Subscribe to this blog's feedMy mind has been spinning, as of late and I have so many issues that I wish to discuss, that I am having difficulty in how I present those issues. Most of them involve making my thoughts known, but don’t necessarily require a full Blog entry, so I have decided to just have these “multiple issues” entries and see how they go. I sure have a lot to say, so for the next few weeks, happy reading.
Women’s Rights
No matter how you view when life starts, be it at conception or some other step in fetal development, the bottom line is that only the female of our species can give birth and as such, should always has the final decision in issues concerning her own health. Absent the ability to make sane rational decisions, nobody has the right to tell any woman what she may and may not do with her own body. The same goes for any other legal endeavor that any woman may want to pursue including partners, profession, voting and anything that essentially guidies her own destiny. You either view women as fully vetted, equal members of society, or you do not, as there are no gray areas on this particular issue.
Those who seek to us religious dogma, legislative, societal or cultural pressure, to restrict the rights of women, have no place in a society that seeks to fulfill its potential. It’s inconceivable that anyone could place themselves above any segment of society, let alone one-half of the species and think they have some moral authority to do so. They are not upholding anyone’s values, but their own distorted view of the world and the sooner the rest of us realize that, the quicker we will put these people out of positions of power.
There are no excuses for the discrimination that is propagated against women and it’s about time that the rest of us took a stand and demanded, from our religious and legislative leaders the establishment of global women’s rights. Anything less continues to limit our ability to reach our full potential, both as a society and as a species.
Gay Rights
If they really wanted to protect the “sanctity of marriage” they would pass a law that would either criminalize divorce, or make the process so arduous and gut-wrenching that only a few would avail themselves of that option. How limiting the rights of one group of citizens benefits another is indefensible, yet here we remain, in the 21st Century, with gays in many parts of the world, being legally regulated as second class citizens. So much for equal rights under the laws, but that is our reality, so let’s extend those limitations placed upon us and provide us with full second-class citizen status.
American society prides itself on providing for her citizens and legislation is often implemented establishing a program to provide services to a certain segment of those citizens. We provide an astonishing array of goods and services that are available to all who would qualify and they are financed by the taxes that ALL Americans pay, gays included. These goods and services are offered under the premise that they are available to all, but that is not entirely true.
We as gays, cannot marry or in many states, adopt children. In many areas we are free to be discriminated against in many facets of our lives and it’s about time that we start to level that playing field. To do that, the federal, state and city governments will need to begin writing some rather large tax refund checks, because since you legislate me as a second-class citizen, you limit my ability to access many services, because they are illegal for me. This is not an issue of my not needing such services or programs, but rather my inability to use any of them because the law denies certain civil rights, such as marriage, to me. So I expect to see some large refunds coming for things such as the following.
You’ll need to refund the taxes I paid to educate children, because my daughter was sent to private schools that we paid for ourselves, while I also paid taxes to educate other peoples children. Since I can’t marry, nor have more children, because it is illegal, certainly you don’t expect me to pay for your “legal” activities. It goes for any of my tax monies that are used for birth control, adoption and all the myriad of government institutions whose purpose is to support “legal” families. That includes everything from the Department of Children and Families to the Family Courts. It includes subsidized child-care, special care; hell anything to do with children or family based issues or concerns. I have no choice in your making me a second-class citizen; so you have no legal right to make me pay for any service in support of something that I cannot legally take part in. It's one thing for a society to expect you to pay for something, that you may not need nor utilize, but taxing me for something that I legally can't use, I doubt if even Judge Alito would buy that defense.
I’ll be expecting my refunds and I may even email my bank information to all levels of government, so I can get my check quicker, through direct deposit.
Gay Marriage
Why do so many gays refuse to acknowledge the importance of gay marriage rights, as being an issue of equal rights for gays, in the eyes of the law? I realize that often things that do not directly affect you can seem to be of little importance, but the fight over gay marriage rights, is really a fight for equal rights for all gays. The fact that we cannot marry is but the tip of the iceberg. In America, the majority of gay people have no legal recognition on many issues, ranging from marriage to inheritance rights. We need special documents to help care for our partners or we can be denied access to them during medical emergencies. We enjoy none of the benefits that accrue to married and other categories of “straight” Americans and that equates to UNEQUAL RIGHTS for gays, based on the sole fact that we are gay.
What hurts even more, is when some gays will denounce those of us who support equal rights, because they just don’t understand the need for them. They continue to confuse gay marriage with equal rights and believe that since they don’t have a need for marriage or hundreds of other rights, that the rest of us don’t either. Most galling however, are those who tell me that they don’t understand how I can be monogamous or why I would want to be. I don’t recall asking anyone to judge me, just like I try not to judge others. If you want to trick your way through the phone book, well that is your right, just like the equal rights that I seek, are mine. I suppose I expected more from some of my gay brethren, but judging me because I CHOOSE to be monogamous, is no different than the religious right that judge us all, for the simple fact that we are gay.
Log Cabin Republicans
I wonder if this group will ever come to the unmistakable conclusion that their so-called “inclusive” Republican party seeks their demise, just as Hamas seeks the destruction of Israel. They continue to amaze me, with their blind loyalty to a party that would sooner feed them to wolves, than recognize their worth as citizens. We have a group here in Florida that is seeking to put an amendment, outlawing gay marriage; on the November ballot and to date they have raised $193,000. Just guess where $150,000 of that money came from? The Florida Republican Party, that’s where. Sure sounds like the party wants to help us out, by denying us equal rights. Wake up guys, you have been on the short end of the stick for decades and nothing will ever change. No matter how much you wish it wasn’t so, you are working for the enemy.
That’s enough for now.
