Proposition 8 is about denying same sex people from being Married, that the California Supreme Court ruled on, saying it was required under the U.S. Constitution. Now many people are rushing about with their heads chopped off, in pure panic, that Gay Marriage will somehow make gay sex a course in elementary schools, will make us Homosexuals convert more naive boys into being sex toys.

HOW BIGOTED.

And yet that is what is happening, as the supporters (not all, but a fair number) are saying. They use FEAR and outright LIES to scare people into supporting their Proposition, which is to DENY GAYS EQUAL RIGHTS UNDER CIVIL LAW. This isn’t about forcing ANY CHURCH to recognize Gay Marriage, or force any SCHOOL to teach GAY SEX. It is about being able to live as God Created Us, as Gay Men & Women.

The amount of money being spent by these people is amazing. Largely in thanks to the various Ultra Conservative Evangelicals & the Mormon Church. So it is time for those who truly believe in Democracy, in FREEDOM OF RELIGION to reach into their pockets and support the NO ON PROP 8 people.

This is WHERE YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE.

Take the whole issues of Religion and Homosexuality.

The Head of the Anglicans has asked that no new Bishops be consecrated, if they are homosexuals. It is a desire to avoid a schism in the Anglican wing of Christianity, and I wonder, is that request a blow to Gay Rights, or simply an attempt to let nature take its course?

“A fellow Christian may believe they have a profound fresh insight. They seek to persuade others about it. A healthy church gives space for such exchanges,” he told the 650 bishops at the meeting in Canterbury, England. “But the Christian with the new insight can’t claim straight away that this is now what the Church of God believes or intends.” (source – USA Today)

It makes sense to a point, but I wonder really is this about having space to debate the issue, or is it really a veiled attempt at keeping the opponents of same sex marriage, preachers, Bishops, happy? Is this appeasement, or truly an attempt to open a dialogue free from pressure? And should there be such a cooling off period, such a moratorium?

What one believes in, what their faith is, is rather a personal thing. I don’t know if any Organized Religious Group can truly alter how any single member feels. Does having a Gay Bishop matter to the man whose child is suffering from Cancer? Does a woman who’s been raped truly care if two guys can be married in her Church?

Is what a Preacher says on the pulpit going to really make a Gay Man deny his homosexuality, or suddenly become Heterosexual? Will the sermons of Hate about Gays really change, even if the hierarchy allow same sex marriage? I know that the story of the Wandering Jew is still preached, even when Popes have said it is a wrong message. I know that there are still many who preach about separation of races, and yet in society, race segregation isn’t tolerated.

The belief of racists didn’t stop the Civil Rights movement, even when it was led by the same style of Preacher and Politician that we have today, so does it really matter if some major religious group supports or opposes Gays in their Church? Most Religious Orders believe in Compassion, are supposedly INTOLERANT OF HATE, and yet that is exactly what they do. Despite all the sermons about loving one’s neighbour, one’s brother, it is clear that their sermons really have no effect, so why should we fight so hard for them to accept us?

Does it matter if the Bishop over in Texas of California accepts us? Isn’t it more important that we believe that GOD does? And really until HE comes down to Earth, to tell us we are Sinners, or Not, it is simply a personal belief. No Pope, no Bishop, No Rabbi, can change how WE BELIEVE IN GOD.

Not sure why, except that I think way too many people are missing the finer points of why we need to have it clearly stated, across the Globe, that two men or two women can be legally bound in Marriage. Now, that doesn’t mean any Religious Order has to perform that ceremony, or even acknowledge it, but it does mean that our Government MUST.

While there are practical benefits, financial ones as well, there is another more important reason WHY IT HAS TO BE MARRIAGE. To begin with it is about the CHILDREN. I know, it sounds a bit odd, but kids learn racism, hatred, and bigotry from the Adults and Society. If we teach them that being different is somehow evil, somehow UNGODLY, we are teaching them HATRED. Take how the Religious Right objected to the simple fact that in the popular children’s book series, Harry Potter, that Dumbledore was Gay.

When you have Presidents, Popes, and other Authority Figures going around saying that it is vital for the moral well being of a nation to DENY EQUAL RIGHTS to a portion of their society, it sends a signal to the kids. It tells them that Gays Aren’t Equal, are somehow bad. It leads to taunts, to bullying in schools, and it leads to violence. Just ask the parents of Mathew Shepard.

Having the right to Marry won’t end that kind of thinking, but it goes a long way to ending it. Yet it does more than that, because it also becomes a symbol for Gay Teens. It says to them, while they recover from the physical and mental abuse of their peers, that there is HOPE. It says to them, as they contemplate ending their young lives, that things can change, that AUTHORITY DOES RECOGNIZE THEM AS BEING EQUAL. It says that they are just as worthy of being a part of society as any heterosexual is.

And that is a POWERFUL SYMBOL. It can make the difference between a gay teen becoming one more suicide statistic, OR NOT.

A leading cause of death among Gay Teens, IS SUICIDE. By doing what is right, by not highlighting the differences, we can help make that a non issue. By granting of MARRIAGE, we say to the Gay Teens that they are not pariahs, that they are not evil or worse. Now I don’t know, but from all I have read about Jesus Christ, that is sort of what he stood for, to take unto him the unpopular? Makes one wonder why it is HIS CHURCH that is so adamant about keeping homosexuals in the closet, doesn’t it?

(CBS) Most Americans continue to think there should be some legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples, and 30 percent say same-sex couples should be allowed to marry – the highest number since CBS News began asking this question in 2004.(source – CBS News)

It is something I simply do not understand. I know up here in Canada, the majority support the right of Homosexuals to be married. After all, it really has nothing to do with any particular Church or Religious Order even. Mind you, awhile back the Conservative Jewish Congregation voted overwhelmingly to allow for Gay Rabbi’s as well as to allow for ceremonies between Gay Couples to take place in the Shul, synagogue, church. So that basically was the last piece in the Jewish Group that had been holding out on same sex marriage. Only the super ultra orthodox wing, a few per cent of all Jews, still refuses to acknowledge that two members of the same sex can be in love, and live as a couple.

Fact is that I don’t know of any Gays who are pressing for any Church to let them be married in their facilities, or are pushing for ANY LAW that REQUIRES a Priest, Pastor, Preacher, or whatever to marry them either. They are simply wanting to be treated EQUALLY UNDER THE CIVIL LAWS OF THE COUNTRY. That too is what the California Supreme Court stated in its decision, as a reason for granting Marriage over Civil Unions or Civil Partnerships.

I am legally married. I can honestly say that it has its ups and downs, spiritually, but legally it does really make a difference, specially as I get older. My health is not the greatest, and I can see problems coming up as I get even older, God Willing. So it does help, to know that if I am unable to make my own decisions, that someone who knows me, who loves me, will be there to make those decisions, Plus, they will be ENTITLED TO DO SO.

I also know that fear of the unknown is not good for someone who is ill. By having some piece of mind, in knowing that David will be there to render decisions, and that the hospital MUST LISTEN, is a good thing. That is what this is all about. Not just about benefits or tax breaks, but of having some piece of mind, that any other loving couple has. And why shouldn’t gay men and women have that, under a civil law that proclaims itself to be FOR ALL MEN.

So when I see a figure like only 30% support EQUALITY, it is a bit sad, a bit disheartening. To me, when you can’t see your way to support others having the same rights as you, well, it makes one a bit nervous. What other rights do you believe others who are different than you, who believe differently than you, should not have?

California already offers same-sex couples who register as domestic partners the same legal rights and responsibilities as married spouses, including the right to divorce and sue for child support.

But in the justices’ recent 4-3 decision, they stated that domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage. (source – CBC News)

While some in the GLBT community thought it better to seek something called Civil Union, Domestic Partnership or some other catch phrase, I have maintained that anything less puts whatever rights given to those ‘new agreements’ at risk. At any time, a legislature could alter or remove those rights, without flinching, because after all, it would only apply to the Queers. So why would mainstream America give a damn?

The California Supreme Court seems to agree.

It was the same argument the racists used against granting equality to people of color back in the Sixties, which is why it is important to fight segregation at all times. Separate but Equal does not exist.