no man is an island
Nov. 14th, 2008 04:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrian_turtleBut a turtle can kinda look like one, from a distance.
Tomorrow, there will be rallies all over the country in opposition to Proposition 8 (the California ballot question amending the state constitution to take marriage rights away from same-sex couples and their children.) The local one is at Government Center, at 1:30.
http://www.mit.edu/~lmarshal/pressrelease.pdf
I don't know how much this sort of thing helps. I want to believe people pay attention to public pressure from far away--friends of mine rallied in Ann Arbor to support Tienneman Square protestors. Or in Ithaca to help South Africa. There are so many holes in the air that I know activism doesn't have to be exactly there to be real. But still...the problem in California now is not that the government is failing to listen to the voice of the people. The problem is that a lot of people *in California* voted to take their neighbors' rights away.
Maybe reasoned argument can convince some of those people to change their minds. Maybe appeals to their sense of compassion can convince others. It's not really necessary to change the minds of the really dedicated bigots (I don't believe anywhere near half the registered voters are dedicated bigots. I think we're looking at a nontrivial number of dedicated bigots, but some of the gullible suckers who just fell for bigoted propaganda can be potential allies. Er...calling them gullible suckers may not be the most diplomatic way to start, but I'm not a PR expert.) Anyhow, I expect the Massachusetts State Legislature to respond to crowds of people shouting for justice in Boston, but I'm dubious about whether California voters much care. I have no idea how much of this is sensible political analysis and how much is just my depression lying to me.
Before the election, most of the proposition-8-related campaign ads I saw were on the side of virtue (ie, "no on 8," ie, "prop 8 is unfair and discriminatory, vote against it.") From where I sit in Massachusetts, it seems awfully obvious. We've had state recognition of same-sex marriages for 4.5 years. A lot of the fearmongering propaganda can be defused just by looking at our experience. Heterosexual marriage has not become meaningless here. Conservative churches have not been compelled to marry same-sex couples (I think there have been some lawsuits on the level of wedding cakes and wedding dresses, where those who make such things only want to make them for bridal parties that meet their standards. This would have been legally problematic even 10 years ago, if a cake or dress maker didn't want to do business with somebody planning a committment ceremony in church. Oh, how terrible, that people who are discriminated against now feel empowered to complain!) I'm rather pleased to note that Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0923080.html
(A quick search turned up a lot of websites with old data from the 1990s, but this was the only one I could find with 2005 numbers. Sorry there's not more recent CA data. I heard the mayor of Newton referring to 2006 statistics, but they're not turning up in convenient form.)
Another thing I'm afraid I don't have energy for is to go across the street and see The Laramie Project. I really resent that inability, because it's right *there*, and it seems so important. Especially now. But my priorities need to be PT, flea control, OT, and job hunting. (And there's not enough left after PT.)
http://www.wickedlocal.com/arlington/homepage/x541348229/A-lesson-in-listening
It's tonight and tomorrow at 7:30. I'm posting this now, in case anybody is looking for something to do in the next hour, then I'll go back and finish the post.
One of the anxieties I hear from the opponents of same-sex marriage is along the lines of, "What terrible things would happen if our children were to learn homosexuals are just ordinarily people, and their lives are as acceptable as normal lives?" An interesting counter to that turns up in the article about this production. A young actor, who was probably 12 when same-sex marriage became recognized by the state government:
Desiree Marquant, a senior, also marveled at the diversity of opinions expressed in the show: "As someone who is very liberal, The Laramie Project has opened my eyes up to whole new viewpoints. Arlington is a pretty accepting town, so to take on these characters with such opposite beliefs from mine is a challenge."
It looks like she's had a fairly sheltered upbringing, but I don't think she's shocked by the existence of homosexuals. It looks like she's shocked by *bigotry*.
Tomorrow, there will be rallies all over the country in opposition to Proposition 8 (the California ballot question amending the state constitution to take marriage rights away from same-sex couples and their children.) The local one is at Government Center, at 1:30.
http://www.mit.edu/~lmarshal/pressrelease.pdf
I don't know how much this sort of thing helps. I want to believe people pay attention to public pressure from far away--friends of mine rallied in Ann Arbor to support Tienneman Square protestors. Or in Ithaca to help South Africa. There are so many holes in the air that I know activism doesn't have to be exactly there to be real. But still...the problem in California now is not that the government is failing to listen to the voice of the people. The problem is that a lot of people *in California* voted to take their neighbors' rights away.
Maybe reasoned argument can convince some of those people to change their minds. Maybe appeals to their sense of compassion can convince others. It's not really necessary to change the minds of the really dedicated bigots (I don't believe anywhere near half the registered voters are dedicated bigots. I think we're looking at a nontrivial number of dedicated bigots, but some of the gullible suckers who just fell for bigoted propaganda can be potential allies. Er...calling them gullible suckers may not be the most diplomatic way to start, but I'm not a PR expert.) Anyhow, I expect the Massachusetts State Legislature to respond to crowds of people shouting for justice in Boston, but I'm dubious about whether California voters much care. I have no idea how much of this is sensible political analysis and how much is just my depression lying to me.
Before the election, most of the proposition-8-related campaign ads I saw were on the side of virtue (ie, "no on 8," ie, "prop 8 is unfair and discriminatory, vote against it.") From where I sit in Massachusetts, it seems awfully obvious. We've had state recognition of same-sex marriages for 4.5 years. A lot of the fearmongering propaganda can be defused just by looking at our experience. Heterosexual marriage has not become meaningless here. Conservative churches have not been compelled to marry same-sex couples (I think there have been some lawsuits on the level of wedding cakes and wedding dresses, where those who make such things only want to make them for bridal parties that meet their standards. This would have been legally problematic even 10 years ago, if a cake or dress maker didn't want to do business with somebody planning a committment ceremony in church. Oh, how terrible, that people who are discriminated against now feel empowered to complain!) I'm rather pleased to note that Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0923080.html
(A quick search turned up a lot of websites with old data from the 1990s, but this was the only one I could find with 2005 numbers. Sorry there's not more recent CA data. I heard the mayor of Newton referring to 2006 statistics, but they're not turning up in convenient form.)
Another thing I'm afraid I don't have energy for is to go across the street and see The Laramie Project. I really resent that inability, because it's right *there*, and it seems so important. Especially now. But my priorities need to be PT, flea control, OT, and job hunting. (And there's not enough left after PT.)
http://www.wickedlocal.com/arlington/homepage/x541348229/A-lesson-in-listening
It's tonight and tomorrow at 7:30. I'm posting this now, in case anybody is looking for something to do in the next hour, then I'll go back and finish the post.
One of the anxieties I hear from the opponents of same-sex marriage is along the lines of, "What terrible things would happen if our children were to learn homosexuals are just ordinarily people, and their lives are as acceptable as normal lives?" An interesting counter to that turns up in the article about this production. A young actor, who was probably 12 when same-sex marriage became recognized by the state government:
Desiree Marquant, a senior, also marveled at the diversity of opinions expressed in the show: "As someone who is very liberal, The Laramie Project has opened my eyes up to whole new viewpoints. Arlington is a pretty accepting town, so to take on these characters with such opposite beliefs from mine is a challenge."
It looks like she's had a fairly sheltered upbringing, but I don't think she's shocked by the existence of homosexuals. It looks like she's shocked by *bigotry*.
