Straw poll on gay marriage

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
<a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/scotts/bulgarians/vaid-mow.html">Urvashi Vaid's speech, March on Washington 1993: A Simple Matter of Justice.</a>



<em>Hello lesbian and gay Americans. I am proud to stand before you as a lesbian today. With hearts full of love and the abiding faith in justice, we have come to Washington to speak to America. We have come to speak the truth of our lives and silence the liars. We have come to challenge the cowardly Congress to end its paralysis and exercise moral leadership. <strong>We have come to defend our honor and win our equality</strong>. But most of all we have come in peace and with courage to say, "America, this day marks the end from exile of the gay and lesbian people. We are banished no more. We wander the wilderness of despair no more. We are afraid no more. For on this day, with love in our hearts, we have come out, and we have come out across America to build a bridge of understanding, a bridge of progress, a bridge as solid as steel, a bridge to a land where no one suffers prejudice because of their sexual orientation, their race, their gender, their religion, or their human difference."



When all of us who believe in freedom and diversity see this gathering, we see beauty and power. When our enemies see this gathering, they see the millennium. Perhaps the Right is right about something. We call for the end of the world as we know it. We call for the end of racism and sexism and bigotry as we know it. For the end of violence and discrimination and homophobia as we know it. For the end of sexism as we know it. <strong>We stand for freedom as we have yet to know it, and we will not be denied</strong>.</em>



I was there and listened to this speech. I'm hoping, 15 years later, to see one of the last battles for gay rights in California, won.
 
This commercial goes after the Mormon church, specifically, b/c of their huge donations to ban gay marriage





http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x231528
 
C'mon....you can do it.....just cut and copy the link like you do, then click the <a> button, paste in the link...then name it something. It'll come up clickable. Easy peasy.





<a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x231528">Nowowowowowwow's link</a>



oops, seems like the Mormon's found it....comes back, "vid no longer available"
 
Prop 8: What it is and what it isn't.



<blockquote>Clever magicians practice the art of misdirection -- distracting the eyes of the audience to something attention-grabbing but irrelevant so that no one notices what the magician is really doing. Look over at that fuchsia scarf, up this sleeve, at anything besides the actual trick.



The campaign promoting Proposition 8, which proposes to amend the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriages, has masterfully misdirected its audience, California voters. Look at the first-graders in San Francisco, attending their lesbian teacher's wedding! Look at Catholic Charities, halting its adoption services in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage is legal! Look at the church that lost its tax exemption over gay marriage! Look at anything except what Proposition 8 is actually about: a group of people who are trying to impose on the state their belief that homosexuality is immoral and that gays and lesbians are not entitled to be treated equally under the law.



That truth would never sell in tolerant, live-and-let-live California, and so it has been hidden behind a series of misleading half-truths. Once the sleight of hand is revealed, though, the campaign's illusions fall away.



Take the story of Catholic Charities. The service arm of the Roman Catholic Church closed its adoption program in Massachusetts not because of the state's gay marriage law but because of a gay anti-discrimination law passed many years earlier. In fact, the charity had voluntarily placed older foster children in gay and lesbian households -- among those most willing to take hard-to-place children -- until the church hierarchy was alerted and demanded that adoptions conform to the church's religious teaching, which was in conflict with state law. The Proposition 8 campaign, funded in large part by Mormons who were urged to do so by their church, does not mention that the Mormon church's adoption arm in Massachusetts is still operating, even though it does not place children in gay and lesbian households.



How can this be? It's a matter of public accountability, not infringement on religion. Catholic Charities acted as a state contractor, receiving state and federal money to find homes for special-needs children who were wards of the state, and it faced the loss of public funding if it did not comply with the anti-discrimination law. In contrast, LDS (for Latter-day Saints) Family Services runs a private adoption service without public funding. Its work, and its ability to follow its religious teachings, have not been altered.</blockquote>


<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-ed-prop8-2-2008nov02,0,3982860.story">Read the whole thing.</a>
 
OK, I've done all I can.....and now it's up to you. Please consider me tomorrow when you are faced with the Proposition 8 question.



Please vote No on Prop 8.



Thank you,

Stacey
 
Just found out that my two friends that were planning their (gay) wedding, rushed and did it yesterday...just in case. What a disappointment ! I wanted to go ! :down:



DRAT, no Chicken Dance !



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Jon Stewart's take: Hilarious



(The Prop 8 discussion begins about 8 minutes in)



<a href="http://www.hulu.com/watch/42323/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-mon-nov-3-2008">http://www.hulu.com/watch/42323/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-mon-nov-3-2008</a>
 
OK, the polls are now closed. Here is the text of an email I just got from Equality California.... I've never donated as much money as I did for this cause. Let's hope it worked.



<em>Dear Stacey,



The polls are now closed. And whatever the outcome, history has already been made.



Before the results are in, I wanted to thank each of you for all you have done to get us to this moment.



No matter what happens, we should all be proud of what we have accomplished in this campaign.



We have built the largest grassroots campaign in California history, with close to 100,000 donors. We have created the largest and most diverse coalition in history to advance the cause of equality. We have worked with incredible partner organizations who have stood with us each step of the way. <strong>And for the first time in any anti-gay ballot measure fight, we were not outspent</strong>.



EQCA was expected to raise $1 million from our members to defeat Prop 8, an amount close to our entire 2007 budget. But as you have always done, you have shattered all expectations. <strong>Together EQCA members have donated close to $14 million</strong>, more than a third of the entire amount raised to defeat Prop 8, making us the largest donor to the campaign by far!



The EQCA staff has been all in, working around the clock on fundraising, field, media, web communications and so much more. And you, our members, have volunteered and served in leadership positions in every corner of our great state.



Whatever the outcome ? and I do believe we will win ? we have moved Californians a remarkable amount from 2000 when Prop 22 was passed by a margin of 61% to 39%.



And together, we have moved California from a state where LGBT people had no rights, to the state with the most rights in the nation. We have passed an unprecedented 50 pieces of legislation to advance our rights over the past decade. We have moved the country from a place where domestic partnership and civil union seemed like a goal that was generations away to a country where marriage equality is gaining support in every state.



Each of you is part of the most successful state LGBT organization and advancement of our rights that our nation has ever witnessed. It is truly remarkable.



Together, we have done amazing things.



I am forever grateful.



Geoff Kors

Executive Director

Equality California</em>
 
Go check out the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-2008election-california-results,0,1293859.htmlstory">LA Times</a>, Counties that were Yes are swinging highly to NO!
 
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