Bad connectivity

[altivo]

For some reason, our connection is so slow tonight it's worse than dialup. Holding all wordy discussion topics until later.

Congratulations Maryland on having the good sense to pass a gay marriage law, and to their governor for having the backbone to sign it. Of course, as usual, right wingnuts are prepared to spend a fortune to try to get voters to repeal it by referendum. Time to get a clear federal intervention on this bullshit.

Comments

[soanos]

Some good news at least, looks like the change is happening, one state at a time. Hoping to see the day when everyone can love and marry whoever they want without fear of prosecution and being a target for hate. I also hope the law will stay as it is, even if some right-wingers are trying to repeal it. I hope the people there have enough backbone to stay behind this.

[altivo]

In Maryland there's at least a chance that a referendum will backfire and the vote will confirm the law as passed.

[schnee]

I never understood how these people tick; not the ones pushing for such referenda (those are probably beyond hope), but the ones voting in favor of them. Don't they ever stop and think "what the hell am I doing? I'm voting to deny equal rights to part of the population and continue discrimination and keep them as second-class citizens!"?

I'm not sure what's more concerning: the idea that they indeed never stop and think that, or the idea that they do and that they're actually fine with doing exactly that.

[altivo]

There will be some of each type of voter, of course.

In the end I think it comes down to the psychology of the self, and the desire to feel somehow a part of a group that is privileged and superior to others. This happens with religions, secret fraternities, political parties, whatever...

In order to reinforce the idea that their own group is superior, the "chosen" ones, they have to have someone else to vilify, or to point out as defective, inferior, and degraded.

In the US, race can no longer be used in this way, at least not in politics or anywhere in the public view. Gender was also rendered unacceptable, so they can't pretend that men are "superior" to women or entitled to special privileges. (Of course, many people still believe privately that blacks are subhuman and women are chattels, but they can't express this in public without being ridiculed and rejected.) It remains acceptable in many circles, however, to denigrate and discriminate against GLBT individuals. You might say that gays are currently the group that it's safe to hate.

And by having such a cause to put forward, the nefarious right wing is able to create a huge red herring, as they also do with abortion, to distract voters from their real agenda. The real agenda has nothing to do with social causes, and everything to do with money: protecting the large corporations, protecting the ill-gotten gains of the very wealthy.