The Marriage Equality Thread

[Jan]

Originally Posted by Chipmunk

I log in to post a great quote... and y'all are using that vulgar four-letter F-acronym.

Okay, I give up. What's your problem with it? Or don't you like acronyms in general?

While the idea was well intentioned, the actual use/abuse, in the real world, particularly in small businesses, is that the fracking F*** law can be worse than useless, regardless of who (single/married) tries to exercise that "right".

Pretty much anything *can* be abused but I'm not sure that it's likely to be all that great a problem. First of all, FMLA doen't affect businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Now, that may still be a 'small' business, but it's not exactly a Mom & Pop operation. Second of all, having had to get the certifications necessary to take leave, it's not something one cour really do on a lark.

Originally Posted by Chipmunk

Geekiest quote of the week:
"You don't have to beta test rights."
by John Stewart, on The Daily Show (2013-Mar-28)

I like it!

Jan

[Shr'eshhhhhh]

Like a lot of gay people I never really saw this as an issue after the passing of civil partnership legislation here in the UK. The situation where I might be denied access to my partner should he be dying, whereas the family he had a lot of trouble with may have immediate access was gone. I didn't have to worry about him being booted out of our home should anything happen to me so I thought it was just a word and as such not worth worrying about.

Then I started hearing the reactions of people against it.

It became clear to me that a lot the change that had seemed to have happened in society was merely a temporary submerging and some saw this issue as an excuse to bring their prejudice back up to the surface.

I don't want to start up trouble by using this place to fire shots at another so I shan't name names but I've spent a number of years posting on another forum.

I felt very comfortable there and explained my position on this subject.

I got some very strange reactions from people I thought were okay with me.
I was called afflicted, lacking in morals, damned to hellfire and when I pointed out the shaky basis behind these notions I was accused of mocking the faith of these people.

Scratch the veneer of society and there is a whole lot of ancient nastiness under there.

Personally I think it's best to change this now, get people used to it and hopefully their religious objections will go the way of the shrimp laws of Leviticus.

[Jan]

The situation here in the States is an unholy mess. Some states don't have any allowances for gay partnerships, others do, still others allow marriage (and oddly, straight people's marriages seem to remain unscathed) and yet in no way does the Federal government recognize any of those legal marriages.

I think the Supreme Court is probably going to strike down the (gag) Defense of Marriage Act when they finally hand down their decisions. Not sure about California's Prop. 8, though.

Jan

[Ubik]

Originally Posted by Shr'eshhhhhh

.

I don't want to start up trouble by using this place to fire shots at another so I shan't name names but I've spent a number of years posting on another forum.

I felt very comfortable there and explained my position on this subject.

I got some very strange reactions from people I thought were okay with me.
I was called afflicted, lacking in morals, damned to hellfire and when I pointed out the shaky basis behind these notions I was accused of mocking the faith of these people.

Scratch the veneer of society and there is a whole lot of ancient nastiness under there.

Personally I think it's best to change this now, get people used to it and hopefully their religious objections will go the way of the shrimp laws of Leviticus.

So sorry to hear that. I still find it hard to believe people continue to be prejudiced against same sex marriage / love. You'll hear none of that bigoted nonsense from me! I'm straight, but a lot of my favourite musicians were outspoken gay rights activists. I'm a massive Coil fan, and alongside film maker Derek Jarman (amongst others) they campaigned fervently via their music for gay rights.

[WorkerCaste]

Originally Posted by Shr'eshhhhhh

I got some very strange reactions from people I thought were okay with me.
I was called afflicted, lacking in morals, damned to hellfire and when I pointed out the shaky basis behind these notions I was accused of mocking the faith of these people.

Scratch the veneer of society and there is a whole lot of ancient nastiness under there.

Sometimes society is nasty and people are good, and sometimes it works the other way around, but in spite of the nastiness that remains, I am more hopeful now about gay rights than I ever remember being. Maybe it's naive of me, but I think things are turning for society and it's becoming more a case of individuals being nasty, and, of course, the internet is the place to find any nasty individuals amongst a group of good people.

I hope you still feel comfortable here, though. This is one of the most consistenly nice and polite discussion groups I"ve found.