A few moments of substance...

[geminigirl]

The ick that I've been fighting off for days has finally caught up with me, and so I'm home, and have been all day, and since I've been avoiding posts of substance I think, here's what's been on my mind...




So today, in San Francisco, two women who have been together for 51 years were granted a marriage license. Along with a bunch of other people. And I keep thinking, if there's concern about the stability of same sex relationships (as sometimes is brought out in anti-gay propoganda) why not let let all couples get married? Just because we all know better than to assume that marriage=monogamy, or marriage=stability, and all that doesn't mean that couples desiring the kind of recognition and priveledges which come with marriage should be denied. But if the goal is to promote stable relationships, perhaps that legal recognition (which lets face it, can make undoing a relationship a lot more challenging) is part of the path to the desired outcome.

Anyway, not that I think anyone had any doubts, but I hate the thought of people debating over the civil rights of other people when it comes to something like this.





My peer educators still amaze me. A long conversation with one of them last week about monogamy, Apparently he's recently gotten into a relationship with someone, and they've decided together that it should be monogamous, and he's struggling with it. And I was amazed at his honesty with me about making choices and talking about that.

And another one who has been working hard to convince her (rather conservative) Mom that comprehensive sex education is important, that abstinence only education is ineffective, and is working hard to convince others...she'll be heading to Richmond next week to talk to legislators with us. (More on that in another post...those of you in Virginia, or who know people in Virginia might want to check on that.)





I don't talk much about which candidate I prefer-I was taught as a kid not to do that...that asking about who one was planning to vote for, or who one did vote for was inappropriate. But I will say that the most important thing for me isn't that it's my favorite candidate, but that it's a candidate that can beat Bush in November.



Enough substance. Dinner time.

Comments

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

I don't talk much about which candidate I prefer-I was taught as a kid not to do that...that asking about who one was planning to vote for, or who one did vote for was inappropriate.

Obviously, you don't consider having been taught something as a kid to be sufficient to keep your mind made up as an adult in other aspects of your approach to life. So your statement requests the question: Is this something you've considered and still agree with, of something you carry on with due to momentum?

I think there are two main reasons to hold your position. The most obvious one for most of the population is that zealots can be boors and there are enough boors around so that even if you're not a zealot you can push buttons that have already been rubbed raw.

The other reason is where I think the vehemence that many people hold your position really comes from. That is that if one is allowed (by social convention) to proclaim a position, one may also under some circumstances be compelled to. The 20th Century movement to decrease political patronage in favor of the civil service made that less relevant for a while, but the move in recent times for the government to outsource many of its services (and assign contracts politically) is pushing us back to the bad old days.

Personally, I don't see why someone as un-boorish as you and as close to anonymous as you are here should need to keep political opinions private; do you have other reasons I'm not considering?

Re:

[geminigirl]

It's pretty clear that I'm not afraid to take a position on things, and usually can defend it. And I do have strong feelings on many issues, whether or not they're expressed in this forum.

And being oversealous can get on peoples nerves; I know people have mentioned not supporting Howard Dean because of the zealousness of his supporters.

This is something I make a conscious choice about. It feels more comfortable to me to focus on issues that are important, and not who says what. Part of that I'm mistrustful of politicians in general, and focusing on what's actually important instead of who says they're going to do this or that means that I can think about solutions and resolutions and not promises.

I'm not sure that's all of why I feel strongly about this, but it's a start.

[thepozlife.livejournal.com]

So today, in San Francisco, two women who have been together for 51 years were granted a marriage license.

I was fortunate enough to be in SF on the day it occurred and on the days following. The city's newspapers and TV stations have been abuzz about the story. They opened City Hall and continued to perform ceremonies over the weekend and today, President's Day.

When I was in SF last February, they had the anti war protests that turned into an ugly confrontation between the SFPD and the "protesters". I use the quotes because these "protesters" were not representative of the vast majority of peaceful participants that were expressing their opinions.