I have been neglecting my daily Jon Carroll click some days lately. Is it me or him? I’d say him, but hey — everyone slumps sometimes. I’m willing to ride it out.
Well, today at least, he’s back. If nothing else, it’s good to see that in San Francisco at the very least, you can refer to anti-gay activists as “vile,” “cretins” and “overbusy, underbrained worms.”
Anyway, I know this is preaching to the choir, but hey:
My older daughter is a lesbian. She is also the single mother of an adopted child, working to make and sustain a family with jaw-dropping tenacity. I am a member of that family, but she is the head of it. The idea that any part of her social agenda involves the destruction of the family is insulting and stupid. She adopted a child, which means that a child who would not have had a home now has one. It means that a child who would not have rested safely in a mother’s arms now does so. These are real family values, not the poison spouted by these thoughtless, gossip-mongering abominations.
Bring it on, baby.
brian stouder said on March 21, 2006 at 3:55 pm
“Bring it on, baby.”
Here is what I have to say – and there is no “but” sneaking along in the weeds:
I think I am a Republican and a conservative (but really – who knows?!) – and I always will be – and I heartily agree that that fellow’s oldest daughter is the embodiment of ALL that is best about the concept of “family values”. I think that small-minded people reside within the Democratic party, and on the liberal side of the continuum in about the same proportion as at all other points along it.
by way of saying it is lots and lots easier to thump one’s chest and proclaim one’s righteousness, than to get the kids up and dressed and fed and ready for school every single day –
whether one is a nominal ‘right wing’ or ‘left wing’ over-busy worm.
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alex said on March 21, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Wish I could agree with you, Brian, but when it comes to the question of over-busy worms trying to pre-empt the civil liberties of others, the right has no equals anywhere else on the spectrum.
The day the Dems start pandering to an organization of leftists who want government to deny evangelical Christians the right to raise children or cohabit or petition for redress when discriminated against in jobs and housing, that’s when I’ll take your point to heart. Quite frankly I don’t see it ever happening.
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Danny said on March 22, 2006 at 12:24 pm
I’ve never appreciated much of what Carroll I have ever read. He falls into the category of being “not conceited, but convinced.” Kind of same category that I would put anti-gay protesters into.
It is fine for people to have their opinions about cultural issues and right and wrong, but as a christian, I find it disconcerting that these people, with way too much time on their hands, are becoming identified as my defacto representatives.
I probably feel the same as gays who are tired of being represented by marchers with ridiculous bullseyes painted on their asses or blacks who are tired of being represented by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, rappers, etc.
That reminds me, Nance. I read that one of the main black actors in Crash wasn’t to happy about the Oscar award for best song. He said one of the main themes of the movie was to tear down stereotypes and wondered if any of the academy voters had actually watched the movie or understood the point of it.
Alex, question for you. Do you think that marriage tryads or quads or whatever should exist? Throw out the polygamy laws? Just asking. That’s where this all is heading.
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alex said on March 22, 2006 at 4:50 pm
Danny, I don’t have an opinion one way or another whether polyamory should exist. The fact is it does exist. The only opinion I have about it is that it’s none of my business or yours if consenting adults participate in such arrangements.
You didn’t ask, but yes it has occurred to me also that the courts will one day have to reckon with this issue, and will probably follow the logic behind Loving v. Virginia (1967) that it’s none of my business or yours.
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Danny said on March 22, 2006 at 9:28 pm
I guess you like to stay fit, because that’s a biiiiggg stretch. Loving versus Virginia had to do with ethnicity, not having multiple marriage partners. Quite a bit different. And how this sort of arrangement would impact employer paid health care benefits for dependent family members may be one of the real rubs here.
I certainly do not want to pay extra benefits for that sort of thing. That would probably fall within the interpretation of equal protection under the law.
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alex said on March 23, 2006 at 7:13 am
Well, Danny, understanding law does take a certain mental fitness. Try stretching your mind around the fact that laws existed against race mixing for the same reason they exist against polygamy: both are practices that the public deemed or deems objectionable. The court merely decides whether the rights of the individual take precedence over the public’s right to organize a militia of Sex Police.
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Jim from Fla said on March 23, 2006 at 11:50 am
I read about a while ago that something like 25% of employers already offer domestic partner benefits, even though most states have so far refused to acknowledge partner relationships. I suspect that these companies see the benefits of providing quality fringes to quality employees, no matter what their orientation.
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Danny said on March 23, 2006 at 1:01 pm
Listen, Alex. For you to question my mental acuity is laughable. If we examined most of your postings, a picture would quickly emerge of a paraniod and sophmoric grasp of reality. Case in point:
The court merely decides whether the rights of the individual take precedence over the public’s right to organize a militia of Sex Police.
Militia of sex police? You sound ridiculous. Just stop…geessh.
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