But my goals around it have changed. 3 years ago

It looks like New Hampshire did what California could not do. 3 years ago

SAN FRANCISCO – The California Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage Tuesday, but it also decided that the estimated 18,000 gay couples who tied the knot before the law took effect will stay wed.

A mixed message.

It makes no sense.

Maybe we need to rewrite this goal now. It will not be over until same-sex marriage is not banned. 4 years ago

Hawaii senate leader Colleen Hanabusa stands between gay marriage rights and the people.

In a recent conversation with the legislative liaison with my company, I learned that 15 contacts – phone calls, emails, etc addressing an issue is huge.

So if 15 people from the state of Hawaii contacted Colleen Hanabusa as well as their own elected state representative and urged the legalization of gay marriage, chances are this would all turn around.

Go people! 4 years ago

“Iowa Supreme Court rules same-sex marriage ban violates rights of gays, lesbians” – Breaking News on MSNBC 3 April 2009 4 years ago

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 4 years ago

On this date, under Mayor Gavin Newsom, the City of San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples.

This is a day to celebrate. 4 years ago

I wonder, aloud of course, if the whole Prop 8 fiasco is about Gay Marriage, or more about “the other.”

We human beings are an odd lot. For whatever reason as we lose our childhood innocence and sense of wonder we start to realize that life isn’t the easiest thing in the world. There are headaches, and heartaches, and mortgages, and just when you discover that you have a favourite chair, your also start to realize that things don’t work the way they used to : staying up into the wee hours of the morning becomes a challenge, some foods that we used to eat with reckless abandon suddenly cause us problems, and our bodies ache after doing things that were oh so easy to do just a few years ago.

We long for a simpler time. When our problems didn’t exist as they do today. When life was easier, and full of promise. And our dreams have fallen away and in some cases been replaced with regrets.

It’s gotta be someone’s fault! Someone did this to us! Dammit! Who stole my dreams!

It’s so easy for us to point a finger at “the others” and make them the cause of our problems. See, “they did it,” “it’s their fault,” “if they just didn’t do that, the world be just like it was when I was 8.” It doesn’t work that way.

If things were like the way were told they were when I was 8 there wouldn’t be veterans living on streets, 20% of the children in the US would not be living in Poverty, and a new box of crayons would make me forget about all my troubles. 4 years ago

I am completely convinced we will see a good outcome on this. I cannot believe that unequal rights will prevail. The waters on the Sea of Enlightenment are choppy, but the boat will not sink. 4 years ago

State of California Attorney General Brown says Prop 8 violates basic human rights and is unconstitutional!!!!!!

Let’s see what happens now!!! 4 years ago

http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/JoinTheImpact

The link above offers you a chance to sign a petition and participate in a movement to restore marriage equality in California.

In my email today:

In 2000, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a best-selling book exploring how small events can catalyze seismic shifts in culture. Eight years later, you can participate in what could be one of the most profound “tipping points” in American political history.

On Saturday morning, at the exact same time across the country, thousands of people will march, rally and protest the passage of Prop 8.

Incredibly, this volunteer-run national event was not organized by a well-known institution or coalition of organizations. It was sparked just a few days ago by Amy Balliett, a Seattle woman who turned a blog post about protesting Prop 8 into “Join the Impact,” a bottom-up internet phenomenon attracting tens of thousands of people. 4 years ago

This isn’t done.
This isn’t going to be done anytime very soon.
Worse yet, this is at the moment out of my hands.

And it is bugging me, seeing it on this list.

For now, I’m leaving it here, because dad-gum if I’m going to “give up” on it. But I’m moving it to the bottom of the list, because it is making me cross-eyed.

Sometimes we must only sit and wait. 4 years ago

Under that law that was passed in Arkansas last week regarding the adoption and fostering of children by unmarried couples a great deal has come to light about how far reaching that law is.

The proponents of the bill have unapologetically stated that the intent of the bill was to prevent gay and lesbian couples from adopting children. Children in the foster system also cannot be placed in these homes.

However the bill exclues a great many heterosexual households as well as families of children who are without parents.

According to the law, children cannot be adopted or placed in homes where the adults are not married. That means if Grandma is now living with another older man without being married (hundreds of thousands of seniors live “in sin” so they can retain their deceased spouses medical and pension benfits) she cannot care for her own grandchildren should the parents be unable. It also means that a gay or lesbian person cannot adopt their own nieces and nephews. Of course with thousands of kids stuck in situations whereby “the state” is their guardian, the number of people eligible to serve as foster parents has now been reduced as well.

Interestingly, if the “Golden Girls” (you know, Blanche, Dorothy, and Sophia) found themselves in a situation whereby they wanted to care for Roses granddaughter – they could not do so in Arkansas because they are not married. Similarly “Full House” would violate the law as well – as if Cousin Joey was that bad of an influence. And what of the New Adventures of Old Christine, sure Christine’s brother lives in a guest house, but he does live there. (oh wait, he’s her brother, we’re talking Arkansas, right? nevermind)

When hate and intolerance are the driving force of policy, many many innocent lives are destroyed. 4 years ago

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family stated that the passage of Proposition 8 “safeguards religious liberty in our most populous state.” His group spent nearly $800,000 in the political battle.

“Religious Liberty” is a slippery slope in which the government has no right to place any restrictions.

That is why there is no 21 and over policy for children to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion in those churches that use real wine in their service. It is why some denominations are permitted to only allow men as the leaders of their congregations.

As “religion” has been used as a hammer, or perhaps the anvil, on which the foundations onto which the “Pro Pop 8” ground built their arguments are we not opening the door to all sorts of regulations regarding the interaction of the church and state?

What of those denominations that sing a little louder and have full bands in their services – if they are “not like us” can the surrounding neighbors restrict worship services citing their believe that Sunday is a day of quiet reflection? Is the precident now set that a particulalry Protestant (free of Iconography and Statuary) neighborhood can establish laws abridging the rights of Catholic Church to have a statue of Christ on its lawn? Are people who are not married in a church married at all? Is my denomination worthy enough to meet the criteria of Focus on the Family? And what of the heroes of all denominations and faith practices that are to be buried in Arlington Cemetery – will that sacred ground be limited to just Christians and Jews?

I always thought that the slippery slope in California would be created by the San Andreas Fault, but it appears to have been created by a total disregard for the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. 4 years ago

what are the arguments against marriage? (I still can’t get my mind around why this is being opposed in a country where are the establishment clause of the Constitution is pretty darn clear) 4 years ago

It was a march down Market St to Dolores Park.

It got a lot of sympathetic coverage on KCBS.

Many more thousands of people showed up than were expected, to decry the passing of prop 8.

Also, there is a petition circulating to ask the IRS to reconsider the tax exempt status of the Mormon Church, due to their interference in the legislative process of the State of California. 4 years ago

1. Join MarriageEquality.org (http://www.marriageequality.org) and donate what you can.

2. Support the National Center for Lesbian Rights It’s a public interest law firm that is involved in much of the legal work. (The cases on the website make for interesting reading, too.)

3. Learn about businesses and organizations that gave money to or endorsed Prop 8 and don’t give them your business. (Be polite, just don’t give them your money.) You can find such a list at http://www.protectmarriage.com/endorsements

Like all civil rights battles, this is going to be long and uphill. Being nasty doesn’t get us anywhere. DO: be polite, be firm, & support the organized effort. DON’T: give ammunition or justification to the other side by being nasty or using hateful language. Calling people names doesn’t educate them or change their hearts.

I am so grateful for everyone who continues in this effort! 4 years ago

“Roughly 400,000 votes separate yes from no on Prop 8 – out of 10 million votes tallied.

Based on turnout estimates reported yesterday, we expect that there are more than 3 million and possibly as many as 4 million absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted.

Given that fundamental rights are at stake, we must wait to hear from the Secretary of State tomorrow how many votes are yet to be counted as well as where they are from.

It is clearly a very close election and we monitored the results all evening and this morning.

As of this point, the election is too close to call.

Because Prop 8 involves the sensitive matter of individual rights, we believe it is important to wait until we receive further information about the outcome.”

Geoff Kors & Kate Kendall
Executive Committee
NO on Prop 8 4 years ago

It’s not over, but from what I have seen this morning, voters may have walked over this with muddy feet.

This is totally not a goal to give up on.

More later… I wrote something under my goal number one. 4 years ago

early returns are not looking good. 4 years ago

of officiating at my first wedding. The couple was happy, the congregation was tearful, and it was all just perfect. An ordinary, sweet wedding.

Tuesday, we’ll find out whether I’ll do any more of them. I won’t perform marriages in a state where my own isn’t recognized.

But for once in my life, I got to say, “By the power vested in me by the State of California…”

Very cool. 4 years ago

I actually have two, including the sign in the bonsai 4 years ago

Here is a news article about the Prop 8 furor.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-gayschools19-2008oct19,0,7459783.story

If parents are worried their children may be exposed to ideas in school, ideas that may be shaded differently than the ideas the parents themselves present to the children, perhaps it is the parents who need to go back to school and take those Life Skills classes themselves. 4 years ago

Nothing in the current election other than seeing a positive and overwhelming change in the leadership of our nation matters like this does.

It makes me ineffably sad to think that here today we are still debating basic human rights.

Marital rights. They belong to all of us equally. As adults, we have the right to choose our life partner. How DARE anyone make it wrong to choose one adult person over another, for another person.

For all of us in California, the answer to 8 is NO!!!! 25 million times no!!! 4 years ago

an hour in a phone meeting, more organizing. Now back to the telephones.

Oh, yes, and I have other work, too! 4 years ago

It is too important an issue to leave unmarked or unaddressed.

This is a human rights matter. Married people should all enjoy all the same marital rights.

It astonishes me actually that so many people think and feel their rights somehow supersede someone else’s rights. I cannot understand why so many people think other people’s personal decisions should match up with their personal decisions.

Can it be that there is a streak of recidivist thinking in our culture that has a block of people convinced we should all match up like buttons on a wedding gown? 4 years ago

to the tune of about 10 hours a week. Tonight I went to a meeting over in San Francisco about the No on 8 campaign, and learned a lot specifically about talking about a piece of legislation in a nonprofit environment.

Amazing the stuff I’m learning. 4 years ago

Emailing, phoning, phone meeting, organizing.

A side benefit of this is that I have learned how to use Excel to organize ANYTHING. 4 years ago

“Vote NO on 8” with a background of the California State flag… it’s my new accessory for every outfit. 4 years ago

on this goal?

I’m opposed to Proposition 8 because before the California State Supreme Court ruled that gay and lesbian Californians have the same right to marry that everyone else does, the “domestic partnership” band-aid on the issue was creating second-class families in this state.

My family isn’t second-class. All families should be equal.

If you agree with me, please join me in this goal! Or if you don’t like the wording, set up a goal of your own to oppose Proposition 8. If it is adopted, we will amend the State Constitution of California in order to take away the rights of citizens. I’m very concerned that people know to Vote NO on 8 this November. 4 years ago