Mississippi Rally for No on Prop 8
Gay Marriage and You!
Why is Gay Marriage important?
It is about equal rights. As a gay man and tax paying citizen I do not enjoy the same benefits as the man or woman next door or down the street. Just like you, my tax dollars go to pay the salaries for the Justice of the Peace and state marriage license offices; however these are services that by law I am prohibited to use.
Consider this - What if the law stated that all right handed people could not marry ~ simply because you were right-handed you could not marry the man or woman that you loved. To add insult to this injury those who could get married would enjoy tax breaks because they were left handed. Wouldn’t you be angry? My guess is that you would protest too, only to be overruled by the married left handed people who were married. This is an injustice.
Marriage has other benefits that are often taken for granted. If my long term partner were to be hospitalized or died I would not be considered “next of kin” and could be denied hospital visitation, rights to common property and inclusion in wills or child custody. Is this how our society should behave?
The notion of marriage being between a man and woman is one of religion, not the government. This is cared for by the separation of church and state; which clearly is no longer the case. More and more religion is concerned with protecting the family and influencing it’s congregation to vote in this way. This is incongruent with the way the votes are cast - Gay Marriage supports family and is the essence of family. Two people - man and woman, man and man, and woman and woman are committed to their relationship, love and establishing a home. What could be more human about this?
Everyone knows a gay person - whether they are a family member, close friend or distant relative. Could you look that person in the eye and state “I do not believe that you should have the right to marry?” My guess is that you couldn’t. While you might believe this because you were taught it by your church or learned to hate by a family member, I honestly think that you could not mouth these words to a friend or relative. Could you say this to your brother, hairdresser, florist, attorney, or doctor?
I did not choose to be gay. There was not a day in my life where I woke up one morning and said to myself “I will be a gay man” much like you did not wake up one day and make the same proclamation of who you are. What I do in my home with my partner has nothing to do with the way you live your life and I should not be penalized for wanting to love someone as much as you do.
It makes me angry to have to write this. I am a tax paying citizen and should have the same rights as anyone else. Marriage is love - pure and simple. Two people coming together to protect and care and share with one another. What happens between two people has nothing to do with the way you conduct your relationships.
Keith Olbermann says it best in the video below:
Best Twitter Application Poll
With the throngs of Twitter Applications and integrations occurring daily - which twitter application are you using?
After several seaches please note there are 200+ twitter applications; all of which could not be accomodated by a cute little poll - feel free to write in your fantastic obscure application to share with others.
Ocarina For Iphone - Global Harmony? Awesome!
So I receive a tweet from NetGrrl about Ocarina for Iphone. This is the coolest use of technology I have ever seen and it happens to be on a mobile device. Ocarina is a Iphone App that the user plays like a recorder. You cover the “holes” with your fingers and blow into the mic of your iphone to produce tones. The sound is unique, but get this, you can then tour the globe of other users that are currently playing their Ocarina at the same time and listen in real-time to their musciality. Crazy stuff. Super Interesting - Constant Global Harmony.
