June: LBGT Pride Month, per Obama proclamation

[Charismatic]

Finally an American month I can take pride in. Wait, no, that's not what I meant! I'm not gayyyy!

But seriously, who is this helping? Don't we have enough homosexual appreciation on TV?

BRP, just admit that you want me.

[Julian]

Of course he picks a month when school isn't really in session, so teachers won't do anything about it like they do for black history month.

I typed that out as a joke, but honestly historical gay persecution and it's civil rights movement and leaders would be a good thing for kids to learn about in school.

Or maybe it would be way more trouble than it's worth. Can you teach black history to racists? Not really sure how this works.

This is the one thing that annoys me, why June? Oh well, my school already celebrates PAM on April anyway, doubt that will change.

Besides that, I don't think I really care that much.

[Rhinox]

lawl @ doing this an not supporting gay marriage

he's probably just pandering to the evangelicals which pissed me off more but essentially he supports civil unions with all the rights straight ppl have.

[thatwasnifty]

Of course he picks a month when school isn't really in session, so teachers won't do anything about it like they do for black history month.

I typed that out as a joke, but honestly historical gay persecution and it's civil rights movement and leaders would be a good thing for kids to learn about in school.

Or maybe it would be way more trouble than it's worth. Can you teach black history to racists? Not really sure how this works.

June has always been LGBT Pride Month (at least unofficially until now) since the Stonewall Riots were in June. That's why all the pride parades take place this month. Although when I was in college, our LGBT group had our special month in April so we could actually have programming and whatnot.

[Correction]

BRP, just admit that you want me.

LBGT doesn't stand for 'lolicon black gay teenager'

[Dimmauk]

I cant wait to see the cards Hallmark makes to celebrate this month.

[Gunitsoldier]

Hurrah, let's give aids people a month too so that they feel MUCH better.

[Demosthenes11]

he's probably just pandering to the evangelicals which pissed me off more but essentially he supports civil unions with all the rights straight ppl have.

whoa sorry I couldn't hear you with that huge black cock in your mouth.
Obama doesn't believe in gay marriage because he is a devout christian.
Let's also ask blacks how separate but equal was

[Dimmauk]

whoa sorry I couldn't hear you with that huge black cock in your mouth.
Obama doesn't believe in gay marriage because he is a devout christian.
Let's also ask blacks how separate but equal was

This is what Obama said.

"You want the word marriage and I believe that the issue of marriage has become so entangled -- the word marriage has become so entangled with religion -- that it makes more sense for me as president, with that authority, to talk about the civil rights that are conferred" with civil unions, Obama said. Individual denominations should make the decisions about what to recognize as a marriage, he said.


"You know what I would do is immediately set up a civil union that is equal in federal rights so that all the states, all the rights that are conferred by the states are the same for gays and lesbians, same sex couples as for any other couple," he said. "In terms of marriage, what I would do is I would say each religious denomination can make their own decision."

[Kuya]

A non answer.

[Norellicus]

What do you want him to do, pick sides? It's a perfectly good middle ground, it shuts the bible thumpers up and gives the GLBT crowd what they want...

[Kuya]

There's a fascinating thing i've noticed a lot. Classical liberal ideology often says that people act according to their interests. So, for example, it may not be in Obama's interest to hold a position over this as it would be too polarizing for his political capital. The fascinating thing is, it's the people other than him that seem to adopt his interests as their own. So for example, if you have a liberal who believes in equal rights or something, you'd assume his interests would lie with supporting equal rights and denouncing inequality. Was it it then, that would drive these same people to disregard their beliefs for the sake of someone else's interest?

Two things: If said person doesn't agree with marriage for homosexuals, then the position makes sense, it's a good compromise for them; the president may not oppose it, but he also does not support it. But in the case of someone who does in fact agree with marriage for homosexuals, the only logical conclusion i can come up with is that they don't consider specific aspects of their ideology, IE equality for all, to be more important than other parts of it, for if Obama has a lot of political capital, they believe Obama will achieve success in the other things they agree with and find much more important.

All that to say that excusing Obama on this is bullshit.

[Lee]

You gays shouldn't be proud cause you're all going straight to the bowels of hell.

[Skjie]

"I believe in the Charter of Rights, and I do not believe that the prime minister of the country can cherry pick those rights," Martin said in Vancouver.
CTV.ca | Church may penalize PM for same-sex marriage law

So, bringing this onto the next page.

(PS: Martin is a strict Catholic and has said he personally doesn't agree with Gay Marriage)

[Cyn]

Still don't understand why this is an issue in America.

A lot of us wish America was more like Vancouver, because then we could live in a place where rational thought means something... without having to live in Canada.

Gay rights are making slow but steady strides in America (with the exceptions of a few hiccups... lolprop8.) and so are other things that the religious right wing have been fighting for years. It sucks, but these are things that won't just change over night.

It's a real shame too, because all of the obscenely large amounts of money being used for gay rights and marijuana legalization lobbying could be better used to throw giant pot fueled buttsex parties.

[thatwasnifty]

What do you want him to do, pick sides? It's a perfectly good middle ground, it shuts the bible thumpers up and gives the GLBT crowd what they want...

Do people still not understand the actual legal differences between civil unions and civil marriage? It's not a matter of "we want the same words you have!", it's "we want completely identical rights/privileges that you have." Civil unions and domestic partnerships, no matter how comprehensive a state makes them, never equal civil marriages because only the latter is recognized by other states, the federal government, and other countries.

[Norellicus]

Do people still not understand the actual legal differences between civil unions and civil marriage? It's not a matter of "we want the same words you have!", it's "we want completely identical rights/privileges that you have." Civil unions and domestic partnerships, no matter how comprehensive a state makes them, never equal civil marriages because only the latter is recognized by other states, the federal government, and other countries.

Which...is exactly what that last quote from Dimmauk wants to change. Give them the civil rights without the formal title, enforce it as a legal status with equivalent gains. All the solution with none of the problems.

[Cyn]

Which...is exactly what that last quote from Dimmauk wants to change. Give them the civil rights without the formal title, enforce it as a legal status with equivalent gains. All the solution with none of the problems.

Not really, since the right wing anti-gay side quite literally wants gays to not have any of the rights, regardless of what it's titled as, and there are a lot of gays who would still throw bitch fits over the semantics of it. So it's not some kind of perfect end-all solution.

But it would be a step in the right direction, and one more small victory over the bible thumping idiots.

[thatwasnifty]

Which...is exactly what that last quote from Dimmauk wants to change. Give them the civil rights without the formal title, enforce it as a legal status with equivalent gains. All the solution with none of the problems.

Not quite. He suggests creating an alternate and distinct institution that is legally equal to marriage. Practically, as long as the unions are completely identical in every single respect at every single level, then it doesn't matter if they have different names. I would be happy if DOMA were repealed and immediately replaced by a comprehensive federal civil union program.

But the fact that there would still be two institutions, likely requiring two separate bureaucracies, each with their own names, it would still be a violation of the 14th amendment and would continue to perpetuate the idea that same-sex couples aren't qualified to be married in the eyes of the law.

The best solution (without getting into commonlaw marriages or other paradigms like that) would be to completely eliminate the word "marriage" from the law. Make all such partnerships at the state and federal levels into civil unions, and reserve marriage as a buzzword for religious organizations. That way everyone is equal in the eyes of the law and marriage is left alone.

[Tomk]

I wanted to chime in and say that I am also bothered by Obama's take on Civil Unions.

If I get this right he wants the legal aspect to be simply a "Union" and not officially called Marriage. Stating that title should be given by the church. Yet he states no intent to remove the legal definition of marriage from "Traditional" couples.

You cannot take a stance that the sexual preference of people doesn't legally matter in marriage and then separate the legal definition by that preference.

If marriage is a religion only thing then make it so. If it awards rights, privileges, or even punishments in the eyes of the Government then you cannot segregate individuals.

This coupled with the fact that "civil unions" were not heard of until the gay marriage debate happened. Changing the name as to not piss off assholes who want to apply ancient bigotries is an insult.

Let them get married, fuck civil unions.

The LBGT month is cool but I feel that it is skirting around the issue