Thursday, October 29, 2009

Critical Opinion #1

Article: Same-sex marriage battle moves to Maine By Emily Sherman, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/25/maine.same.sex/index.html

Next week voters in Maine will vote whether or not they are in favor of the legislation signed by the current governor of Maine, John Baldacci, allowing same sex couples to get married. If this legislation is overturned, gay couples in Maine who as of now can get married and legally share the same rights as heterosexual couples will no longer be able to. Governor Baldacci states that this legislation “comes down to a fundamental understanding of equal protection and constitutional responsibility.” I agree with the governor and am in favor of same sex marriages. Without the recognition of a legal marriage, gay couples cannot enjoy the rights given to heterosexual married couples such as Social Security benefits, family insurance coverage, visiting rights to a spouse in the hospital, making medical decisions for their spouse, and many others. Why shouldn’t a gay couple deserve the same rights as any other couple? How will their marriage, and the concerns and problems that will arise in their marriage be any different from that of a heterosexual couple? What really irritates me is that voters have gone out of their way to create the option of overturning this legislation. “On September 2, opposition groups delivered the 55,087 signatures necessary to put the legislation to a vote on the November 3 ballot.” Were these 55,000 people personally attacked by gay couples and now want to take revenge? I don’t understand why any one would vote against this. How will they be affected? The only people who will either suffer or benefit from this are gay couples, not heterosexual couples. Allowing gay couples to get married will not take away from any special part or beauty of a wedding.

Another issue addressed in this article is the clarity of the question on the ballot. It will read, "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?" Because of the double question, voters may not realize what they are saying yes or no to. Both supporting and opposing groups are concerned about this. Hopefully however, this will work in favor of the current legislation, as it has been predicted, and same sex marriages will be permanently practiced in Maine. This way we will be one state and one step closer to getting rid of this disgusting discrimination.

Related articles:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/08/massachusetts.marriage.lawsuit/index.html#cnnSTCText

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/11/obama.gay.rights.reax/index.html#cnnSTCText

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/12/california.samesex.marriage/index.html#cnnSTCText

Video:

Pulitzer-winning playwright Tony Kushner talks to CNN's Chris Welch about gay marriage, politics and President Obama.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2009/06/15/kushner.intv.politics.cnn

2 comments:

  1. My video wasnt loading correctly so i just posted it as a link, but as you can see i couldnt even really figure out how to do that.

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  2. Vote No on 1. The fundraisers and television ads, the websites and the volunteers who worked tirelessly for the cause, all culminated into an event only a few hours long, but decades in the making. Unfortunately it was still not enough. As Election Day neared, both camps were split fairly evenly with only an approximate 4% of voters undecided. On the evening of the election, as the votes were tallied, numbers fluctuated throughout the night until the final count: 52.81% Yes, 47.19% No; and the verdict was in.

    Monitoring the live blog throughout the election, I was left with a heart wrenching sadness; sadness for all of these people who put everything they had of themselves on the line for a cause whose very existence is a glaring example of the hypocrisy of our nation’s principle of “liberty and justice for all”. And even more so for those who, in essence, have been told that because of whom they choose to love and cherish, their relationship and their lives are illegitimate.

    Hundreds of thousands of people joined together in search of equality. And as campaign director Jesse Connolly stood on stage to concede defeat, his words were strong and full of conviction; “We are in this for the long haul. For next week, and next month, and next year – until all Maine families are treated equally.” Those word ring true for this country as a whole, for we can not be break the bonds of bigotry, racism, hatred, oppression, and exploitation until all are treated equally.

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