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Today is National Coming Out Day
Oct. 11th, 2008 03:05 pmSo I am going to come out in support of voting against both Proposition 8 in California and Proposition 2 in Florida.
If Prop 8 passes in California, the state constitution will be amended to state that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Not only would this invalidate the thousands of marriages that have taken place in the state over the last few years, it would also make it impossible for couples who have been legally married outside the US or in states like Massachusetts to have their marriages recognized as valid in California. No legal mandate for hospital visits, no rights of inheritance of a home a couple has lived in for decades, dozens of hoops to jump through for a parent to be legally recognized as a parent for his or her own child, and the wholesale destruction of thousands of rights and obligations that come with a marriage license.
My in-laws live in California, and my husband and I have begged them to vote against Prop 8; I hope they will so thousands of Californians can enjoy the right to marry the person he or she loves.
The California proposition sucks. But the issue on the Florida ballot is actually worse - it will amend the constitution to read, "“Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.”
My city's been doing domestic partnerships for years and they could all be invalidated if this passes. Family courts will be thrown into turmoil in the case of the (God forbid) death of a partner, as the court will not be allowed to consider the relationship between the partners in determining where children raised in that family will live, Cities will not be allowed to give domestic partner benefits . Public hospitals may not be allowed to have a policy in place to allow someone's partner to visit under "family" rules.
Luckily, passage requires 60%, not a simpole majority, but the polling is still far too close to that level.
Please, if you have friends or family in California or Florida, make sure they vote against these discriminatory proposals. I am 9000% sure all of you know what to tell them to convince them, but one new addition is this ad by one of the No On Eight groups - then talk to them about George Takei and Brad Altman, or about Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, or any of the thousands of happy couples who took their vows in California this year. I'm sure there's at least one on your flist.
If Prop 8 passes in California, the state constitution will be amended to state that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Not only would this invalidate the thousands of marriages that have taken place in the state over the last few years, it would also make it impossible for couples who have been legally married outside the US or in states like Massachusetts to have their marriages recognized as valid in California. No legal mandate for hospital visits, no rights of inheritance of a home a couple has lived in for decades, dozens of hoops to jump through for a parent to be legally recognized as a parent for his or her own child, and the wholesale destruction of thousands of rights and obligations that come with a marriage license.
My in-laws live in California, and my husband and I have begged them to vote against Prop 8; I hope they will so thousands of Californians can enjoy the right to marry the person he or she loves.
The California proposition sucks. But the issue on the Florida ballot is actually worse - it will amend the constitution to read, "“Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.”
My city's been doing domestic partnerships for years and they could all be invalidated if this passes. Family courts will be thrown into turmoil in the case of the (God forbid) death of a partner, as the court will not be allowed to consider the relationship between the partners in determining where children raised in that family will live, Cities will not be allowed to give domestic partner benefits . Public hospitals may not be allowed to have a policy in place to allow someone's partner to visit under "family" rules.
Luckily, passage requires 60%, not a simpole majority, but the polling is still far too close to that level.
Please, if you have friends or family in California or Florida, make sure they vote against these discriminatory proposals. I am 9000% sure all of you know what to tell them to convince them, but one new addition is this ad by one of the No On Eight groups - then talk to them about George Takei and Brad Altman, or about Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, or any of the thousands of happy couples who took their vows in California this year. I'm sure there's at least one on your flist.
