Melissa Etheridge Responds To Prop 8 Passing
NOV 6, 2008 AT 03:49 PM
“Today the gay citizenry of this state will pick themselves up and dust themselves off and do what we have been doing for years. We will get back into it. We love this state, we love this country and we are not going to leave it. Even though we could be married in Mass. or Conn., Canada, Holland, Spain and a handful of other countries, this is our home.
This is where we work and play and raise our families. We will not rest until we have the full right of any other citizen. It is that simple, no fearful vote will ever stop us that is not the American way.”
-- Melissa Etheridge as interviewed by MomLogic
Read more about: Melissa Etheridge, Quote Of The Day
34175 points
Very well said! It's a shame the prop. was passed :(
335 points
she's so classy! i think that's a very dignified way to approach the situation!
455 points
it was a very sad day for the gay and lesbian community.
300 points
I'm still disappointed as well that it passed. :(
69592 points
Very well-said. I really had high hopes for it to be voted down and that other states would follow suit. I do believe it will happen one day soon. Just wish it was sooner rather than later.
21100 points
i'm in total disbelief that this passed.
She's just awesome.
I'm in disbelief that it passed too. So sad.
I am not against gays, they are people and can have their lives as they please. But I was raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.
What happened is that all the black voters voted for Obama and for prop 8. Black participation at polls went from 5% last election to 10% in California alone.
I disagree with comparing blacks and minorities to gays and lesbians. Minorities are people, just like everybody else. But being gay is a *behavioral* choice. Anyhow you look at it it has to do with *behavior* modification and not being simply an asian or black. Gay can have their unions but it is principally wrong to have them being married. Never has it been in a history of Earth qualified as legal marriage and it should not be. Families need to be created naturally, and this is unnatural for a family to have 2 mothers or two fathers despite all the gay agenda you have been hearing. There is a reason some people are born gay by nature. Nature has a way of having some people not pass on their genes. All problems start when we start messing with that.
"Nature has a way of having some people not pass on their genes." Are you serious??!!
you either believe in creationism (which I doubt if you are gay and all major religions forbid homosexuality) or in evolution. Start reading up on evolution theory. Any conversation is useless when emotions take over logic.
Wow. You are going to be crucified in the next few hours. I understand your point but the way expressed it is just .... unfortunate.
people have to learn to feel ahhhh uncomfortable. I find the way gay agenda is expressed...unfortunate and offensive to me. I honestly do not care about crucufixion here. I think for myself.
Hah this will be fun to deconstruct. Where to begin.
"But I was raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman."
Ignorance is indeed learned just like all forms of bigotry.
"But being gay is a *behavioral* choice."
It's genetically decided at birth. You do not need a degree in genetics to see this.
"Gay can have their unions but it is principally wrong to have them being married. Never has it been in a history of Earth qualified as legal marriage and it should not be."
Sorry you fail. It's a shame you did not know that Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, and Spain are included in the history of Earth.
Nations that recognize gay marriage:
Canada
In June of 2005, the Canadian Parliament enacted a law allowing legal marriage for same-sex couples.
Belgium
The second nation to legalize same-sex marriage in 2003.
Netherlands
The first country to grant gay marriage in 2001.
Norway
Became the sixth country to legalize same-sex marriage on May 11, 2008. (read more)
South Africa
South Africa became the fifth nation to recognize gay marriage in 2005.
Spain
Spain became the fourth nation to allow gay marriage on June 29, 2005.
"There is a reason some people are born gay by nature. Nature has a way of having some people not pass on their genes. All problems start when we start messing with that."
You fail again. Gay people are conceived by two persons, a male and a female, who passed on their genes. Your supposition holds no merit.
well apparently man and woman genes were defective so they should not go on furhter. History of Earth did not start in 2001 with Belgium Canada, etc...I am talking about previous ages, free of gay agenda. Stop drinking Cool Aide. Proposition 8 passed-Hooray! Obama is also against gay marriage-Hooray! End of story. USA is not Hollyweird where everything goes. People want peace and we are sick od sick gay agenda and recruiting of children in schools. Nowdays we have token gays that are gays simply because it is popular-Lohans, Heches. They are not and were not gay, they have just been conditioned by this agenda that it is normal and a great alternative. Well, guess what, it is not. People have spoken, just like the have with selection of our new President. Take a chill pill
Well, lets deconstruct what you say. In many of the countries you just mentioned prostitution and drug use is legal. Both are behavioral deviations. You disagree? So prostitution is OK, drugs are great? So then being gay is in a same category, and remember you put it there yourself.
477600 points
People
also used to treat blacks and women as second class citizens and said it was "unnatural" for them to have rights. Now we look at that and think back and say thinking in that day was absolutely ridiculous. One day we will look back at think that it is ridiculous that gays didn't have the right to marry. Hopefully that day will come soon.
Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff :)
again a major falacy, a black is a person, ther eis not difference between black and any other human beings. Being gay is a behavioral modification. That is what the major difference is. It is a difference with whom you want to have a sex with. Period. Lets them legalize pedophiles, another behavioral modification. You disagree? Why? Or it is agains the law right? Well so is gay marriage. People have spoken and that is what democracy is-a rule of a majority, not minority. But I suppose gays want judges to legislate their right but not the democratic law.
Excuse me, but are you really comparing gays to pedophiles? Are you SERIOUSLLY comparing two people engaged in an adult consensual relationship with someone abusing minors? P-lease, this just proved that you have ABSOLUTELY no idea of what you are talking about.
I think you need to read carefully what I wrote. Minors are minors by law. If you overturn law tomorrow(lets say by proposition Pedo) to make it legal than one is only minor to the age of 10 then that is what it is. So pedophiles can have sex with anyone over 10, in fact they will not be considered pedophiles. Gay marriage is prohibited by law. You are not able to connect dots. It is illegal, people have spoken and you have to respect the law instead of screaming and not liking the decision that has been exercised and approved by the majority. Democracy mean a rule of a majority. Open up Oxford dictionary and read the definition.
Wow, Anonymous - your compassion, empathy and innate awareness for humanity is so inspiring.
You said: "But I was raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman." Right. And for centuries, people were raised to think the earth was flat, that black people shouldn't vote, that women shouldn't work... the list goes on. Just because you have always thought a particular way does not mean that it is right. Otherwise we would never have had any form of social/scientific/anthropologic advancement.
You said: "I disagree with comparing blacks and minorities to gays and lesbians. Minorities are people, just like everybody else. But being gay is a *behavioral* choice. Anyhow you look at it it has to do with *behavior* modification and not being simply an asian or black." I think you'll find that most homosexual people would disagree with you. Just as you don't choose who you are attracted to (ie in your case the opposite sex) - as innate as that is to you - gay people do not *choose* who they are attracted to. In fact, I think that the strong feelings of 'repulsion' etc that homophobes use as justification for their argument against sexuality is actually evidence that it is natural: just as you couldn't fight your 'repulsion' at being intimate with someone of the same sex because it is innate and intrinsic to your being to be attracted to the opposite sex, do you not think that the same principle must apply to gay people? That it is as natural and unquestionnable to them to love another of the same sex and probably just as repugnant to think of the alternative? Do you think that gay people are constantly fighting against their nature in order to be gay? Methinks not, that it is a perfectly natural phenomenon. In fact, you will find that anthropologically speaking, approximately 11% of any population is gay - regardless of culture, ethnicity, religion etc. That is what science tell us.
You siad: "Gays can have their unions but it is principally wrong to have them being married." I have never understood the argument of gay marriage threatrening homosexual marriage. Ummm, how? Are you that insecure in your own relationship? Do you only value your union based on its comparision to others? Does it not have intrinsic measures of its own but only throught its status within society?
You said: "Never has it been in a history of Earth qualified as legal marriage and it should not be. " Right then, so all the countries that have legalized it are beyond the scope of the 'history of the earth'? This argument has been effectively reputed by previous posters.
You said: "Families need to be created naturally," So you are against IVF treatment, fertility treatment and adoption?
You said: "There is a reason some people are born gay by nature." Yes, that is true. See my above point about it being natural, inherent and therefore perfectly, utterly normal.
You said: "Nature has a way of having some people not pass on their genes. All problems start when we start messing with that." So, by this logic, you think all women, whatever sexuality, should be denied assisted reproductive techniques, fertility treatments etc? So far I haven't noticed any problems stemming from such 'unnatural' measures. Did you know that the only real limitations on getting assisted reproductive technology are that you are heterosexual (in most jurisdictions) and that you don't have child sex/violence charges in your past (in most jurisdictions). Therefore, you can be an absolute rubbish, horrid, deranged person with proclivities towards tax fraud, beastiality, breaking and entering, civil rights violatiosn etc, and we will help you haev a child. But if you are a loving, committed woman/man who has a loving partner who really wants to raise a child but you are gay, you cannot. Logical?
And your later comments re paedophiles? Your point about the artificial constructs of laws surrounding paedophilia (eg it's ok to sleep with a 16 y.o. but not a 14 y.o) is correct: all laws of such proscriptive nature are artificial constructs designed to best described and prohiibit unacceptable behaviour. Paedophilia is a sexual proclivity. So too is homosexuality. And, so too, is heterosexuality. Yet we accept heterosexual sex because it is not harming anyone and we deem it acceptable, consensual behaviour. We also accept homosexual sex (in most jurisdictions), because it is not harming anyone and we deem it consensual, acceptable behaviour. Paedophilic sex is not acceptable: it is based on an abuse of power, a breach of duty, a lack of consent, and myriad other reasons of repugnancy. To compare paedophilia with homosexuality is an untenable stance.
PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN. THAT IS WHAT DEMOCRACY IS. GO GET YOUR BOX OF CLEENEX.
The law against pedophiles was 'designed' to protect children... the law against gay marriage is designed to protect, what? YOUR idea of what a family is? You? What? Noone in a gay relationship gets hurt if the get married... quite the opposite would happn with the kid if the 10 years old 'law' would pass.
Yes, I'm def against prop 8... but that's not the point. The point is you just compared to absolutely different things!
I'm perfectly aware of what democracy is... and it also means being able to express you opinion when you're against sth. But don't worry, I'm not screaming, I'm not disrespcting the law... I'm from a country where gay marriage actually IS allowed
4975 points
I feel exactly the same way. I tell my mom all the time that when I have children, I'm going to tell them that gay marriage was illegal when I was growing up, and they're going to look at me like I am crazy!
4975 points
Oy, very well said Melissa! I agree that she was very classy. It's truly a shame that some people who love each other are allowed to make it legal while others are not. Proof that discrimination is still alive in full force
The last time I checked on gay society it was in Sodom and Homorrah, the only recorded account in previous history. It does not exist anymore and I wonder what the reason is for it.
stop the gay indoctrination. People have spoken. Chinese, Latinos, Blacks. What? you do not like it? You thought you have owned these people on your ranches in cottonfields? They have their own mind. And that is that.
Have any of you ever seen a gay right's parade? It's ridiculous, and it hardly makes anyone else want to give someone dressed as a giant penis the right to raise children or get married. The majority are against it because most gay people have baggage. Some of them are charming, but it is a choice, not a genetic factor. Gays might be vocal, but they are still the minority. And marriage is between a man and a woman.
80/20 rule has great statistical probability. 20% of heterosexuals are obsessed with sex and sexual deviations, where as 80 % of gay are obsessd with sex. Being gay is all about sex sex and more sex in all its forms. I am not a prude but while some people find it fun to experiment in 20ies but 30ies it leaves you empty dirty and used. I do not want to be in a society obsessed by and with sex. Enjoy it in your bedroom. And family is a building block of any society. What can be said about a society where having two mothers is normal and healthy? Gay people can and should have other opportunities in life just like everyone else, but keep your filthy fingers off family issues, please!
335 points
come on!!! seriously?? get out in the world and meet people.... gay relationships are as emotional, human, and well-rounded as hetero relationships and you're crazy to think otherwise. you need to stop judging by what you see on tv and movies. open your mind! put aside the private, bedroom stuff for just a second and realize that there's genuine love and admiration within gay relationships, just as there are in straight ones. holy crap, you must be really old or living under a really big rock!! haha!
AWESOME....that Prop 8 was passed!
Gays Gays go away never want to see them another day. :)
So many of these comments are so hate-filled, bigoted, mis-informed, misguided, and flat-out idiotic.
I think research is something that would really help a lot of the backwards folk who think that "being gay" is like, some new "trend". History is filled with same-sex relationships, not always generally condoned, but ALWAYS present.
Oh wait - that kind of knee-jerk reaction and homophobia generally comes from poorly educated people who were told once that the world was created in seven days and they never questioned it.
Guess what, my dear loves? Not everything (in the bible or anywhere else) should be taken literally.
Hate makes me ashamed to be human. Its just so... sad.
there is a difference beween hate and simply not wanting to hear the truth. And why what you think to be right is better than what people have voted for? So if they have voted for Prop 8 they are uneducated and you disagree with the democratic majority. But if they voted for Barack Obama they are educated? Is that what your twisted though process is? You pick and choose what you want to hear and see. How uneducated and subjective!I do not know about your education but I have double Masters, came to USA without any knowledge of English from Eastern Europe and now speak better than most. And I work in a high tech industry. GIVE IT A REST GAY NAZI. People have voted.
LOL! so you think because you have a masters or PHD or whoever gives a crap what education you have, that gives you the right to discriminate? it's people like you who should have their civil rights taken away. you're sad, pathetic and i hope you rot in hell.
no you do not have civils rights to marry. no. you.do not.
I think being gay is a little more complex than people care to admit. Although it has been around for many years that does not make it right or wrong for that matter because i am not in a position to decide what is right and wrong. My only problem is when people use the argument that being gay is a preference (whether you are born into it or you choose to be it). The danger with this argument in my opinion is this will set a dangerous precedent and others who have different sexual preferences will start to demand for their rights. The risk of simplyfying gay to just being a sexual preference is that gays will be compared to people who have sex with animals, dead bodies, children who will also choose to say that it is my preference, I was born that way and honestly speaking would it be wrong. If somebody woke up and said i love my dog and I want to marry it i want the law to recognise this union what leg would we have to stand on.
I have no problem with gay people and i do not judge them for their choices and they should be entitled to education, jobs etc like any other person but there is a reason why man was made to be with woman and that is for procreation. If it was normal to be gay as some people claim then it would be possible for woman and woman or man and man to have children together but it is clearly not possible and if you want to talk about discrimmination this is the first point because clearly nature has discrimminated you of the right to have children. In light of that i will say if you want to be gay be gay but know that with it come specific consequences for your actions. I know science has made its advances but that is another argument for another day
The other thing i just do not get is if you are gay why are you fighting for marriage rights where does it fit in into the equation of being gay. Be gay be who you want to be with and if you are truly committed to one another you do not need the law to reinforce your committment. Have a commitmment ceremony with all your friends and relatives i mean isn't that what this is about the right to be with who you want to be with? So whereas that law was passed it does not stop you from being together which is what the fight should be about.
MAN AND WOMAN ONLY SHOULD MARRY. I'M SO SICK OF THIS GAY CRAP. GO BACK INTO THE CLOSET AND STAY THERE.
this is a joke. all the people whining like little babies that gays are gross are living in another world. that's ok. all we can do is laugh at them. you will meet more dumb people in the world than intelligent ones. some people are so small and simple minded and they just don't have the intellectual ability to wrap their tiny, bigoted brains around the fact that gays are just like you and me and they it's not a choice to be gay just like it's not a choice to be black. KARMA IS A BITCH AND SHE'S COMING TO GET YOU.
24005 points
Its very interesting to hear peoples thoughts on this. Its very eye opening.
More and more of us are WAKING UP, America. No taxation without equality; simple math.
Now the feds will need to repeal DOMA and DADT, grant us FULL equal rights (including marriage), and begin to start
viewing our families - OUR FAMILIES - as the tax-paying contributing members of society we are.....well.....we USED to
be!
Because if our HOMES, our FAMILIES, our very BELOVED are not acknowledged and valued as other families are legally,
whatever we do outside of that home will never be acknowledged and valued legally, such as adopting children,
working without discrimination, or serving openly in the military.
FAMILY FIRST. What is more important than FAMILY?
We owe the IRS absolutely NOTHING until equal. NOTHING. Get it?
This is NOT a test.
This is NOT a debate.
This is NOT a vote.
This is definitely NOT a popularity contest.
This IS justice - GAY TAX PROTEST.
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