| Land of the free? Nope. Not for everyone. Not if you're gay. | [Nov. 5th, 2008|08:17 am] |
I'm ashamed of Florida. Truly I am. Many voted to preserve freedom. Unfortunately they were outnumbered by the combined masses of religious folk following their beliefs, and the uninformed who weren't aware of the issue and followed the prompting of the wording of the amendment put to the vote.
Who wouldn't want to "protect" marriage? That's an obvious thing to vote for. But the wording of this amendment is both biased and unfair:
"Official Ballot Summary: This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."
"Protect". What are they protecting marriage from? Are those who are gay going to rise up like zombies and slay everyone who is married? Are there a limited number of marriages that can be performed each year? No.
This is the only amendment put on the ballot by a citizens' petition. The sponsor of the petition drive is an Orlando lawyer who heads a religious conservative group. (Reference: http://www.news4jax.com/politics/17670150/detail.html)
Here's the petition: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/initiatives/fulltext/pdf/41550-1.pdf
So basically even if this hadn't passed it would be no skin off of their backs and no help to those trying to protect their right to not be discriminated against. And that's what it is- discrimination, pure and simple. If the ballot had been worded something more like "This amendment allows for discrimination against those couples that do not consist of one man and one woman", I am confident that the vote would have turned out a bit differently. Yes, that phrasing is biased in the other direction, but it also doesn't hide the issue behind slanted words.
Once they finish discriminating against gays who is going to be next? Blacks? Jews? Should I be worried about my own marriage due to outside forces dictating what I can and cannot do? I'm already going to have to be concerned about my gay friends if they need medical treatment or need to be hospitalized, and their partners' insurance won't cover them.
Where will they go next once they're done taking away the right to marry? Will we eventually be creating new jobs by building gas chambers?
Where does this discrimination end? It should not have started. |
|
![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
athenakt's journal