Massachusetts fuck yeah! I am always so proud to be born and raised in the Commonwealth.. sadly I now live in Arkansas, which depresses me just about every day (300,000+ people really care enough to vote for a ban on gay adoption, REALLY???).
I wonder what conservative "states' rights" people are going to say about this.
I, too,was born and raised in MA and it warms the cockles of my heart to know they are at he forefront of this fight.
Interestingly, I now live in Seattle and often wonder why we, one of the most liberal places in the nation, can't get our act together regarding gay marriages. And then I remember that we are a liberal city surrounded by very conservative state. le sigh...
@maryja: I hear ya! I mean, I know WA now has "recognized domestic partnerships" which grant (I believe) all the same rights as marriage without the name. However, taking a class in family law where the prof had to say "registered domestic partnerships" after everything having to do with marriage really hit home the point that it's a total separate-but-equal situation.
I have often wondered why I don't leave MA for warmer shores (and nicer driving conditions and cheaper standards of living and... well, you get the idea), but it is times like this that remind me why I stay. I will gladly suffer through nor'easters, massholes, and potholes for a little bit more tolerance.
@Sputnik_Sweetheart: Oh man, stay where the politics won't give you a headache every day and where you don't fight with your co-workers about whether global warming is real and whether Jesus really rode a dinosaur. (I exaggerate, but only slightly).
Everytime I visit my brother in Somerville, I cry a little when I leave.
@Sputnik_Sweetheart: I typed this right before I ran off to my yoga class and on the way to class, I got stuck in detour Hell and was cut off by a guy who ran a stop sign. How fitting.
Just had to keep repeating to myself, "marriage equality, marriage equality, marriage equality..."
@willwriteforfood: Yeah, it is a luxury. We have our conservatives here and there in Boston, but even they tend to be the small government, Libertarian types, as opposed to the crazy Birther Christianist types. Logic and reason is just lovely, isn't it?
@so5minutesago: They have a case. Article IV, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution is the full faith and credit clause that DOMA violates. The only questions are (1) who are the judges, and (2) will Obama's DOJ fight this up to the U.S. Supreme Court?
@SanFranLefty: They aren't going after the full faith and credit angle though-- they're doing a tenth amendment/states rights angle aimed at the federal marriage definition. I WISH they were going after the full faith and credit approach too, but i guess chipping away is better than nothing?
@inabook: No, FF&C would be a terrible way to get DOMA unconstitutional. Other states have marriage laws that make, for example, marrying your first cousin OK, or marrying at 16. If you raise FF&C you basically have to equate gay marriage with first cousins/minors, which is exactly what the right wing wants.
Personally I don't care what people do as long as everybody's consenting, but while you might win on a technical battle (ie., not equal protection, which I think is much more substantive), you are gonna LA-HOOOSE in the court of public opinion.
@Atomic Monkey Mouse: Dude, my sister's planning on moving from Boston to LA. I'm like, stay put! Gay marriage and decriminalized weed! You're not gonna get it any better!
Um, sorry Massachusetts but the federal government has decided that full faith and credit can only be given to marriages that are proven by the existence of a penis and a vagina. And God told them too, so I think you lose.
@Dodgergirl: My use of "too" there may look like an error, but I actually meant that, in addition to what I like to call America's God, the Moral Majority, the actual God told them too.
I, like the Religious Right, do not make mistakes and suggesting that I do is very immoral of you.
@Dodgergirl: They aren't actually challenging that provision, sadly, just the federal definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, saying it interferes with state's rights and the 10th amendment.
I think that may have just been one of the most logical arguments for gay marriage I've ever heard.
Also, I think that she is doing the pro-life thing in the "right way." I'm not 100% sure on her stance on abortion, but she has the right idea that if you don't like abortion, then teach kids to not get pregnant.
The same principles that lead me to be pro-choice lead me to be pro-2nd amendment. Both of them have to do with things that can be useful, can be traumatic, can be necessary, have existed for a long time and aren't going away anytime soon. The way I see it, the government doesn't have a right to interfere with either. When the GOP realizes that their emphasis on "individual freedoms" needs to include things like women's bodies, I will re-evaluate them. As it is, I voted for Obama because I saw the GOP as the party that wanted to curtail my rights the most in the past election.
This clip reminds me of what a great interviewer Colbert is - his facetious questions actually get his subjects to clarify what they're saying in a very concise, non-BS way.
I am still not impressed with her. Her "remember how I went to Columbia?!" guest spot on The View and her twitter tirade over how much she's already done with her life (her work experience involves a couple of high profile internships because of her last name and dad's blogger during the campaign) are just some of the reasons why.
Great - you don't hate gay people. Why do you stay in a party that continues to treat homosexuals like second class citizens?
@Pittsburghenne: I have gay Republican friends, and they've flat-out said that they vote based on their tax bracket. They own houses together, are using our state's domestic-partnership laws, but vote Republican because they're pretty wealthy and want their money to remain their money, apparently.
@7states: Just to be the devil's advocate here-- though she probably got her internships because of her last name, that doesn't mean she didn't learn, achieve and work hard once she got there.
I certainly agree with you though, I find her very problematic.
@Ipomoea: That's what my friends say as well. I never thought of myself as an idealist, but unless the Democrats somehow hiked my income tax bracket to 70%, I'm sticking with the party that isn't ashamed of my existence.
One of my dear friends used to work for the RNC, and apparently they'd constantly wonder why they didn't have the African American vote, given the closer match of their respective social values. I love her, but I said blankly: your party harbors bigots.
@IamnotStarJones: What drives me nuts is that it took two crazy wars, a global recession, and people suffering in the streets for such a willfully ignorant party to lose power.
@Erda: I'm originally from Michigan, too! I agree with you that the "Black people are conservative!" view is reductive, but frankly, I just think the fact that socially conservative African Americans tend to vote Democrat anyhow gives me hope in basic human intelligence. It's a continual head-scratcher for me that so many poor white people vote Republican.
07/08/09
07/08/09
I wonder what conservative "states' rights" people are going to say about this.
07/08/09
I, too,was born and raised in MA and it warms the cockles of my heart to know they are at he forefront of this fight.
Interestingly, I now live in Seattle and often wonder why we, one of the most liberal places in the nation, can't get our act together regarding gay marriages. And then I remember that we are a liberal city surrounded by very conservative state. le sigh...
07/08/09
07/08/09
07/08/09
Also, fuck you Kris Mineau, this nation is not "very resolute" in support of DOMA.
07/08/09
07/08/09
Everytime I visit my brother in Somerville, I cry a little when I leave.
07/08/09
Just had to keep repeating to myself, "marriage equality, marriage equality, marriage equality..."
07/08/09
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07/08/09
07/08/09
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07/08/09
Personally I don't care what people do as long as everybody's consenting, but while you might win on a technical battle (ie., not equal protection, which I think is much more substantive), you are gonna LA-HOOOSE in the court of public opinion.
07/08/09
07/08/09
07/08/09
07/08/09
07/08/09
I, like the Religious Right, do not make mistakes and suggesting that I do is very immoral of you.
07/08/09
07/08/09
05/19/09
You don't think you should have the right to kill your (born) children, do you? To her it's the same thing.
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05/19/09
Also, I think that she is doing the pro-life thing in the "right way." I'm not 100% sure on her stance on abortion, but she has the right idea that if you don't like abortion, then teach kids to not get pregnant.
Logic. Who knew?
05/19/09
05/19/09
05/19/09
Great - you don't hate gay people. Why do you stay in a party that continues to treat homosexuals like second class citizens?
05/19/09
05/19/09
05/19/09
I certainly agree with you though, I find her very problematic.
05/19/09
05/19/09
One of my dear friends used to work for the RNC, and apparently they'd constantly wonder why they didn't have the African American vote, given the closer match of their respective social values. I love her, but I said blankly: your party harbors bigots.
05/19/09
05/19/09
@Erda: I'm originally from Michigan, too! I agree with you that the "Black people are conservative!" view is reductive, but frankly, I just think the fact that socially conservative African Americans tend to vote Democrat anyhow gives me hope in basic human intelligence. It's a continual head-scratcher for me that so many poor white people vote Republican.