Good As You

Has it occurred to you to note that there are only 3 women?

Or gender.

Yea, I only cited race because thats what they've thrown at us in the past.

Averaging up the ages right now. Stay tuned.

Thanks Jeremy for this. Looks like Women voted 7-3 Yes, while African-Americans voted 8-2.

Disappointing but at least we now know who's with us and who's against us. We need to work to replace 7 of the no votes. I hope someone will put together a list of which of these senators are the most vulnerable in the next election so we know where to focus our efforts.

So, the old, white, bald/white haired male contingent. It's a good thing that they don't (can't) vote on the civil rights afforded to any other minority group - because judging by this, the outcome would be pretty despicable.

Though not from New York state (my husband is originally); we are both heart-sick over the same old, same old.... Thank God we live in Iowa, where we were married in September.

Nothing like being told continually that we are second class citizens, but please DONATE to the Democratic party.... Not anymore.

Cathy Young is my county rep. I see you, Cathy Young, with your scary predator eyes. You will go down.

Seriously, I met that woman at a charity event my gallery was having, she looks like she'll eat your soul *shudder*

Anyone in Chautauqua, vote for Chris Scheaffer next election. He's a democrat and supportive father of a gay son.

This vote was truly stunning. I look forward to reading/hearing the actual reasoning and vote justifications that were used by the majority. I can only imagine it's the usual, tired, twisted "defenses of the institution of marriage" nonsense. Why don't they just come out and say, "I find gay people to be inferior to me, and because I find them inferior, I don't believe that they deserve to enjoy the same civil protections as I do as a straight person." At least this would be honest...

Not only did the majority of African Americans vote with us, several stood during the vote to express their support in terms of civil rights. I was very impressed.

I think this one hurt the most of all the losses we've had. After hearing so often that they had the votes, and having it pass the assembly handily, I'm just devastated. I wish we could add the yes votes from the assembly and the senate, then we'd win.

I've been thinking about this a lot. I'm not sure how to channel all this fury that has been building up over the last few years. Does anyone remember the movie "North and South" back in the 80's? It starred Patrick Swayze. Well, Kirstie Alley was in the movie. Her character was trying very hard to get rid of slavery. She kept working and getting defeated. Over and over until she eventually went crazy. She couldn't handle the horror of slavery and of not getting people to SEE the horror. Well, I've been feeling the same way about Gay rights, especially marriage. It is so plain to me that Gay people deserve equal rights. It's a no brainer. I don't get why so many other people don't see that. Oh boy, I have to somehow figure out how not to go crazy like Kirstie!

I'm starting to think we have passed a tipping point and we are now going to start losing big and probably start seeing the rights we do have start getting rolled back. That new law in Uganda that will probably pass is going to convince other countries to try it. The lack of real oposition to this law is telling. I would think people would be frantic to get this stopped, but few seem willing to say much. (and I'm talking about leaders here).

Hopefully I'm wrong on this, but if 8 Democrats in NY State of all places can vote to keep us second class, how are we ever going to win? I wish I could talk to each one of them, but I'm sure it would be to deaf ears. It kills me that the Republicans can all vote together, but for some reason the Democrats never can. Why aren't they Republicans, that's how they vote?

Well, sorry for the long post. I'm so angry, so hurt, so furious, I had to vent.

I've thought about it for the past few weeks and months, and, I'm not so certain that losing (or more properly: being made by those who hate us into objects that the public can deem unworthy of equal treatment under the law), doesn't benefit us more than we might realize. One of the tests for "suspect" classification is being relatively powerless in the political arena. While we have made some strides on political fronts, we are (by every estimation), a minority. And we have been consistently unsuccessful at enacting laws that elevate us to a point of equal treatment. But beyond that, we can't even garner that protection (in far too many cases) from elected officials. So, politically, that makes us relatively powerless in the political arena.

No one likes to think of themselves as being powerless in any way. But dare I say that if the rights of any other minority were put up to a popular vote, they would probably find themselves equally as powerless against the tyranny of the majority. While the US Supreme Court has very infrequently ventured into new territory until after state courts and legislatures have pretty much paved the way, they have, nonetheless, taken some bold steps that advanced public sentiment. And in some cases, well in advance of that public sentiment.

Maggie Gallagher and the other lying liars seem to always find plenty of deep-pocket money to fund their jihad against us. That, combined with the fact that they seem to be very able to politically stifle (or effect the political elimination of) our rights, is just further proof that we (as much as any other oppressed minority) need protection from the judicial system. It may seem exceptionally bleak to find comfort in the fact that getting our asses handed to us so publicly and so frequently might actually be what results in the eventual achievement of marriage equality... but at least it's something.

I don't know whether to be angry or sad.

Looking at the outcome, this is a classic example of Upstate vs. City culture. It has been this way long before gay rights were an issue. The upstate conservatives and Democrats vote against anything the City wants or needs. School aid is the best example, but there are dozens of others. The New York City culture is always a generation ahead of Upstate. This is no exception. Interesting that this was NOT an issue of blacks vs. gays as in California. To my gay friends in NY: Move to Connecticut or Vermont... or Iowa. We love you.

Larry in Iowa, just one clarification, there wasn't a really big blacks v. gays issue in California. That is mostly a myth attributable to some unrepresentative exit polling data. We did not lose on Prop H8 because of the African American vote, we lost because old farts from the turn of the 20th century were still carrying their bigoted baggage into the 2008 election. That and the fact that we mounted a pathetic campaign that was ineffective at countering the lies from the lying liars.

But, to be clear, there is no real difference in the way that African Americans in California voted, and the way that everyone else in California voted. The lying liars want to pit the blacks against the gays, because they hate both groups. We need to stay focused on the facts, refute the lies every time we have the opportunity.

Your illustration says it all.