Articles From Our May, 2004 Newsletter
St. Louis, MO · May 14-16, 2004
Kansas City, MO May 21-23, 2004
Kansas City, MO May 21-23, 2004
Since the landmark 2003
decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirming marriage
equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people,
communities all over the country are facing new struggles for equality.
In Missouri, we are facing an
amendment to our State Constitution outlawing recognition of same-sex
couples. The amendment will likely be on the ballot in August or November
of this year. The Constitution Defense League is mounting an aggressive
campaign to defeat the amendment at the ballot box
The Ballot Measure Training is an intensive two-and-a-half-day training and action program for dedicated people who are highly motivated to build powerful state and local campaigns, organizations, and coalitions aimed at creating positive community change.
Training will focus on cutting-edge skills and strategies necessary for building political, organizational, and community power. Experienced Task Force staff will lead sessions.
Dates and Location:
May 14-16 and May 21-23,2004; an extended weekend starting on Friday evening
Hours: Friday, 6pm–10pm; Saturday, 9am–6pm; Sunday 9am–4pm
Training sites: Kansas City – UMKC Campus / St. Louis: TBA
Enrollment is limited. Participants must attend the entire training.
For more information on cost, and how to participate, please email Miriam Hennosy at mhennosy@sbcglobal.net in Kansas City or Michael Getty at mg3ca@yahoo.com in St. Louis. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The Ballot Measure Training is an intensive two-and-a-half-day training and action program for dedicated people who are highly motivated to build powerful state and local campaigns, organizations, and coalitions aimed at creating positive community change.
Training will focus on cutting-edge skills and strategies necessary for building political, organizational, and community power. Experienced Task Force staff will lead sessions.
Dates and Location:
May 14-16 and May 21-23,2004; an extended weekend starting on Friday evening
Hours: Friday, 6pm–10pm; Saturday, 9am–6pm; Sunday 9am–4pm
Training sites: Kansas City – UMKC Campus / St. Louis: TBA
Enrollment is limited. Participants must attend the entire training.
For more information on cost, and how to participate, please email Miriam Hennosy at mhennosy@sbcglobal.net in Kansas City or Michael Getty at mg3ca@yahoo.com in St. Louis. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Hey all. Went to Oklahoma City
this past weekend to see John in his school’s production of The Man of La
Mancha. We were looking forward to seeing John in the show but were very
excited about meeting "the boyfriend."
Our kids have always chosen exceptional friends and I have come to expect those same standards in those they have chosen to date. We were not disappointed. It did not seem strange or unusual to be having dinner with my brother-in-law and his wife and my son and his boyfriend. We were just six people (3 couples) sharing great conversation and a good meal. Walking out of the restaurant behind John and his significant other, I marveled at the ease with which they held hands. I was overwhelmed with how "natural" it seemed for these two young men to be together. At this point I said to myself "What is the big damn deal?"
As Mother’s Day approaches I find I have many wishes and dreams for my children, but mostly I pray that they find relationships wherein they can be genuine--relationships that are loving, nurturing, fun, fulfilling and full of laughter. Isn’t that really what we all want? And should any or all three of my kids decide that they would like to be married, I simply want them all to have that right. I thought this was an interesting quote from David Brooks (Nov 22, 2003) in the New York Times:
"We shouldn’t just allow gay marriage, we should insist on gay marriage. We should regard it as scandalous that two people could claim to love each other and not want to sanctify their love with marriage and fidelity."
Keep on keepin’ on. Peace, Jamie
Our kids have always chosen exceptional friends and I have come to expect those same standards in those they have chosen to date. We were not disappointed. It did not seem strange or unusual to be having dinner with my brother-in-law and his wife and my son and his boyfriend. We were just six people (3 couples) sharing great conversation and a good meal. Walking out of the restaurant behind John and his significant other, I marveled at the ease with which they held hands. I was overwhelmed with how "natural" it seemed for these two young men to be together. At this point I said to myself "What is the big damn deal?"
As Mother’s Day approaches I find I have many wishes and dreams for my children, but mostly I pray that they find relationships wherein they can be genuine--relationships that are loving, nurturing, fun, fulfilling and full of laughter. Isn’t that really what we all want? And should any or all three of my kids decide that they would like to be married, I simply want them all to have that right. I thought this was an interesting quote from David Brooks (Nov 22, 2003) in the New York Times:
"We shouldn’t just allow gay marriage, we should insist on gay marriage. We should regard it as scandalous that two people could claim to love each other and not want to sanctify their love with marriage and fidelity."
Keep on keepin’ on. Peace, Jamie
.Since January, 18 states have
introduced amendments ... echoing the president's language.
Adam Felber says he knows just what the president's talking about.
This gay marriage thing is tearing my wife and me apart. Now, because of activist judges in Massachusetts and overzealous officials in San Francisco, our union is hanging on by the thinnest of threads.
Are Jeanne and I expected to treasure our union solely on the basis of our deep love, personal beliefs, public vows, and the government's blessing? Sorry, Judge Pinkypants, but that's just not good enough. Not for us. We need to know that we've got something that's only available to 90% of the population, the select and upstanding few.
Sure, some of us are criminals. Murderers, even. Some of us have committed rape, beaten children, tattooed swastikas on our bodies, abused animals, broken into houses, bilked the government out of millions of tax dollars, lied under oath, cheated on previous spouses, dishonored our fathers and mothers, failed to keep the Sabbath holy, mowed down pedestrians in our SUV's while intoxicated, coveted our neighbors' stuff, gotten ourselves put on death row, sold military secrets to the Chinese, urinated in public places, beaten up people who looked or sounded different than us, and sold drugs in schoolyards.
But we're straight, and that means we can get married. And that's special. Or, at least it was. Jeanne and I could look around at other married couples - at least the ones that aren't currently dealing with serial infidelity, divorce, spousal abuse, or bigamy - and think to ourselves, "Yes, that's what we're striving for. That kind of sanctity."
Are some gay people serious about their commitment to each other? Sure, of course, that's not the point. Let me give you an example. Jeanne and I know this couple, these two men. They've been together for years and years, longer than we have. They live on a farm in Pennsylvania and treasure their time together. They're loved by their community, have saved lives as members of the local fire department and have opened their home to youth groups from the city. They've built a life together based on love and trust. BUT - and here's my point - they're gay. They're both men. And if they're allowed to marry someday, where does that leave us, my wife and me? See what I'm saying? It'd cheapen everything we have.
That’s why we need a Constitutional amendment that will protect marriage for straight people. Until we have the right to enter that sacred union, violate it, exit it, and enter it again with somebody else, again and again, regardless of what crimes we commit, until we’re too old and feeble to mouth the words, "I do," - unless we have that right and gay people don't, then there is truly nothing.
Adam Felber says he knows just what the president's talking about.
This gay marriage thing is tearing my wife and me apart. Now, because of activist judges in Massachusetts and overzealous officials in San Francisco, our union is hanging on by the thinnest of threads.
Are Jeanne and I expected to treasure our union solely on the basis of our deep love, personal beliefs, public vows, and the government's blessing? Sorry, Judge Pinkypants, but that's just not good enough. Not for us. We need to know that we've got something that's only available to 90% of the population, the select and upstanding few.
Sure, some of us are criminals. Murderers, even. Some of us have committed rape, beaten children, tattooed swastikas on our bodies, abused animals, broken into houses, bilked the government out of millions of tax dollars, lied under oath, cheated on previous spouses, dishonored our fathers and mothers, failed to keep the Sabbath holy, mowed down pedestrians in our SUV's while intoxicated, coveted our neighbors' stuff, gotten ourselves put on death row, sold military secrets to the Chinese, urinated in public places, beaten up people who looked or sounded different than us, and sold drugs in schoolyards.
But we're straight, and that means we can get married. And that's special. Or, at least it was. Jeanne and I could look around at other married couples - at least the ones that aren't currently dealing with serial infidelity, divorce, spousal abuse, or bigamy - and think to ourselves, "Yes, that's what we're striving for. That kind of sanctity."
Are some gay people serious about their commitment to each other? Sure, of course, that's not the point. Let me give you an example. Jeanne and I know this couple, these two men. They've been together for years and years, longer than we have. They live on a farm in Pennsylvania and treasure their time together. They're loved by their community, have saved lives as members of the local fire department and have opened their home to youth groups from the city. They've built a life together based on love and trust. BUT - and here's my point - they're gay. They're both men. And if they're allowed to marry someday, where does that leave us, my wife and me? See what I'm saying? It'd cheapen everything we have.
That’s why we need a Constitutional amendment that will protect marriage for straight people. Until we have the right to enter that sacred union, violate it, exit it, and enter it again with somebody else, again and again, regardless of what crimes we commit, until we’re too old and feeble to mouth the words, "I do," - unless we have that right and gay people don't, then there is truly nothing.
.....Hmmmm, gay men want to get
married; lesbians want to get married; and straight couples want to live
together without getting married. What’s wrong with this picture?
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, March 5, 2004
Friday, March 5, 2004
Over 3,500 gay marriages and, what,
no hellfire? I was promised hellfire. And riots. What gives?
I have been waiting patiently. I have been staring with great anticipation out the window of my flat here in the heart of San Francisco, sighing heavily, waiting for the riots and the plagues and the screaming monkeys and the blistering rain of inescapable hellfire. I have my camera all ready and everything.
There has been nothing. I see only some lovely trees and a stunning blue sky and my neighbor walking by with her pair of matching chows as a pained-looking woman struggles to parallel park her SUV. Same old, same old....
Where is my raging apocalypse? This is what I want to know. Where is the social meltdown? The moral depravity?...
There have been more than 3,500 gay-marriage ceremonies in San Francisco so far. Hundreds more are just now kicking up a storm in Oregon and in beautifully rebellious little burgs around New York state. And, yet, nothing. No chaos. No reign of terror. Not even a lousy heat wave. Sigh.
Some homosexual couples have been married for more than three weeks now, living in utter godless sin as they drive their cars and shop and laugh and cry and go to work and pay their taxes and wonder about their dreams. Lightning has not struck them dead.
Run and hide, Rick. The gay people in love are coming. And they’ve got tattoos and funny haircuts and want to get married and celebrate their love and be left alone. Hide the children.
I have been waiting patiently. I have been staring with great anticipation out the window of my flat here in the heart of San Francisco, sighing heavily, waiting for the riots and the plagues and the screaming monkeys and the blistering rain of inescapable hellfire. I have my camera all ready and everything.
There has been nothing. I see only some lovely trees and a stunning blue sky and my neighbor walking by with her pair of matching chows as a pained-looking woman struggles to parallel park her SUV. Same old, same old....
Where is my raging apocalypse? This is what I want to know. Where is the social meltdown? The moral depravity?...
There have been more than 3,500 gay-marriage ceremonies in San Francisco so far. Hundreds more are just now kicking up a storm in Oregon and in beautifully rebellious little burgs around New York state. And, yet, nothing. No chaos. No reign of terror. Not even a lousy heat wave. Sigh.
Some homosexual couples have been married for more than three weeks now, living in utter godless sin as they drive their cars and shop and laugh and cry and go to work and pay their taxes and wonder about their dreams. Lightning has not struck them dead.
Run and hide, Rick. The gay people in love are coming. And they’ve got tattoos and funny haircuts and want to get married and celebrate their love and be left alone. Hide the children.
“...A gay couple was working out at a gym here in Denver, when one of
them had a heart attack. The victim’s partner did not have the necessary
‘medical power of attorney’ paperwork with him and therefore was denied
access to ride in the ambulance. Sadly, his partner died on the way to
the hospital--while he was driving home to get the official paperwork to
prove he had the legal right to be with his partner. Troy and I also have
taken the time to complete these ‘official documents’ but it won’t do us a
lot of good in a similar emergency situation..”
Support the HRC fight (www.hrc.org/actioncenter) for gay marriage
Support the HRC fight (www.hrc.org/actioncenter) for gay marriage
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