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An effort to rewrite the Florida Constitution to prohibit gay marriage is falling short of the numbers needed for victory in the Nov. 4 election, a Sun Sentinel and Florida Times-Union poll shows. The poll of 600 likely voters shows support for Amendment 2 at 53 percent, less than the 60 percent approval rate required to change the constitution.
Amendment 1 is the only other ballot measure that would remove a provision from the Florida Constitution. It would repeal a clause that allows legislators to ban Asian immigrants from owning land.
Florida is the last state in the nation with a so-called "alien land law," a standard drawn in 1926 to target Japanese immigrants. Legislators never invoked this authority, however, and it couldn't be enforced today because of equal-protection laws.
Supporters describe Amendment 1 as a symbolic vote to remove racism and discrimination from the constitution.
In the poll, 44 percent favored removing the discriminatory language, while 37 percent were opposed and 19 percent were not sure.
Well, folks, that is exactly why human rights should never be on the ballot. In 2008, 37 percent of Floridians still want to discriminate against Asians. One wonders if we put a ballot measure in California to ban Mormon marriage, if it would pass? Perhaps, if we lose in California, the strategy should be to make anti-gay groups pay - by putting their rights up for a vote? Just something to think about....
16 Comments:
This also raises the question about pushing for reversal of tax-exempt status for any religious or political organization endorsing candidates and legislation discriminating against us.
posted by Anonymous, at
10/20/2008 11:41 AM
My fellow Americans have always been laughably clueless when it comes to civil and human rights. Sadly, it doesn't look like this is about to change anytime soon. That so many people, in the year 2008, still apparently believe that they have the right to vote on someone else's rights is embarrassing and shocking. It would be a profound sadness if a majority of voters in California were to feel so threatened by the happiness of a gay couple that they would vote to savage them in such a disgusting way, and in the name of morality. How can anyone with a brain and a heart look at the late Del Martin and her partner and vote against that couple, and with one of them in the grave, no less?
I used to love my country. Truthfully, I stopped loving America after the 2004 election, when the folks just couldn't restrain themselves from rushing to the polls to legislate against me and the people I love. It has been years since I have been proud of my country...years. Anything can happen, but if Proposition 8 passes, it will only confirm what I've known about my country for awhile now, and that's pretty damn sad.
posted by Chris L., at
10/20/2008 2:14 PM
Robert - I agree 100%!!
ESPECIALLY when they're a "christian" pray-away-the-gay group which links to a holocaust revisionists fantasy of gays being behind the holocaust:
http://exodus.to/content/view/173/56/
Not to mention the Exodus VP rips off 'The Eternal Jew' for his own little "everyday thoughts collected":
"There isn’t a proven widespread pattern of discrimination for those who identify as gay either. But the point of this post and [the statistics presented in the post] are proof that not only do those who identify as gay compete for good salaries very well… they get them. The gay identified community is the most prosperous, median salary wise, community in the country."
Sound familiar?
"Fifty-two out of every 100 doctors were Jews. Of every 100 merchants, 60 were Jews. The average wealth of Germans was 810 marks; the average wealth of Jews 10,000 marks."
It's definitely way past time for Randy, Alan and everyone else from Exodus to start making a living by doing manual labor.
posted by S., at
10/20/2008 4:20 PM
Robert: You make an excellent point about going after the tax exempt status of churches.
posted by libhom, at
10/20/2008 10:49 PM
Scott, thank you, I concur with you too.
Libhom...I think we should be making noise about this, big time.
Chris, you're not alone in that. I feel the same way though my gut feeling tells me it won't pass, I have to be optimistic, that's why I think its important to saber rattle on the tax-exempt status of every religious organization or affiliate voting yes on prop. 8. Give them a dose of their own medicine for a change. They can't have it both ways.
posted by Anonymous, at
10/21/2008 8:44 AM
I just finished reading that article on gays and the Nazis and was sickened by the depth of hatred the Religious Wrong has for LGBT people. The fact that a link to this crap is posted on a supposedly "Christian" website really got my blood boiling, so I wrote them:
I found the link to the article on Nazis and Homosexuality. Do you people EVER put your hatred in check for even a few minutes? Equating LGBT people with Nazi thugs is disgusting. I am sure that there were LGBT people in the NDSAP but certainly not happy well-adjusted LGBT people (and yes, there are many, many well-adjusted, happy LGBT people out there).
I don't care if Roehm or anyone else in the NDSAP were gay or not (and by the way, a large part of the SA leadership was murdered during the "Night of the Long Knives") gay people died in the camps right along with the Jews, Gypsies, and anyone else Hitler and his buddies decided weren't "worthy of life". They were exterminated for being gay--that is why they had a pink triangle on their prison uniforms!
For anyone in Exodus to equate hard-working, law-abiding LGBT people with murderers such as the Nazis is beyond anything I have seen in the way of homo-hatred. If you cannot come to terms with your homosexuality, deal with it in whatever way you see fit, but stop spewing hatred like that article on gays and the Nazis.
Apparently there is no depth too dark and putrid for the ex-gay movement to check out to misinform--no, actually LIE is a better word--people.
I can't even imagine the self-hatred this would engender in an LGBT person who falls into the clutches of Exodus et al.
posted by Anonymous, at
10/22/2008 5:29 PM
