Rock The Vote
I voted! And, provided you are already registered, so should you!
If you’re in Chicago, there is no excuse not to do so. It is a beautiful day here and at my polling place, there was no line to vote unless you were adamant about using a touch screen machine. Why there is only one machine available, I don’t know...but there was about an hour’s wait for that.
I chose to not wait for the machine and use a paper ballot instead because my herniated disk and subsequent sciatic pain is excruciating. They even provided me with a chair to sit in and all I had to do was literally connect two dots with a special pen they provided in order to cast my vote.
I was in and out of there and hobbling back to my car within 10 minutes.
Illinois' “big thing” was whether or not Illinois needs a new State Constitution. I voted “no” because, well, I think we can find better ways to spend $80 million dollars and our constitution already allows for amendments.
One item that is not on the Illinois ballot, but is on California’s ballot is Prop 8, which would eliminate the right of same sex couples to marry in California. I’m curious to see the outcome of this.
Personally, I think same sex couples should be allowed to marry anywhere and I can’t see why this is of issue to anyone.
My friend Cami, who is absolutely against gay marriage and/or civil unions, says it’s because the bible says that marriage is sacred and between and man and a woman. Cami didn’t like it when I asked her if she believed that, then why did she have an 18 year still on-going affair and a baby with a married man?
Not only didn’t she like it, she got downright mad at me and said that that was none of my business and that I didn’t understand that they were in love. Really? Two people are in love and their relationship is none of my business? Hmmm.
With all of the people out there committing adultery, marrying for money, for citizenship status, for pregnancy, for insurance and/or because they were drunk in Las Vegas and wanted to see what being married “felt like” (a la Britney Spears), I hardly think that we should be forbidding two people who love each other and want to make that commitment and share the rights and protection that marriage provides simply because they happen to be of the same sex.
Just my opinion, of course. Your opinions are all welcome, too, and I would love to hear them if you care to share.
13 comments:
Good for you for saying something to your friend. I agree with you and lots can be found in the Bible. It's all a matter of perspective.
Hope you feel better with your back.
Yes, and in Biblical times, they stoned adultresses.
Good for you!
Jessica, I didn't think it were possible to like you any more than I already did, but alas, I do! :-) Awesome!
Jenny McB: thank you. Sometimes somebody just has to say something.
nash: Yes and to this day I will still argue that nobody likes a hoochie mama.
Paul: wow! I thank you for your nice words and friendship. You rock!
You made excellent points regarding the flimsy/less than honorable motives behind some heterosexual marriages. I wish I could have been there when you verbally nailed your friend Cami. What a hypocrite!
malcolm: thank you. This is one topic that just continues to bewilder me. My friend Cami, which is a nickname I've given her (short for Camilla as in Parker-Bowles) is a hypocrite. We've gone back and forth on this discussion for almost 20 years now. Unfortunately, we had this discussion on the phone. I would have loved to have seen her face, too!
Jessica, this topic has been talked about so many times, but here it goes.
1st of all, if you see nothing wrong with same sex activities, then you'll oppose Prop. 8. I don't regard same sex activities as a virtue but people will live their lives as they see fit.
But let me raise a topic that you may not have seriously considered. What if they eventually find the cure for homosexuality-whatever the causes? I know this will offend some people, but it used to be that mainstream psychologists would search for curing this, yet politics has trumped science? Also if they eventually do find the cure for homosexuality-whether it's vaccine, surgery or pill, how many homos&lesbians (I'm not politically safe) would take the cure? How many of them want to be straight but engage in same sex behaviors because they've been told that repair therapy isn't something to be considered? I'm not a repair therapist & I don't know of any statistics, but if they eventually find the cure, you can bet that there will be business to go straight.
Though Gender Dysphoria (GID) & homosexuality are 2 different topics, it has been my observation that most homosexual groups oppose repair therapy to seek the cure for homosexuality, yet they think it's OK to surgically maim a man to make him a woman or vice versa. I oppose sex change maimings.
The reason GID is raised is because homosexual groups only agree with free will when it supports their view yet oppose free will when it comes to searching for the cure for homosexuality. I know some people will be offended but your thoughts are welcome.
Elaborating on my last post. I copied & pasted what I had written earlier on another board, with editions.
Yes, homosexuality was removed from the APA in 1973, but the fact remains that homos&lesbians have higher copathology rates. They have higher suicide rates, Venereal Disease (VD) rates, drunkards, etc. Homosexual groups typically blame societal prejudices for the high suicide rates but studies have shown that even in nations such as Holland which is pro-homosexual, the suicide rates aren’t that different from that of the US.
Michael Glatze who is a "recovered homosexual" & former editor of a gay magazine. He wrote that he changed his views of homosexuality after realizing it isn’t being neutrally discussed. He says he has been cured of it & it’s not the purpose to say that he has or hasn’t been. But what will be said is that when Michael Glatze talked about the fact that he was no longer happy being gay & wanted to be straight, he got so many hostile replies from those who didn’t respect his decision. Mainstream psychologists in the US no longer offer repair therapy to homos&lesbians who want to be straight but simply rerun that it’s not a disease & everything else we’ve heard before. Could they eventually come up with a pill or surgery which can cure homosexuality? As known, science is always evolving.
On another note, while religion plays a large part, it's not just religious people. I’m a non-religious person who sees something wrong with homosexuality & thinks GID is worse. Since Christianity is raised, what will be said is that it's unjust to ask Christians to approve of homosexuality for the same reason(s) that it's unjust to ask Hindus to approve of beefeating.
Finally, it has been my observation that many homos&lesbians (esp. homosexual men) push their views on others. OK, people will live their sex lives as they see fit, but it's another thing to push views on others such as in classrooms, etc. When homosexuals start pushing their views on youths & tell them that opposing views about homosexuality isn't to be tolerated, then it's not just living their lives peacefully. Honest discussions don't require censorship of opposing views. The main reason I'm tuned out by most homosexual groups is because they consistently push their views on others.
Anonymous: You are correct. I oppose Prop 8. A “yes” vote to Prop 8 would mean that one is a proponent of eliminating gay marriage. Your statement that people will live their lives as they see fit is exactly why I oppose things like this. People should be able to live their lives as they see fit and I’m just not seeing how any two people who want to make a commitment to each other is in any way harmful, shameful or offensive anybody else.
And you’re right, I haven’t considered a “cure” for homosexuality because that would imply that it’s an illness and something that needs to be fixed, changed or corrected. Just because this was once a generally accepted thought doesn’t mean it’s true. Galileo was imprisoned as his words banned as a result of his views of heliocentrism, something now that is accepted as fact and taught to every child in every school in the world. Having our current ideas and thoughts challenged is how we learn.
As far as your question as to how many gay people wish they were straight, I’m sorry, I don’t have an answer for that. I don’t know if anybody does. I would think opposing repair therapy in general would be the normal response if you accept that there is nothing wrong with you and you don’t need to be repaired.
I also don’t think you can talk about anything too many times, especially when it involves respect for your fellow man. I appreciate your comments and look forward to your response. If you are a fellow blogger, I would love a chance to visit your blog. There’s no need to post anonymously here. When I say I welcome all opinions, I mean it.
Jessica, thank you for your thoughts. I don't have a blog address. With Prop. 8, I don't see why homosexuals need the state to recognize them as a married couple. They could simply write a will, no need for the govt. to recognize it, if they want to transfer property. If they want to get married, they can throw a party or do it in the ceremonial sense-no need for govt. to do that.
Your thoughts on what if they find a cure for homosexuality is also noted. As you know, your answer is the same 1 I've gotten by others when I've raised this issue. Of course, this topic doesn't raise much which is signficantly new. I also don't know of how many homos&lesbians want to be straight. Statistics aren't available on this.
But keep in mind, that psychologists have lost neutrality on the topic of homosexuality. Why people turn out to be homo&lesbian is a complex matter. With biology-they don't know if it's genes hormones or a combination of both. Sexual behavior including straight sexual behavior can be learned. Can some people engage in same sex behaviors as a result of sex abuse in childhood? In some cases, though not most. Any behavior can be learned. You may not see homosexuality as something which needs to be cured, but if they cured it, I support the cure.
Predictably, people often ask "well why not then cure lefthandedness?" Lefthandedness isn't that controversial, as most people wouldn't care if the cure for this were found, though most people would say that they don't see the need for why it was found. Science has discovered cloning & while cloning is regarded by many as unethical, cloning just doesn't generate as much controversy as the thought of science finally curing homosexuality. Why does the topic of whether science will eventually finds the cure for homosexuality anger people? If the only sexual behavior left in the world is between a man & woman (both willful participants), then why is it offensive?
While I only have a layman's knowledge, the homos&lesbians who want to be straight do so, because they want the ordinary things in life-marry some1 of the opposite sex, raise children, etc., yet they've been told by mainstream psychologists esp. since the late 1990s that repair therapy to go straight is an idea to be discarded. There's much more that can be said about this complex topic, but you may want to read about homosexuals who want to be straight such as Michael Glatze. I didn't think much of it & I used to not care much about homosexuality, until I heard the accounts of those who want to be straight & I've come to understand that this topic is rather complex.
Well, I'm not gay, but I am left handed and I don't think that's something that needs to be fixed, either, although when I started in school (many moons ago) switching the left handed kids to use their right hands was commonplace. I don't know why I'm left handed when no one else is my family ever was and I don't know why some people are gay and others are not. Either way, neither is something that needs to be fixed or should bother anyone.
The legal rights of married people extend beyond a will, which of course can be contested and throwing a party. If that's all marriage supposedly is, then I can't understand why anyone would take issue with anybody marrying anybody.
I think we might just have to agree to disagree on this topic ;)
Thank you Jessica again for your thoughts incl. lefthandedness. Most people share your view that lefthandedness isn't something which needs to be cured. While there would be fewer accidents if it were cured as it's a right handed world, it's not an illness. I couldn't care 1 way or the other if the cure for lefthandedness were found.
There isn't much more I can add to homosexuality. Yes, it was removed as an illness in 1973, but the copathologies that surround people who engage in same sex behaviors is greater than those who engage in opposite sex behaviors.
Many repair therapists have religious views, but I see nothing wrong with using religion to justify position against same sex behaviors, for the same reason that I see nothing wrong with using Buddhism or Hinduism to justify vegetarianism. Convicted criminals incl. murderers will sometimes say that they now realize that their past behavior was wrong & will occasionally use faith be it Christianity, Buddhism to come to that realization. If religion makes the murderer repent, then it's good news & if they're ever freed from prison, then hopefully they're not the same people they were when they committed the murder.
Since it's about homosexuality, Judeo-Christianity, along with Islam do have prohibitions against same sex behaviors, among many other things. Yes, people do selectively use the Bible, Torah & Koran, but the language in these faiths is clear on what is Verboten.
Yes, parents must love their kids whether they turn out gay, but there is nothing wrong with preferring that their kids were straight. Parents who want their kids to be straight do so, because they want ordinary things-marry some1 of the opposite sex & raise a family. Yet esp. since the mid 1990s, mainstream psychologists have thrashed this.
Perhaps you should read about repair therapy or more importantly read about homos&lesbians who want to be straight. I didn't consider much about this until 2005. When I was in college in 1989, mainstream psychologists were still offering repair therapy to treat homosexuality, but that the trend from the late 1980s was to affirm homosexual behavior rather than seek lives as straights.
Esp. after Researcher Simon LeVay's brain study of 1991-92, mainstream psychology abandoned repair therapy & since the late 1990s have called for banning it, even if the patients want it. Simon LeVay as of 2001 said that while he has a dim view of repair therapy, if homos&lesbians want repair therapy to go straight, he'll support their right to do so.
I do believe that sex changes must be abolished & is a sad waste of science. What they must do is cure GID, not surgically maim the patient to make them what they're not. They happen because science has the ability to do it. If they knew how to change skin color, psychologists & Drs. would advise people with Ethnic Dysphoria (Black people who want to be white or viceversa) to have their skin color change. With GID, they've even advised children with GID to take hormones, to prepare for adult surgical mutilation in adulthood. To mainstream psychology & medicine, it's wrong to seek treatment to straighten homosexuals who want to be straight, but it's OK for some1 to be surgically maimed to be artifically made a member of the other sex?
I write about GID because in 1992, if you had raised transexuality, many homosexuals would've said that you can't generalize & compare them to people who surgically maim themselves & that it's just the extreme radical homosexual groups who side with them. Since the 2000s however, most homosexual groups side with the transexuals, which is why the term LGBT is used.
I hope you can see why I'm tuned out by mainstream psychology & most homosexual groups. They oppose free will when it comes to repair therapy for h&l who want to be straight, but most of them think it's OK to surgically maim men & women who think they're of the opposite sex.
Jessica, I reread your post & with regard to your friend Cami who has had an affair for 18 years with a married man-does his wife know about it? As known, prisons have men & women who commit this classic crime of passion-man comes home, finds his wife doing it with kills both of them. No, it doesn't excuse it, but ordinary people can commit murder if given the circumstances such as the 1 described. Your thoughts are welcome & thanks for replying to my past posts.
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