Can You Have a Civil Dialogue When They're Trying to Take Away Your Civil Rights?

[Ian David]

Friday, January 12, 2007
Can You Have a Civil Dialogue When They're Trying to Take Away Your Civil Rights?

I first heard about it over at the Blue Mass Group then I got my own email: the anti-gay, anti-family Mass "Family" Institute is calling for dialogue on Marriage Equality:

Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) announced an initiative this week that seeks to build mutual respect and dialogue between those who support and those who oppose same sex marriage in Massachusetts.

<snip>

"I have come to know my political opponent Marc Solomon, executive director of MassEquality as a gentleman who has strong personal convictions," Mineau added. "I believe that if asked he would come to the table in good faith to advance meaningful dialogue that his supporters also would embrace - today begins the process of asking."


What comes to mind first is how can we have mutual respect for these people who are trying to take away our civil rights? Secondly all I can think of are the times when MFI and its cohorts have "endeavored to advance a campaign that includes name calling and denigrates a whole group". It's obvious that they are now trying to appeal to the voters out there and tell them "We're nice people, we are being called bigots and hateful. We are victims, support us" Well, lest we forget the people who are involved with MFI":

Kris Mineau: "This is affecting me immediately because my children are in conflict. It's putting my children in turmoil," said Kris Mineau,"I've always argued that from May 17 onward, my heterosexual marriage was no longer unique, no longer a standard for the culture, and that's an affront to me and it grieves me."

Evelyn Reilly, MFI's public policy director, said on New England Cable News that she believes gay people are mentally ill.

More:
http://massresistancewatch.blogspot.com/2007/01/can-you-have-civil-dialogue-when-theyre.html

[bperci108]

1. How interesting....

"Evelyn Reilly, MFI's public policy director, said on New England Cable News that she believes gay people are mentally ill."


How interesting; I think that religious whackos who obsess about other folks' sexuality are mentally ill.

Now...Can I get on the local news, too? :evilgrin:

How much longer do we have to endure these evil assholes? :puke:

[Ian David]

2. Until we start TAXING them, maybe. n/t

[bperci108]

5. An idea who's time has come.

I really can't see any justification in churches/synagogues/temples/etc. not paying taxes like everyone else.

They enjoy the same benefits of this society, therefore they should support it like any other business (and yes, I've come to see it as a business; look at the local "mega-churches". They take in literally millions of dollars of revenue and not a dime of it taxed!) :(

[Tyo]

3. What is this woman talking about?

"This is affecting me immediately because my children are in conflict. It's putting my children in turmoil," said Kris Mineau,"I've always argued that from May 17 onward, my heterosexual marriage was no longer unique, no longer a standard for the culture, and that's an affront to me and it grieves me."


These statements completely blow me away. I don't know what to do with them. Her children are in conflict? Gay marriage is putting them in "turmoil"? Sorry, but she is the one who is putting her children in conflict and turmoil with her wacked out religious ideas.

And how is her heterosexual marriage no longer "unique"? All marriages are unique because all people are unique. And since when was heterosexual marriage a "standard for the culture" rather than simply a component of the culture? When did that happen? Must have missed it.

Does anyone serious believe that we can have any sort of dialogue at all with people who think like this?

[mitchtv]

4. "Turmoil"?

Yeah, they want to know why they can't kill Gays?. Or, do they want to marry one?

[kevinbgoode]

6. Yeah...that quote makes me think the constitutional amendment

should be banning Kris Mineau's marriage. If Mineau is that unhappy and that dependent on the image of marriage rather than the substance, the people of the state should be allowed to vote to dissolve that family - since it is quite obvious there is an incapability there of being in the relationship in a personal manner.

[WindRavenX]

9. lawl, her marriage must be really, really weak if she's threatened by gay marriage

:crazy:

[dsc]

7. There is no compromise for them

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1792348

They are now after suicide prevention programs. Lest one think they are worried about government waste it isn't that they don't work. No, it is that they have the audacity to make gay people, and some non gay people, think that being gay isn't evil. I know, you think I am making this up, so here are some links.

http://www.pamspaulding.com/weblog/2006/07/1-800-suicid...

With teenage suicide being the 3rd leading cause of death between 18 to 24 year olds - our government should not be duplicating prevention efforts but helping fund the many local organizations and non-profits with proven track records on prevention. In addition our government should not be in the business having access to this private and sensitive information!

Despite the fact that almost 2 million callers have reached help and hope over the last 8 years, and a government funded evaluation stating the benefits of 1-800-SUICIDE, the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), a division of Health & Human Services, has decided to create their own government run system where they would have direct access to confidential data on individuals in crisis.
You might recall SAMHSA, which came under fire from the fundies back in February of last year. Agency officials were forced by the Bush admin (after the WH received hopping mad calls from Family Research Council's Tony Perkins) to remove all LGBT references from a federally funded suicide prevention conference in California and to kill gay-positive content from the SAMHSA site.

The Bushies also suggested a session on "faith-based" suicide prevention, and threatened the conference's funding. The wingnut admin functionaries backed down after an outcry for sanity from response from mental health professionals.

SAMHSA also took a big hit when its web site featured a section called "Celebrating the Pride and Diversity Among and Within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Populations" which flew in the face of the flat-earth science often promoted in government under Bush that seems to either ignore or condemn homosexuality. The SAMHSA link above is to The Memory Hole, btw. My original post on this was called How long before a Bush drone puts a stop to this?

The answer was 12 days. That's how long it took for a Bush drone to scrub a government web site of gay-positive content.

end of quote

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

ACCORDING TO BRIAN, "In Massachusetts, anything labeled 'youth suicide prevention' is always a homosexual program in disguise. No one else is ever interested in youth suicide issues because it is not really a problem in the schools. In fact, there is no youth suicide 'epidemic' in Massachusetts."

Please do the right thing for parents and children - DO NOT CAVE-IN TO THE MURDEROUS RIGHT-WING BIGOTED AGENDA! THEY ARE CONSERVATIVES WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE!

end of quote

Brian is the head of the anti gay alliance of Massachusetts.

Let me be blunt this is pure evil. It is nothing less than the idea that Matthew Sheppard is the ultimate ex gay. These aren't, sadly, the Fred Phelps of the word. These are the supposedly reasonable anti gay zealots. We can't let these people win. If they are willing to sacrifice straight teenagers just so someone, somewhere who is gay won't get a positive feeling about him or herself. This is the type of Christian we are up against. Why should we believe for a minute they will entertain the notion of compromise? At best they don't care if we live or die. At worst, they wish us dead. Compromise isn't an option.

On edit The non du link doesn't work.

[dsc]

8. another reason I don't believe in compromise

Matthew Sheppard, the ultimate exgay?
A pro LGBT group ran an add with that tagline shortly after he was killed and got bullied into taking it down. At the time I felt the ad might have been a bit over the top. Now, though, I honestly don't.

Being an ex gay isn't fun. The typical treatment includes aversion therapy which usually involves shocking the subject or causing him/her to vomit upon seeing images of homosexual sex. On top of being painful, it is costly. A typical treatment cost over $10000 back in the late 1980's so one can only imagine what it costs now.

Yet, thousands of gays and lesbians voluntarily enter such programs each year. Why would someone voluntarily do this to themselves and pay for it to boot? Simple, because their lives are so miserable they feel they have no other choice.

That, and only that, leads these people to oppose any and all things which might make the lives of gays and lesbians more pleasant. If it were really about the sanctity of marriage the amendments wouldn't target civil unions and contracts between gays and lesbians. If it were really about the sanctity of marriage it would explicitly target adulterers and fornicators, not simply gays and lesbians. If it were really about the children they wouldn't oppose adoption by gays and lesbians. If it were really about the children they wouldn't oppose anti bullying legislation. If it were really about the children they wouldn't target our school clubs.

It is about making our lives so miserable that we choose to take their voodoo cures. In the course of making our lives that miserable they often go to far. They empower the bullies who humiliate us in school, they empower the bashers who attack us in the streets, and they decimate our self image to the point that we kill ourselves rather than face our true natures. In a very real sense every gay man or lesbian woman who kills themselves are the ultimate ex gays. In a very real sense every gay man and lesbian who gets bullied in school is on that first stop to becoming the ultimate ex gay. In a very real sense every gay man and lesbian who gets bashed is an ultimate ex gay.

These people can't claim to love us and hate the sin when they behave like they have been. They can't claim to love us with one face, and make our lives a living hell with the other. They didn't directly kill Matthew, but they did create the climate that killed him. They don't directly kill the thousands of gays and lesbians who kill themselves each year, but they create the climate that makes them so miserable that they feel they have no choice. They can't profit from our misery and then take no credit for making us miserable.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=777768