Wednesday, June 26, 2013
A Few Comments About the Gay Marriage Ruling
1) Good, great, grand! I really don't see any reason why gay people shouldn't be allowed to get married.
2) I really don't see any reason why the government has any say in anyone's marriage. The government should get out of the marriage business but not recognizing anyone's unions and by not giving any kind of tax or benefit advantages to married people over single ones.
3) It's disgusting how President Obama is trying to act like he is on the winning side of this one. He ran for President twice, both times on anti-gay marriage platform. In 5 years he didn't make a single actual effort to get DOMA overturned. He did what he always does, took the easiest position at the outset and then took credit at the conclusion.
4) Hopefully this will be the day when all the closeted gay celebrities, athletes and whomever else comes out of the closet. If being gay is not a big deal, then stop making it a big deal. Stop making it a secret for years and only coming out when you get a magazine cover out of it. If you really want to help all the poor gay teenagers who are getting picked on and bullied in schools, just come out already. The more prominent gay people who show no embarrassment about being gay, the easier it will be for society to come to accept gay people.
I am glad that DOMA was overturned and I think gay marriage should be legal in all 50 states. If you don't like gay marriage, don't get gay married. Seems pretty simple.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama publicly endorsed gay marriage in May 2012. He did not run on an anti-gay marriage platform in November 2012, and he has been by far our most gay friendly president. He repealed don't ask, don't tell, after all, which was a huge deal.
Seems to me it's the Republicans, forever on the wrong side of history, who have fiercely opposed gay marriage until very recently when a few smart ones saw an opportunity to look better than their cohorts.
Who was the President who signed DOMA into law?
ReplyDeleteThere are duplicitous Democrats too who were on the wrong side of the issue for a long time and only jumped on when the train had already passed.
If we're looking for a politician who has the longest-standing support for gay marriage, you might have to look at Ron Paul.
Bill Clinton, a Democrat, signed DOMA into law. My point wasn't that no Democrats were anti-gay marriage, it's that as a whole they were much faster to get on the pro-gay marriage train than were Republicans. And that you misstated facts about Obama that were entirely untrue.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about Ron Paul, although he may have reversed his gay marriage stance after Bruno tried to schtupp him.
When did I say anything about Republicans?
ReplyDeleteI guess we can disagree about what Obama's official platform was as opposed to his public comments, but he never said anything about trying to get Congress to repeal DOMA.
It's very typical Obama, try to play both sides, let someone else do the dirty work, then try to take credit for it.
Absolute undeniable fact that if the Supreme Court hadn't have gotten involved, Obama would not have done anything to repeal DOMA.
Like all politicians, in both parties, they don't care about anything, they only do what they think will help their political careers.
I'm surprised Poop wasn't on the strict constructionist side on this one.
ReplyDeleteDo I want a group of activist judges setting policy for the entire country? No
ReplyDeleteBut in this case I think the decision is the right one.
I have said before and still believe, that every time this issue comes up for a vote, it loses. The people (majority) don't want it. And even though I think the people are wrong on this I'm very worried about a country where a few elitists decide when the will of the people is right and when it isn't.
I think you need to review more recent opinion polls on gay marriage and watch the incredible shift in public opinion that has happened even in the years since the 2004-2008 votes you're referencing. Since this was used as a "wedge issue" in 2004 by President Bush's re-election team, 9 years worth of bigoted geezers have died and have been replaced by young people who largely support gay marriage as do you and I and Reissberg.
ReplyDeleteAnd sorry but you're just wrong re: Obama. He is not perfect on this issue and absolutely was not like Ron Paul supporting gay marriage 20 years ago. But a sitting president openly stating to the public that he supports gay marriage is a huge deal, and it was a bold, risky move that he took before the 2012 re-election campaign against a decidedly anti-gay marriage candidate in Romney.
It amazes me how conservatives fabricate mistruths about Obama to support their false beliefs about him. No, he wasn't an all out gay rights warrior a la Harvey Milk, but it's crazy that the party inhabited by the Santorums and Huckabees of the world has the balls to say Obama wasn't fiercely enough in favor of gay marriage. His position is a hell of a lot more admirable than the dolts in your party who compare gay marriage to beastiality and incest.
Forget opinion polls, I'm looking at votes. California, the most liberal state in the country voted to ban same-sex marriage. Fact. I believe same-sex marriage as a vote has a record of something like 2-12574857432 (not fact).
ReplyDeletePlease stop painting me as a Republican operative. I don't consider myself a Republican. I have never voted for a Republican in any election. I have no party, they both suck.
My quarrel with Obama on this issue has nothing to do with his stance on gay marriage. It's his lack of leadership. He's the fuckin President, if he really cared he could have tried to do something, or said he would try to do something (he didn't even go that far). And then he has the nerve to call this poor woman who has been fighting this for years and congratulate her on her victory as if he's been some sort of ally in her fight. It's insulting to her, annoying to me and symptomatic with his attitude on every issue, including the Keystone Pipeline. Play the middle, let someone else do the dirty work and take credit in the end.
Just so we have no more disputes about what I meant, Obama said he was against gay marriage in 2008. He said he was a supporter of gay marriage in May 2012, but never really acted like one.
I can't believe that I've voted for more Republicans than you have but it's apparently fact. Yikes. I will stop painting you as a Republican even though you're clearly a very conservative thinker politically.
ReplyDeleteThe opinion polls matter because in many, many states gay marriage has not yet been put to a vote. Do you honestly think that if in 2014 all northeastern and western states voted on gay marriage that it would fail every time? As evidenced by California in 2008 it's clearly not a slam dunk, but that vote was 52-48 against gay marriage, and the past 5 years has seen a seismic shift in opinion polls. I bet gay marriage would win a vote today in California, and likely in many other states by a close margin.
I think it took enormous leadership by Obama to announce his support for gay marriage, even if he wasn't in the trenches fighting for it and even if it wasn't his top priority. He sure as hell wasn't fighting against it, and I see nothing wrong with him congratulating the victors on that issue.
It's absolutely true, but it's partially a trick. I have never voted for anyone because I have never really liked a candidate. I registered to vote in 2012 was going to vote for Gary Johnson and whichever Republican was running against that anti-semite in my local House race, but I got stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam and the polls closed. I may vote for Christie this fall.
ReplyDeleteI am much more of a libertarian. Which means I agree with conservatives on most fiscal issues, I hate Obama for his Bush-ian assault on personal liberties, but I'm in favor of gay marriage and pro-choice, drugs and other stuff like that.