a reprieve, but not quite a victory

[keltic63]

MA constitutional session ends without voting on the gay marriage issue (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060713/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage;_ylt=AiGIbyp7MQrw7OuVZxt1RZes0NUE;_yl u=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-)


that's 4 more months for gay couples to talk to their legislators!

[Daniel]

MA constitutional session ends without voting on the gay marriage issue (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060713/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage;_ylt=AiGIbyp7MQrw7OuVZxt1RZes0NUE;_yl u=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-)


that's 4 more months for gay couples to talk to their legislators!


And families: I have a sister and brother-in-law near Boston. As the saying goes: "All politics is local."

[Liberal Crozier]

Daniel,

Yes, I have a question. My view of MA has always been that of QC about twenty years ago. I always viewed both as a Roman Catholic theocracy in the way that UT is a Mormon theocracy....ironic indeed that a UT Mormon transplanted guy is governor of MA. Well, wasn't his presidential ambitioned father also the transplanted governor of MI?

QC stopped being a theocracy when John XXIII appointed a liberal cardinal who disestablished the role of the Catholic Church provided by the British Crown with the Quebec Act of 1775 - for fear that QC would join the revolutionary war, thus providing Catholic emancipation to a colony before it provided the same rights in the UK and elsewhere by the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829.

The paedophile scandals and the resignation of Cardinal Law, and the recent elevation of the new cardinal (after denied conclave to elect him) by Papa Ratzi had initially lowered the impact and power of the Powerhouse. Yet their unholy alliance with the Theocons who benefit from their disgrace is part of the Inquisitional scapegoating of all LGBT persons and giving sustenance to their drastic theological views, from partially to totally disgraceful as a Christian position of faith and morals.

The unsung hero is Arline Isaacson, chief lobbyist for the MA Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus. She made the delay possible. She marshalled all her allies to follow the calendar in order of precedence. Marriage was last by statute and the Theocons wanted to bring it to the front of the agenda.
Remember, the fraud-laden Petition had the added bonus of requiring only 25% rather than 51% of the delegates to bring the measure to a referendum vote. In effect, the legislators were, like the LGBT community, victims of the Theocons.

Unfortunately, many family, friends and legislators are Roman Catholic conservative Democrats. A film that was on television identified many activists on their side had siblings or children whom they did not support, and more, were actively working against them at Capitol Hill. Sad, very sad.

Also, if the November 2006 elections defeat our allies, as we defeated their allies in the November 2004 elections, then the delay two days past the election might backlash with money and resources and reminders of the judgements in other states. Politics is local, said Tip, but politics is a volatile game of breaksmanship....and money is the milk of politics.

[Daniel]

Also, if the November 2006 elections defeat our allies, as we defeated their allies in the November 2004 elections, then the delay two days past the election might backlash with money and resources and reminders of the judgements in other states. Politics is local, said Tip, but politics is a volatile game of breaksmanship....and money is the milk of politics.

Liberal- I see your point- and the point being that you see far into the future my friend- and that future re MA politics may prove to be our undoing. Yes- a backlash could certainly happen. But as the another saying goes: "Time is money". And at least there is some time, though nominal at best, to mount a campaign to counter having GLBT rights put up for a vote. And there is time for us to tell others about our lives. In the end, I think it is this one on one interaction will make all the difference in the world. That and a great deal of personal effort and pressure: everyone must do what they can even if that seems like very little. Otherwise, there will be no tipping point.

[Vanessa White]

When I conduct my trainings for professionals, and students here at my university about the needs of LGBTQ persons, I always state that when it comes to issues related to our community, the political is personal and the personal is political; meaning, the two concepts cannot be separated. I do believe giving voters the personal view of who we are, and how we positively impact their daily lives could make a difference. I also think, Daniel, that some of us, me at times, feel so discouraged about events like this that we feel defeated and hopeless about any change. However, even if I only have energy to do a little, I think you are right, it will only help the overall outcome. You have inspired me, to go on for another day in this battle, thanks for that.....:love: :love:

[Zerbie]

I do believe giving voters the personal view of who we are, and how we positively impact their daily lives could make a difference. I also think, Daniel, that some of us, me at times, feel so discouraged about events like this that we feel defeated and hopeless about any change. However, even if I only have energy to do a little, I think you are right, it will only help the overall outcome. You have inspired me, to go on for another day in this battle, thanks for that.....:love: :love:


Yes! yes! yes! yes! yes! yes! yes! And to what Daniel said: Yes!, etc. . .

For one thing, give the citizens of MA a few years to notice that gay marriages have NOT caused the sky to fall, and they will be less inclined to vote reactively, and more likely to see through the anti-gay campaigning of the extreme right. So I suspect.

Very important is what Daniel :love: and Vanessa:love: have said: Contribute what you have. You never know how close you are to achieving the goal that is just out of sight, until you get there. You may give up when 99% of the way there, and then never know you were at 99%. So just keep trying.

Cultivating the strength and resilience to keep trying and never give up is strength for the spirit. It's especially important when you feel discourageed, defeated, and hopeless. Call upon that strength and it will come to you. But first, ya may need to spend an evening wrapped in a blanket, sipping tea or eating ice cream and watching TV while feeling despondent. ;) Energy runs in cycles. :agree: Just know your strength is still there and you ARE going to get up tomorrow and keep right on going.

:pray:

[Vanessa White]

Zerbie, you so speak my language! I have been figuratively, on the couch wrapped up as tight as I could be the last few days, but today I have a new resolve, the fire in my belly is small but it is back, and I feel ready to resume.

[Liberal Crozier]

Believe me, I am not a seer, or fully informed beyond the knowledge from some friends and many articles on the web concerning the fractured rifts among several LGBTQ organisations. I believe that this was especially true with Mass Equality and Know Thy Neighbour on the matter of disclosing the names, all public information, of those persons who signed the petition.

GLAD had filed many challenges against the Theocon legal agendas, and all of them have been unsuccessful. The only reason that there is a reprieve is because Arline Isaacson reminded legislators that the petition had a little used provision requiring only 25% legislative support to bypass their authority. The legislators also realised that the political motivation was to defeat the new 2006 pro gay legislators and re-elect the 2004 anti gay crowd. So now, in a matter of months, 151 legislators out of 200 MUST defeat the referendum motion.

The two tactics are obvious. Identify the fact that our forces have probably half or a little less than half that number today. The anti-gay forces had the requisite number of 50 votes with a few to spare if they needed them to be whipped up. Identify the fact that the GOP is gearing up for a Romney presidential bid and the end game might be the Number 2 spot on the ticket. The Mormon leadership - fiercely Republican - would push for that ticket. Also, the majority of Irish and Italian-American Roman Catholic Democrats are socially conservative.

The SHOWTIME film , made in 2004, clearly showed several anti-gay activists with a gay sibling and a lesbian child whom they did not support and actually went to Capitol Hill to lobby against. Many cultural Catholics are eager to forgive Holy Mother the Church and support Papa Ratzi and vote for the end to marriage rights.

I know this. When ON was the only province in Canada to provide province only rights and privileges of marriage, the entire LGBTQ Canadian activist groups met in a national strategy session. Virulent anti-gay pastors engaged in dialogue with our pro-gay pastors and leaders. Political leader to political leader. Educator to educator. Public health clinician to Public health clinician, and same-sex couple to opposite-sex couple. The result was twofold. It kept marriage alive in ON....and then the dominoes fell......BC, YK, MB, SK, NS, NF, NB and finally only Hellberta was left, smoking fire and brimstone and threatening to commit provincial disobedience to the Federal Marriage Act that finally passed Parliament and Royal Assent to say nothing of the Supreme Judicial Court of Canada.

All I have said is this. MA IS GROUND ZERO, AND IT IS TREATED AS JUST ONE PART OF A LARGE PUZZLE MOSAIC IN PLAY IS BOTH LETHAL AND NAIVE. LOSE THE REALITY OF A SOVEREIGN STATE IN THE USA WITH LEGAL MARRIAGE AND YOU HAVE A PLESSY V FERGUSON DECISION IN CT THAT WILL MODEL THE RESPONSES IN THE FUTURE.

[Daniel]

All I have said is this. MA IS GROUND ZERO, AND IT IS TREATED AS JUST ONE PART OF A LARGE PUZZLE MOSAIC IN PLAY IS BOTH LETHAL AND NAIVE. LOSE THE REALITY OF A SOVEREIGN STATE IN THE USA WITH LEGAL MARRIAGE AND YOU HAVE A PLESSY V FERGUSON DECISION IN CT THAT WILL MODEL THE RESPONSES IN THE FUTURE.


Yes- I agree with you. That is the way it will go if people do not wake up and smell the oak of the freshly cut coffin lid being nailed in on top of them in the form of CT civil unions. This is such a big country that it is all too easy to think that: "Well....that was bad....but we'll fight another battle and win." Hello! There aren't any other states with anything called marriage at the moment. The act of naming a thing is an act of ownership. Calling marriage for what is it means just that: owning it. We dare not lose it. This will be is the real Defense of Marriage Act.

Vanessa and Zerbie-

I believe this: prayers are Real.

Talking to my conservative siblings is Real.

Sending money to an organization of your choice is Real.

Writing letters and calling is Real.

Taking Action, whether Internal or External is Real: Compassion is an Action, not a Feeling.

Blessed are they that Mouth Off and Do the Right Thing in the End.

[tdogg]

Everyone

I was going to post and ask what can be done, esp by those of us who don't live anywhere near MA? Daniel, you helped answer that question a bit.

Does anyone know how to contact Arline, if not I'll try some web searching. She might have ideas on what we can do that would help the cause in MA?

I feel the need for action is huge but just not sure of what action would be effective on my end in CA for this particular issue in MA. Any suggestions or information would be greatly appreciated.

I'm off to Chicago for a few days in the early AM, won't have access to internet most likely, but will be looking forward to getting back on this when I return. I am willing to call, write, pray, send some $$, whatever it takes to fight this thing in MA right now. It appears to be a priority for us.

I'll miss you all! We'll be at opening ceremonies for Gay Games, watch some sports venues, visit my partner's alma mater Northwestern U, see Margaret Cho live, and various other fun and busy stuff! I'll probably need a vacation from my vacation when I get home!

[Liberal Crozier]

Crozier is having a difficult evening, and I gave him some medication to sleep. He read all your responses, and we discussed some replies.

The United States of America is a nation of 300 million persons and the known number of states and minor jurisdictions. Canada has approximately 35 million persons with our few provinces and territories. Our system of government allows for immediate change of power base, and your system requires full term with impeachment as the only recourse. That is flawed as well because the party in power also has the successor.

Yes, when I read the CT decision, all I could think of was Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) . Separate but equal gave birth to the Jim Crow laws, and enabled the racists to lynch blacks with impunity, kangaroo court them into death sentences and long prison sentences on chain gangs, and telling every white racist that if they killed a black, it was a free pass on murder.

The nationally organised effort to destroy MA marriage is an unholy alliance of many diverse groups of individuals in the economic, political and religious arena....strange bedfellows who are competing with each other, yet have coalesced for their own provincial concerns.

All oppressed minorities have their share of "Stockholm Syndrome traitors" who become very effective pawns in the effort. Witness the Love won Out programmes in MA during this and former ConCon confrontations. This is why, IMHO, they appointed Dobson and his FOF as the point man and organisation to work with Kris Mineau, the local FOF ally and his own local organisation. Falwell and Robertson are providing the legal muscle and more cash.

There is also in oppressed minorities, what we term the "Prima Donna Syndrome". All oppressed minorities have trust issues, even among themselves. There are also " turf considerations " and with limited resources and support, this often translates into strife against each other, as opposed to the real opponents.

Yes, non-violent confrontation, as Jeff Lutes correctly points out, is not about defining our opponents as "enemies." I both applaud and admire that position as descriptive of either Hindu or Christian ideal. Yet, I realise that while we are describing our defence of marriage thus, they have a " CULTURE WAR ROOM" that even Clinton in 1992 would have envied.

Have we said it well without offending citizens of the United States of America who are more, our LGBT brothers and sisters united in a global struggle for human and civil rights....in some places, our very lives in the balance? I sincerely hope not, for that is not our intention. Have I unintentionally suggested that the situation is hopeless and cynically suggest that nothing can be done to stem the tide? Hopefully not.

However, this is the seminal moment. Make no mistake about it. There is really no other place in your country that is more important. I would suggest to you that your pseudo-political judiciaries in all affected states are waiting for the MA marriage decision. There is no doubt in my mind that if November 9, 2006 is a "go" for the referendum....the majority voting for minority rights to the nomenclature and now all the rights and privileges, and the permanent revocation of civil unions and RDP's - you can see that the only probable victory will be permanent civil union statutes with very limited rights stateside and even fewer federally if at all. That will lay the groundwork for the FMA, which given your political climate - all three branches firmly in the right wing, or right wing wannabees.

We also know what Liberals in Name Only are. We had one in our riding of Toronto-Danforth. He thought that a Papal knighthood was worth betraying our trust and his principles. Well, John Paul II gave him his knighthood for opposing us, but his seat is now that of the NDP leader in the House of Commons. Interestingly, his new Liberal successor in the district is a true Liberal. But since Jack Layton is an uberliberal and head of the national party, we are more secure with him. It was a long process for the Theocons to hijack the Republican Party and remove or make insignificant the liberals and moderates of the old GOP. They retain them in places where a GOP face is better than a GOP-lite person.

Romney was elected as a "moderate Republican" as have almost every GOP governor since John Volpe. However, the difference is clear. Volpe was a moderate. Romney was never a moderate. His presidential ambitions, like McCain, force him to the extreme right of your political climate. For him, all his victories are presidential faggots to enflame his candidacy and the LBGT in the bargain.

American liberals must first rescue the philosophy and the word and reconnect the working class American to that legacy that made them middle class. They must next defeat all DINO's in their legislative seats and in their gubernatorial chairs, and eventually Congress. Can anyone tell me that the Democratic Party is the liberal political expression in the USA with a straight face?