Kudo's to Ms. Etheridge!!!!

Melissa Etheridge to California: 'You Can Forget My Taxes'
Nov 6, 2008

Etheridge declares that if she's not "allowed the same right [to marry] under the state constitution as any other citizen. ... I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes, because I am not a full citizen."

Hmm. Etheridge closes her blog with "gay people are born everyday, and you cannot legislate that away." Maybe she has found a way to get Republicans to support abortion. Just convince them that statistically speaking, there is a good chance those fetuses could be gay. And if they ever develop a test to determine a baby's sexual orientation, I predict Republicans and conservative Christians will oppose abortion except in the case of rape, incest, or gayness.

Missy has the same right to marry as anyone else. She's just not allowed to redefine the concept of marriage.

Have you ever settled an estate? We are in the 16th month of Rainbowheds' father, and we needed the marriage certificate from 1956, Moms' death certificate from 1986, the copy of final disbursement of her estate from 1987, a copy of the death certificate of Dad, and a copy of RH's executive paper, just to sell a 1979 van, LAST WEEK.

The marriage certificate confers legitimacy. It is the paper that is required, over and over. They ask, you hand it over, they smile and copy it, you sign, they allow you to close the account, cancel the insurance, sell the house and cars, cash in the policy to pay for the funeral.

I know a couple, M and G, who have lived together since the early seventies. They were the quintessential representatives of the "marriage is just a piece of paper" generation. When M's Dad died his Mom did the work. When his mom died, he had to do the work. Month after month, just like us! We are not yet done, since July 1987, and don't expect to be done until after the New Year. It eats your life, even when everything is kosher.

M burst into his kitchen a month ago totally in realization of what it would mean for G if they were not married, with all that that entails legally in America, if he were to keel over at work one day. They are married now. It really does matter.

And not a moment to soon to become a tax-evader, given that the Governator has pledged to raise California taxes by $4.4 BILLION.

Start of the flame saltwater war here but

I dont buy that born gay BS.. gay is a choice of life style. so you are not automaticaly granted a right just because you choose a life style out of the "normal".. there are many life style choices where you are not "normal" and you are still a full citizen and still have to pay taxes..... but i guess you could refuse to pay taxes and eventually have plenty of room mates to share your life style with behind bars...


being gay is a choice not genetics

Salt, when did you decide that you were straight?

Let's see... a thirteen year old boy, entering puberty, takes stock of his sexual choices. "Well, I could be attractd to girls and i can get married and have kids and have a normal life. Or, I could decide to be attracted to boys and spend my life hiding in shame, getting my ass kicked by morons, being dis-owned by my family, not getting the jobs i want and possibly dying of a horrible disease. Yeah, boys it is!"

If only gay people would just decide to be straight and get with the program, we could get on with more important issues, like convincing people with Sickle Cell Anemia that they should choose to not have it.

quote:

Let's see... a thirteen year old boy, entering puberty, takes stock of his sexual choices. "Well, I could be attractd to girls and i can get married and have kids and have a normal life. Or, I could decide to be attracted to boys and spend my life hiding in shame, getting my ass kicked by morons, being dis-owned by my family, not getting the jobs i want and possibly dying of a horrible disease. Yeah, boys it is!"

A VERY weak argument, simpleman. The truth is, people make socially unpopular choices all the time. That's why we have prisons.

NOTE: I am NOT saying that homosexual behaviour is criminal, or even that it should be. I am only saying that of all the arguments, that is a rather weak one in my opinion.

My sister is gay and let me tell you that she knew it when she was very young. She was never attracted to boys and spent the first thirty years of her life faking attraction to boys and men to be "normal". She also suffered through years of depression because of it. She is the only gay child in the family and no one ever talked her into being gay.

How 'bout you, Folkie? Do you remember the day you decided to be attracted to women?

As for my weak argument, the "choice" to dye your hair blue or pierce certain parts of your anatomy might be considered "socially unpopular". Sexuality is a primary human motivator and to say that someone, at a very young age, would "choose" to spend their life being called a ******, getting his or her ass kicked and being ostracized, is ridiculous. Young men and women spend most of their teen years trying to fit in with their peers and not being different. While many young people nowadays seem to relish the opportunity to freak their parents out with garish hair style or music, how do you explain gay men and women in other countries where you can go to jail or be killed for being gay? That's a hell of a "choice" to make.

Can ANYONE recall the day they decided to be heterosexual? Did you sample the "sexual buffet" a little bit and fool around with the boys behind the lockers after gym and decide you liked the girls better?

I agree simpleman. Some people CHOOSE not to get it because it just makes them uncomfortable.

quote:

Originally posted by light chaser:
Missy has the same right to marry as anyone else. She's just not allowed to redefine the concept of marriage.

And who says that conservative Christians get to "define" marriage? Unless we are throwing out the establishment clause and becoming a theocracy, Churches do not have the final word on what is or isn't a "marriage." They can dictate who is married inside the church, but their authority stops at the courthouse steps. Like it or not, it has become a legal term, and as long as the State regulates, licenses and attaches legal rights to the term, it does not belong exclusively to the religious conservatives.

quote:

Originally posted by simpleman:
My sister is gay and let me tell you that she knew it when she was very young. She was never attracted to boys and spent the first thirty years of her life faking attraction to boys and men to be "normal". She also suffered through years of depression because of it. She is the only gay child in the family and no one ever talked her into being gay.

I have two gay cousins, a gay aunt and a great uncle who was gay--all on my Mom's side. My male cousin is two years younger than me, and I still remember how surprised he was when he came "out", and the family's reaction was "we already knew--we've known since you were eight or nine." He asked me how I could have known, and I said "Remember when we were kids and I invited you to go with the guys in the neighborhood to shoot squirrels and set off fireworks? You stayed home with the girls and played with dolls. I knew something was different."
The fact that his younger sister and our mutual aunt and great uncle turned out gay reinforces my belief that it is an inherited trait--biology rather than sociology. Of course, I believe there is some choice involved in how sexuality is expressed, and sociology reinforces behaviors, but what is unnatural is forcing someone to choose against the way nature made them.