On Nov 16, 2008, at 1:07 PM, PN Stenquist wrote:
Silliness. The law is based on a majority vote. That's how it works in a democracy. And it isn't about rights, it's about terminology. "Marriage" vs. "Civil Union." Much ado about nothing.
Without want to delve too deeply into the politics of the thing, Proposition 8 is posed as an amendment to the California State Constitution. It's passage by a (slim) simple majority contradicts the due process by which an amendment to the state constitution is permitted, and a well-founded legal action against it on that basis is now making its way through the California State courts.
(The government of the United States and its member States is not a democracy either ... it's a representative republic ... but that's more technical political science than I feel like going to the books and studying up on at the moment. :-)
Which is all beside the point anyway. Your notion of "terminology" citing that "Marriage" and "Civil Union" are synonymous is a simplistic and ill-founded judgement, not supported by the facts. A "Civil Union" does not carry the civil rights, provisos and protections of "Marriage" in the eye of the law ... that's why the LBGT community is so up in arms about this issue. Were I to be taken terminally ill, simple things like my partner's capability to assist me in the hospital in my dying days are not provided by a Civil Union because, under the law, he would not be granted the rights and capabilities as a member of my family. In some cases, he might not even be permitted to be at my bedside until a brother or other family member arrived and provided a legal release for his presence. Or even not at all. That is unconscionable discrimination in my view.
So to characterize this issue as 'much ado about nothing', given the difference in status and rights conferred on supposedly equal citizens under the law by Civil Union and Marriage, is wholly incorrect. If you feel that these two instruments of the law are equal synonyms, put your money where your mouth is by obtaining a divorce and engaging your partner in a Civil Union instead. I'm sure you will be less than delighted with the difference in taxation, benefits and rights you receive from doing that.
Proposition 8 was presented by its proponents in salacious fashion as an attack upon the "holy sacrament of marriage", which has nothing to do with the LEGAL entity of Marriage under the civil law. Massive contributions to its promotion were funded by the Mormon Church and other fundamentalist radicals who felt it a *political* threat in the name of religious jurisprudence. It won its slim majority vote by a combination of subterfuge and scurrilous promotion practices ... like thousands of 'bot calls in the 24 hours of election day which presented misinformation and misdirection (I know this for a fact ... I received 13 of these 'bot calls myself on Election Day many of which used carefully edited clips from Barack Obama's campaign speeches spliced together to seem like he supported the passage of Prop 8, which he most certainly did not). It is discrimination by the politically fearful against a minority community. These facts and the fact that it is an attempt yet once again to overthrow the due process of constitutional governance by jimmying the rules of the game show just how afraid, desperate and hateful these so-called "religious" political institutions are...
It will fail, they will fail. It may take more years of those affected by this discrimination suffering pain, greed, stupidity and hate, but it will fail.
Getting back to photography, I think I need to do some adjustment to the rendering of my photo. Looked at 24 hours later, it seems a bit too harsh on the bright end of the spectrum. I'll be working on it a bit more... along with a few other snaps from the event.
Godfrey -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
