On Marriage...

[crschmidt]

Ganked from:

pezstar, roy, aiobheil, damnitnicole, burr86, ladysisyphus, rahaeli, hill_the_khore. Wording copied direct from pezstar.

The American Family Association has decided to try and "prove a point" by having a poll on their website for folks to take about their opinion on gay marriage. They intend to present the results of this poll to the United States Congress in an attempt to instate a federal law against Gay Marriage.

It's obvious that they think that this poll will come out in their favor, and that the vast majority of people will vote to keep marriage for traditional couples only. However, this is LiveJournal, and we are FAR from traditional!

I ask you all to please visit http://www.afa.net/petitions/marriagepoll.asp and let your opinion be heard. It takes about 45 seconds, and it is SUCH an important topic. Whether you are gay or straight, conservative or liberal, your opinion matters, and you NEED to vote here.

While it's obvious that I am on the "pro gay marriage" side of the fence, I still want you to vote if you are against it. THe point here is to have a LEGITIMATE cross section of people voting in this poll. The only folks who were even made aware of it's existance were the peole on the AMAs mailing list and the people who happened to wander across their website. They have absolutely every intention of presenting this poll in the form of a petition to congress against gay marriage. I wonder if they will still present it when the YAYs outweigh the NEIGHs?

PLEASE let your voice be heard.

Current results at 9:40AM CST:
I oppose legalization of homosexual marriage and "civil unions" 84.19% (102406 votes)
I favor legalization of homosexual marriage 12.93% (15728 votes)
I favor a "civil union" with the full benefits of marriage except for the name 2.88% (3505 votes)

From damnitnicole: PS: taken from the comments on rahaeli's entry: "Oh, and anyone who gives them their e-mail address: leave-afapetition@lists.afa.net. Send a blank e-mail to that address after you fill out the survey so you can get off their list. Unless you want to keep getting them, in which case, have fun!"

Comments

[pthalo]

the NAYs have doubled since i last looked earlier today. whee! and neigh is the sound a horse makes ;)

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

Is there a way to look at the results without voting again? I can't find it, if there is.

[pthalo]

if you try to vote again, it shows you the results and says that you've already voted. *shrugs*

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

So it does, so it does. excellent.

*nod*

[sea-sensu-si.livejournal.com]

http://www.afa.net/petitions/SummarizePoll.asp

[emma]

13.13% for! 2.89% on the pro civil union thing.

and of course i live in beverley hills 90210 *innocent look*

[zhonnika.livejournal.com]

Grrr mind if I swipe the text of this? I'm certain I can get my entire flist to vote.

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

Not at all! it's basically achieved meme status at this point - I don't think Pez would mind at all if people keep passing it on.

[jpallan.livejournal.com]

I did it before pez memed it, but yeah. I'll probably swipe it for good measure -- I have at least 200 non-spr0t people on my list.

:kiss: Love you.

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

Did what? I didn't see the link anywhere in your recent entries? (Perhaps I'm missing something - I'm a bit slow today.)

[beginning.livejournal.com]

*waves to her comment which damnitnicole has apparently now worked into this meme*

[damnitnicole]

Heh, yeah, hi. I c&p'ed the comment, and closed that window, thinking I'd remember who to credit, and then forgot.

Want me to fix it?

[hill-the-khore.livejournal.com]

It was at 6% yesterday. We're doing a good job. Now it's at 16%.

We're rockin' the vote!

[damnitnicole]

I oppose legalization of homosexual marriage and "civil unions" 73.18% (111119 votes)

I favor legalization of homosexual marriage 22.59% (34302 votes)

I favor a "civil union" with the full benefits of marriage except for the name 4.23% (6430 votes)

Gay Marriage Is Not Acceptable

[(Anonymous)]

Consummate: to complete (a marriage) by the first act of sexual intercourse

Intercourse: sexual relations, esp. coital relations

Coitus: sexual intercourse, esp. between male and female humans; copulation

Based on the above definitions, it is impossible to define marriage as anything other than between heterosexuals. Yes, I am deeply offended by the passing of gay marriages/civil unions, and it has nothing to do with religion or politics. It has everything to do with the fact that what my husband and myself share, along with millions of other husband and wife couples, is no longer something special. I cannot really explain my feelings on this the way that I would like to, partially because I am so outraged over all theses "special people" (not only gays) getting all these "special rights" -- hijacking every issue and making it about THEM, going above and beyond to take full advantage of the overly politically correct state of mind that has shamefully come to be in this country! Whether it be bans on peanut butter or legalization of gay marriage, or trying to take the word GOD out of the Pledge of Allegiance, things have spun out of control.

Anyone can marry now -- it is no longer a big deal. The one thing we had that was ours and it is being taken away. Can't people leave well enough alone? Gays want acceptance - they got it. They wanted a SEPARATE school in NY - they got it. Now they want marriage?! Someone needs to draw the line!

Re: Gay Marriage Is Not Acceptable

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

Why should gays not be afforded marriage the same way that other people are? It seems fairly obvious from the definitions above that the definition you are choosing to use - between females and males - is not the only case: in both definitions, there is an "especially" meaning that there are also other cases.

The fact that anyone can marry - how is that wrong? How is it wrong to afford the same rights to all people? Doesn't the constitution of the United States provide it? "All men are created equal", we fought for, a long time ago. Has that changed? Are some men and women now created as less than equal?

How is adding the ability to participate in acts of love and devotion which are designed to show how much people care about one another limited to straight people? Why can a man not love another man, and want to show it by engaging in acts which are indicitvie of this fact?

I don't understand why you think people are attempting to "steal" a right which by all means they should already have.

Re: Gay Marriage Is Not Acceptable

[(Anonymous)]

The definitions I listed are from every dictionary under the sun, and what are these definitions are based on: these terms are based on tradition and laws that go back many, many centuries.

Gays are screaming "It is discrimination -- let's not write discrimination into the Constitution." How can gays be discriminated against over something a law that never applied to them to begin with?

Marriage is for a man and a woman -- period and steeped in that “man and woman” traditional marriage is the hope and beauty of natural procreation; not artificial insemination between lesbian couples, and not surrogacy by women for gay men.

I live in Boston, and Beacon Hill has become the land of political confusion. What I have seen so far on this whole gay marriage fiasco is that it is felt to be a civil rights issue. Here we have 4 wayward judges that decided to take it upon themselves to write law for the legislature, for which they can and should be impeached. Gays are relying on Massachusetts lawmakers to pass this law because they do not, by their own admittances, want it to go to the people for voting. People are more against this than for it; not only in Massachusetts, but in the majority of the world, and the reason is not only tradition and law, but morality -- religion aside!

Tolerance of the gay lifestyle, however deviant and unnatural most feel it to be, has been thrust forcefully upon people by liberals and special interest groups. People are so fed up! People are sick and tired of everything they feel and think being practically under martial law in this country! People have bitten their tongues for far too long over everything they are not allowed to do, say, think, feel or celebrate for fear of seeming un-politically correct by not doing the popular thing/feeling the popular, politically correct way, thus being considered a racist, bigot, homophobe or mean spirited.

People have had enough already! If this law should happen to pass and gay marriage is allowed, it is quite possible that people who were once tolerant and accepting of this lifestyle, be it on their own accord, or because they had no choice, could turn on gays and display outright acts of hatred. Passing of this gay marriage law could be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back.

Marriage is a very, very venerated bond for heterosexuals. To have this union 'between man and woman', as it has been since the beginning of time, be granted to gays because they whined and bitched and got their way; thus having marriage lose the meaning people held most dear -- this could have dire consequences.

If gays think that circumstances are bad for them at this point in time; that they have been victimized and discriminated against, wait and see what the future might possibly hold. Gays may be biting off more than they can chew. People can become as un-politically correct as we are currently forced to be politically correct. However far gays think they’ve come in the world in terms of equal rights and acceptance could be offset by a fierce backlash – a revolt, an upheaval of hatred from the straight community - even those who are supposed to act politically correct under “crybaby” left wing laws – people such as landlords, employers, etc.

People may regress to the days when nasty things were said and feelings were shared outright -- and no amount of legislature or law suits (another thing people are fed up with) will stop people from expressing themselves --no more putting up and shutting up! Attitudes could rival the days of Archie Bunker!

Be careful what you wish for -- it may not be what you wanted, and it may not go the way you thought it would.