Plaid Adder rocks the homepage this morning.

[LWolf]

If you didn't read it, do:

"They Hate Us Because Of Our Freedoms"

She makes a vital point about amending the constitution to limit the rights of particular groups of Americans, rather than extend them. This is a travesty. Will America stand up and knock them out of this arena in the name of the constitution, and the spirit of democracy? Or will this be the beginning of a new direction for America?

If the republicans are now determined to head down this path, how many groups will they go after? After the GBLT folks, who will be next on the list to restrict and relegate to 2nd class citizens?

[La_Serpiente]

1. I am getting very scared

I am gay, and the way things are going in this country, I don't think I will be able to stay here much longer.

I am afraid of the direction this country goes.

Do any of you see any parallels of now to any other point in American history?

[MLEESS]

16. very scared

La Serpiente: What country are you considering going to?

[tom_paine]

20. Not to American History, but to German history...1933 to be exact

Thank God THIS time, they cannot repeat the PR mistakes of Granpda Bush's Business Partners by stuffing people into boxcars, concentration camps, and gas chambers.

At least for the moment, anyway.

It will probably be different this time around.

[terrya]

2. I read this. Excellent.

The Federal Marriage Amendment WILL, if passed, open the door for other things. What's next...an amendment banning affirmative action?

The Federal Marriage Amendment will set gay rights back decades. If this thing passes (and I'm not so certain that it will be defeated), ENDA (the Employment Non Discrimination Act, which would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace), legal adoption by gay and lesbian couples...all of this will be affected if FMA passes.

Plus, if FMA passes, I also think there could be a move to pass an amendment banning abortion.

Terry

[Scottie72]

7. I agree..

This is serious! I cannot emphasize that enough. Just look at how easily DOMA passed. How many politicans are going to be willing to stand up and vote this thing down? There are already almost enough states that already ban reconigtion of same sex marriage. The last I read it was 34? (someone please correct me if I am wrong) Plus there are a handful of states that have proposed legislation.

It only takes 3/4 of the states to ratify an amendment. Which would mean they are only a couple short of that now. THIS IS SCARY STUFF!!

I am scared out of my mind here...if it does pass it will be official I will become an official second class citizen, my government will have told me that the American Dream doesn not apply to me. I will have to seriously begin to look to leave this country that I love so much. If it does come down to me physically moving out of the country it will because my country has already left me.

[wryter2000]

10. Right

We can't have an amendment guaranteeing women equal protection under the law, but they want us to have this.

[Brucey]

3. What the hell is going on in this country?

Any sociologists out there? How did we come to be such hateful, bigoted assholes? First, where does the Christian right come up with such un-Christian beliefs? And second, how does a whole society swallow such tedious bullshit?

[NicFed]

8. My conclusion is genetic.

Not a sociologist but:

Same sex couples are a tiny percentage of the populace.
http://speakout.com/activism/apstories/10044-1.html

The hysterical, empathically challenged, genetic deficient’s of the right are once again using hatred to attack an insignificant issue. Insignificant in that it affects only a tiny % of the populace and has no effect on the health of the nation. The troglodytes will focus on hatred and denial of liberties to sexual minorities, the ill and the dieing, and women choosing for themselves. Instead of uniting our country and focusing on the problems that actually do effect us all; health insurance, the obscene gap of wealth, living wages, war abroad and here...

My next door neighbors are a same sex couple, two men now in their 70’s. They have been together for over 40 years. Children and grandchildren have grown up around these two wonderful men. They are exemplary neighbors. My son, nephews and nieces have known these men all their lives; as far as I can tell Bill and Tom have had no influence over the sexual preferences of these now adult children.

[Resistance Is Futile]

13. What's wrong with America

Religion.

End of story.

[grannylib]

14. Hatred and bigotry masquerading as religion

As a Christian who is totally supportive of GLBT rights, a woman's right to choose, civil rights, PEACE, and all the other good things that most of us DUers support, I would prefer to believe that it's not religion, but the bastardization of religion that is the problem.
Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson et al DO NOT speak for all Christians!

Please take the time to check out Sojourner's magazine, either by subscription or online at http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm
for a Christian voice of reason, love, and tolerance -
not proselytizing, moralizing or otherwise trying to shove themselves down the throats of everyone else

No STABLE heterosexual marriage could possibly be threatened by a gay couple wanting the same things - monogamy, fidelity, commitment...sounds like a validation of marriage to me, not the opposite...

[demnan]

4. This is a great article

I believe, and have felt for a long time that the most vocal opponents of gays are people who are secretly gay but won't acknowledge it. In high school I remember the gays were beaten up by kids who a few years later came out of the closet themselves and were mortified at what they had done. So really the anti-gay movement is an example of extreme denial.

Anyone who is truly comfortable in their own sexuality will not be intolerant of gay people. My parents and grandmother were tolerant of gay people. My grandmother had a male gay friend who happened to be a librarian - and this was in Chicago in the 30's. So it's not like gays are some new species who suddenly descended onto the planet.

Because our health system and the ability to qualify for homes and other legal benefits so much revolves around a matrimonial unit, we should not deny marriage to any same sex couple. I'll go one further, we should also allow people with no sexual involvement whatsoever to be able to combine in a legal unit as marriage if they so wish.

[Khephra]

5. Congrats PA!

:toast:

[Jack Rabbit]

6. PA is one of my favorite DU writers

Please congratulate her in the Lounge.

[wryter2000]

9. Great column!

BTW, my own theory about why the homophobes are the way they are is the same reason they're against a woman's right to choose how to handle her own pregnancy -- they're anti-sex.

The attitude is "if you're going to dance, you have to pay the piper." Where pregnancy is a punishment for having had sex. Anything that breaks that connection (abortion, birth control, or homosexual sex) is bad.

I love pointing that out the anti-abortion types. "You're not anti-abortion, you're anti-sex. If that weren't true, you'd be pro-birth control." They sputter and fume, but they have no good counter-argument.

[realFedUp]

11. Link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/plaidder/03/01.html

Congrats. PA!

[hippiegranny]

12. love the adder

great article, plaid. i am looking forward to next wednesday. i printed your entire column and took it home to read to my partner. who hung on every word and then asked if i sent it out to my political rabble rouser list. which, of course, i did.

[Fovea]

15. The Elderly and Disabled

They are already on the job.

[MLEESS]

17. Adder

What a surprise to hear a DU reader support the Constitution. Where is the Constitution when affirmative action or gun control is discussed? Affirmative action clearly violates the Constitution yet it is trumpeted as a beautiful thing. Gun control violates the 2nd amendment but no DU follower ever comes out against gun control as a violation of the Constitution. It must be nice to be able to cite to the Constitution when it serves your purpose but ignore it when it runs counter to your social agenda.

Mikey-Mike

[Plaid Adder]

18. Welcome to DU, Mikey Mike!

I notice from your current post count of 5 that you are a new member. How exciting it is to see our numbers growing!

Had you been among us a little longer, you might have noticed that the question fo whether gun control is constitutional/a good idea is actually something that is quite often debated at DU. Ditto with affirmative action, which has its opponents and its detractors amongst us.

As for citing a document when it serves your purpose and ignoring it when it doesn't, what a succinct and pithy description that is of how most right-wing fundamentalists read the Gospels!

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[LWolf]

21. Another one bites the dust.

:eyes:

[tom_paine]

19. First they came for the Arabs, but I wasn't Arab so I didn't speak out

Then they came for the homsexuals, but I wasn't homosexual so I didn't speak out...

In two or three decades our own Rev. Neimoller paen will be complete.

And yes, in Imperial Amerika, the Konstitution is a tool for DENYING Rights, not conferring them.

Welcome to Upside-Down Land, to Emperor Bushevik*s Animal farm.

Comrade Squealer will be along soon to explain to you just why slavery is freedom...