person out. (...though my dad's even odder, in that he considers marriage to be none of the government's business what so ever, and wishes the government would just issue civil partnerships to everyone. I have no idea how that all came about.) I suppose it just doesn't seem to me that it's becoming Not A Big Deal At All to most people, because it's still a huge deal to people around me. *sigh*