From the backseat

As I mentioned earlier, my oldest son and I were talking politics on the way in to school today. Included in that discussion was the fact that I know of people who are not voting for Obama purely based on the fact that he is black.

Abe- "Mama, when I grow up are other grown ups going to boss me around?"

Me- 'Well, if you work somewhere, you'll probably have a boss that will tell you what to do..."

Abe- "No, I mean because my skin is dark. Will people boss me around because I have dark skin?"

Me- Swallow- "No Abe, like slaves is that what you mean? No, that doesn't happen anymore, everyone respects everyone else no matter what they look like"

Abe- "Oh, right 'cuz Abraham Lincoln fixed it and his name is the same as mine"

Me- "Right..."

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All I can think about these days...

I'm starting to feel irrational about proposition 8. Silly me, getting all irrational over something that affects my life.

See, I'm not necessarily all that concerned about getting married- although yes I did just get married- call me a hypocrite if you will. It's really not the point is it? Marriage, I mean. It's about having the choice, being recognized as being just like everyone else, no different than John and Mary.

I'm all about hearing different opinions on everything- including prop 8 (or 102 in Arizona- the other one escapes me at the moment since I'm in a bit of a writing Frenzy) or anything else. I do believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion. And that I need to be respectful of that. There are different lines, I suppose. When I was of an age that I realized my white grandfather calling all Asian people Chinks or Asiatics was wrong, I would scoff at him and say "Oh, Pa" He knew, I knew and that was enough. If my child was to use the same derogatory language a simple scoff would not be enough. There would be a discussion of calling people names, how it makes them feel- perhaps a bit of history and a huge NOT OKAY!

I believe I mentioned a while back a discussion I had with my 12 year old regarding Bush- Leo was talking about how we hate him- I backed him up a bit and changed the verbiage- We (meaning mommy and I) don't agree with his politics, but I assume he is a nice man, father, friend...

I hear arguments for Prop 8 that quote the bible, that say they are protecting the "institution of marriage" of what it was meant to be, what it has always been, historically, religiously, as referred to by God. And when it comes down to the final line, the final bottom line?

What is really being said is I'm not good enough. I'm not "normal", not equal, different, wrong. My love, my life, my children, don't cut it. We are not allowed in.

Are we really that terrible? Such sinners, wrong doers, "sodomites". Go ahead, tell my children. Five of whom we "rescued" yeah, rescued, from lives full of drugs, violence and filth. Three who pediatricians and doctors have assured us would have died without our care.

Tell them we aren't good enough. That they are not good enough to live with us and have the same protections given to those who are the children of parents that are legally married- straight people. Our biological children had to be cross adopted so that we would be considered the legal other parent. Thousands of dollars for lawyers and court dates. Because we weren't legal.

Käri jokingly referred to me as a political activist, as I placed my 'No on 8' and Obama pins on my chest. We talked about Canada this morning... Good riddance the conservative right says...

On our way in to school this morning, Leo says "I don't get the Yes on 8 signs- they say they are protecting marriage- how are they protecting marriage". I explained how some (benefit of the doubt here) of the Yes on 8 commercials and ad's are misleading some in fact plain 'ol wrong. "Isn't that illegal", he says. (Putting wrong information in their ad's) We talk about political battles... He shakes his head and says "I just don't get it". "Me either" I say and inside I seethe.

There are few things in my life that I get hot and bothered about. At this point I am riding a fine line between tolerating a different opinion than mine (on 8) and saying "I can no longer associate with you".

I'm losing it. Losing my tolerance, my acceptance. It'll come back, but right now, just livid.


Remember that film about blue eyed kids being better that brown eyed kids- It was a psych. film, an experiment, and how the kids reacted. There were superior attitudes and tears. The better and the worse. The included and the isolated. At the moment, isolated... and pissed.


"Love does not delight in injustice but rejoices in the truth" Corinthians 13:6

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Anti-Miscegenation, Marriage, and Proposition 8

In an effort to educate myself on Prop 8, I was reading up on the 14th Amendment and Anti-Miscegenation laws. There is a lot to read out there... These were some pieces that I found interesting.

I copied a lot of information from Wiki- These are all regarding Anti-Miscegenation, not gay marriage or any reaction to DOMA.

"Miscegenation (Latin miscere "to mix" + genus "kind") is the mixing of different racial groups, that is, marrying, cohabiting, having sexual relations and having children with a partner from outside of one's racially or ethnically defined group."

"In 1958, the political theorist Hannah Arendt, an emigre from Nazi Germany, wrote in an essay in response to the Little Rock Crisis, the Civil Rights struggle for the racial integration of public schools which took place in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957, that anti-miscegenation laws were an even deeper injustice than the racial segregation of public schools. The free choice of a spouse, she argued in Reflections on Little Rock, was "an elementary human right": "Even political rights, like the right to vote, and nearly all other rights enumerated in the Constitution, are secondary to the inalienable human rights to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence; and to this category the right to home and marriage unquestionably belongs."

I love what this woman had to say.

"In 1967, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Loving v. Virginia that anti-miscegenation laws are unconstitutional. With this ruling, these laws were no longer in effect in the remaining 16 states that at the time still enforced them."

Midred and Richard Loving

41 years ago- 16 states still enforced laws regarding whites marrying non whites- 41 years ago...

"...it took South Carolina until 1998 and Alabama until 2000 to officially amend their states' constitutions to remove language prohibiting miscegenation. In the respective referendums, 62% of voters in South Carolina and 59% of voters in Alabama voted to remove these laws."

Only 62% and 59%? Holy hell.

"On June 12, 2007, Mildred Loving issued a rare public statement prepared for delivery on the 40th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia decision of the US Supreme Court, which commented on same-sex marriage.^[8] The concluding paragraphs of her statement read as follows:"

“

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights. I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.

”

Tomorrow, to celebrate 20 years together, we're getting married, again (the first was deemed against the law- thanks for trying Mayor Newsom).




Oh, and just for the record, I'm voting No on 8. You should too.

I recently had this to say over here.

"I would agree that the thought of ripping the YES on 8 signs out of my neighbors lawns did cross my mind. For me, it didn't come from a place of hate. It came from a place of fear and discouragement.

I didn't and wouldn't tear the signs out. I believe in the right of free speech and equality for all, and all opinions, even ones I don't agree with.

Thus the reason I will vote No on 8- without hesitation."

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Hey, Sarah Palin

I've said I don't want to waste a lot of energy bashing or even discussing Sarah Palin- but this, this is damn funny!!



I didn't go looking for it, it found me.

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More milk

Gus "Can I have some more milk"

Me "Why is it we have to always feed you and give you things to drink? What's the deal???" said jokingly , of course...

Pause...

Gus "Hey, you born me- get used to it!"

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