So An Anti-gay Marriage Guy Knocked On My Door...

[Moonlight_Graham]

A few days ago this man who lives down my street rang my doorbell. I answered, and he said "This is a petition opposing gay marriage. Would you like to sign it?"

 

I said "no thank you", and he politely left. I was thinking "whoa WTF", but gotta give him some props for having the balls to ring on doorbells & ask such a controversial question.

 

Has anyone else experienced stuff like this lately, or in the past? Can't say i've ever been asked to sign a petition on such a controversial subject before. But with all this talk of gay marriage lately i wasn't too suprised.

[guitarchick]

Someone phoned my house and ask my mom if she had gotten her free meat.

[pearanoid]

I would have politely told the guy that although I respect his right to his beleifs, he's being a narrow minded bigot who needs to be a little less concerned about two people trying to legally pronounce their love for each other and little more concerned with something that's actually a problem.

 

Then I would have kicked him in his gigantic balls.

 

Just kidding. I think.

[Moonlight_Graham]

Someone phoned my house and ask my mom if she had gotten her free meat.

lol. i love those free meat people!

 

I told them that "i already got some free meat, its called a 'one-eyed sausage' and i want to stick it up your ass".

 

ok maybe i never said that...

[Katastrophina]

My dad brought home a petition to end gay marriage last month and signed it. I've never been so fucking pissed at him. I listen to his beliefs and I enjoy debating the issue, but signing a petition to stop it is disgusting. I wrote Bob Mills (the butthead who organized it all) and politely gave him my views and why I thought his petition was pathetic. Today I got a reply and it was a bunch of ramblings about the bible and shit, with his signature. My dad got the EXACT same letter. Fuckers.

[ToadMan]

I was asked to sign a petition to end gambling in my city... I didn't but they managed to get on the public ballot, and won... so now our casino can't buy land, nor expand.

 

This is derailing so I will desist.

 

Peace

[juanpe]

yes, there is a group of guys walking around my neighborhood (they belong to a "catholist social group", as they called themselves), knocking on people's doors and asking people to sign a document against same sex marriages and adoption (as you know - i've commented it somewhere else - Spain has just passed a law in the Parliament to allow same sex marriages and adoption by gay couples, which is going to be effective before the summer starts)...

 

these guys from that "catholic social group" (how can they call themselves "social group" if they are going just against social improvement?? unbelievable...) havent knocked on my door yet but if they do, of course i will NOT sign such a document

[HoboFactory]

In my state (Oregon), marriage is legally defined as only between a man and a woman. The state recently nullified 3,000 same-sex marriages after this definition was applied as a result of the last election (in November).

[Doc]

As much as you'd like to go and hurt these people, they are exercising their right to.....uh....um.....what right would this be? I'm sure it's in there somewhere. Anyway, if they were to come to you and start spewing a bunch of lies about how they are Godless Freaks etc. then it's crossing the line and bigoted.

 

Graham, if more people responded the way you did, and the way he did, I think this wouldn't be such a hugely heated topic between individuals.

 

juanpe, not all social groups are FOR social improvement. One could argue that the ;) was just a really BIG social group. That spewed hate. And lynched people, etc. (this is in no way me condoning the :angry:, i'm just using it as an example.)

 

 

Hobo, legislation for it was passed on Election Day, or had it been enacted long before, and not just pressed? Had those couples been married before the legislation was passed?

 

 

I think what many people forget is that there is a large majority of people in the USA (if you go by election results) that still hold to a VERY traditional way of life. I mean, really, think about why the pilgrims came to the US in the first place. It was partly to escape a Europe that they viewed as becoming too immoral and liberal. We only have to look to the Salem Witch Hunts to really see what these people were all about. Are we naive enough to think that so much has changed over here in a couple hundred years? I mean, yes, there's been progress, but not THAT much.

 

Kudos to Spain either way. Europe is really beginning to look like a great place to live.

 

D

[juanpe]

I would NEVER consider ;) a "social group"...

[HoboFactory]

...

 

Hobo, legislation for it was passed on Election Day, or had it been enacted long before, and not just pressed? Had those couples been married before the legislation was passed?

 

...

In Novemember of 2004, Oregon voters passed Measure 36, with something like 62% of votes in its favor. Measure 36 defined legal marriage as existing only between a man and a woman. Multnomah county (the most populated one in the state) has been issuing marriages to same sex-couples since last April; 6 weeks afterwards, a judge demanded a halt in the practice, by this time though, 3,000 same-sex couples had gotten married. So just 5 or 6 days ago, the state decided that a county didn't have the right recognize the marriages if the state forbade them (as of Measure 36 passing), as a result, these 3,000 marriages were nullified.

[juanpe]

Pavel, that was what happened in California too, right? I quite remember something like that in the news in Spain but with respect to California (I may be wrong)

[HoboFactory]

It may have happened in California also, if I recall correctly, 11 states passed such a bill last November.

 

edit: too many syllables used in "November."

Edited April 20, 2005 by HoboFactory

[Moonlight_Graham]

these guys from that "catholic social group" (how can they call themselves "social group" if they are going just against social improvement?? unbelievable...)

Juanpe, saying they are "against social improvement" is your subjective opinion. They may think they are trying to improve society, and obviously others (like yourself) see them as trying to block it.

 

Its more like this group is against "social liberism" or "social progression" or "social change" or some other word.

 

I don't see ANYTHING wrong with people who do these anti-gay petitions (even though i'd never sign it). This is the beauty of democracy and a free society. Peaceful protest is a beautiful thing. In fact, even though i disagreed with his thinking, i almost thought of telling the guy who came to my door about the online petition websites available which may be more effective than going 'door-to-door'. But i only thought of doing this probably because i knew his petition wouldn't amount have much affect. If it did, i'd probably just think "screw em'".

 

P.S. Polls i've seen lately say that most Canadians are AGAINST gay-marriage, suprisingly. (it was around 60% against if i recall)

[juanpe]

Its more like this group is against "social liberism" or "social progression" or "social change" or some other word.

yeah, you are right, maybe that's a better way to explain it than the way I did... I meant exactly that (I didnt make myself understandable) although I do think that it is not only that they are against "social progression", they are against society (or part of society) who are just looking for the same rights as the rest of the people

 

this idea is exactly the argument the spanish government has used (which I agree completely with) in order to defend same-sex marriages after such huge and unfair "attacks" from the part of religious (Catholic, basically) groups: not to allow gay people to get married is to deny an important part of the society not to have and enjoy the same social rights than heterosexual people

 

I'm including an article that has appeared talking about this law in the Spanish Parliament:

 

Spain: Gay Marriage Will Soon Be Authorized

Le Nouvel Observateur

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/042105I.shtml

 

Wednesday 21 April 2005

 

The Congreso has adopted a proposed law authorizing marriage between persons of the same sex as well as adoption. Senators are also expected to give their approval. It is anticipated that the law will be implemented this summer.

On Thursday, April 21, the Spanish deputies adopted a proposed law that should go into effect this coming summer authorizing marriage between homosexuals and adoption by homosexual couples.

 

The law modifies the Civil Code by introducing the following phrase: "Marriage will respond to the same conditions and will have the same effects whether the contracting parties are the same sex or of different sexes."

 

A total of 183 deputies voted for the law, 136 voted against it, and 6 abstained.

 

The Socialist Justice Minister, Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, had previously argued in favor of a text that, according to him, "goes beyond the barriers of discrimination (...) that affect the rights and freedoms and notably free choice in the pursuit of happiness, a fundamental unwritten right."

 

Done Deal

 

The text still must be submitted to the Senate, where it will, in all probability, be approved; so likely is it that, on Thursday, partisans as well as adversaries of the text already saw its definitive adoption, scheduled for June, as a done deal.

 

The vote was greeted by applause and cries of joy from the groups for the defense of homosexual rights who were present in the hall of the Congress of Deputies and who had assembled in front of the Parliament building since this morning. Among them, one couple of two men already held up a sign: "Habemus Matrimonium."

 

In counterpoint, in a communiqué, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church condemned "a radically unjust law, harmful to the common good." "The well-being of children demands that they not be manufactured in laboratories nor adopted by unions of persons of the same sex," the bishops believe.

Edited April 24, 2005 by juanpe

[Dan #2]

i might be a terrible person for this, but you know, if someone came to house with a petition, it would probably end up in a physical confrontation.

 

I wouldn't try to hit him or anything, but i would take the petition, like i was going to sign it, say 'i need to get my glasses', go inside, leave the petition, and come back out with my baseball bat, and say "Get the fuck off my property." I'd let him choose, as to whether he'd like to leave, or stay ;)

 

personally, i know i wouldn't stay, lol.

 

I know, i'm an asshole and i'm not respecting his beliefs, but this issue is more than opinion. It's about a group of people being afforded the rights that all people should be entitled to.

 

Judge me if you will.

[juanpe]

No physical violence, Insober ;)

[Dan #2]

i'm a peaceful person, but jeez those idiots make me angry. I wouldn't hit anyone unprovoked, but i would definitley do my best to scare the shit out of them. Maybe if they realize they're facing physical retribution, they'll stay home.

[Katastrophina]

I like the way you think, Dan. Or just write on your shirt with black marker "I HAVE SEX WITH BOYS" and then threaten him with a bat. Let 'em know that gays do have a say in this shit. Not that you're gay, I'm 92% sure you're not. It's just to prove a point. ;)

[Dan #2]

I like the way you think, Dan. Or just write on your shirt with black marker "I HAVE SEX WITH BOYS" and then threaten him with a bat. Let 'em know that gays do have a say in this shit. Not that you're gay, I'm 92% sure you're not. It's just to prove a point. ;)

Haha, that's a good one. Now i kind of wish one would come to my house, lol. I do live in a fairly conservative town, in a fairly conservative province, and i see letters in the paper every day demanding the protection of "The sanctity of marriage."

 

It just makes me so angry that these people have no respect for those that are different than themselves.

 

And i'm not gay, but i can imagine the hardship a homosexual would go thru. You may alienate your family, friends, your church, and i empathize for anyone in that position.

 

Love people for them, and do not hate people because they are different than you.

[Bizud]

There's a dick in my apartment complex with a "Referendum on Same-Sex Marriage" sign in his window. What. the fuck. A marriage is an agreement between two people, what does what anyone else wants have to do with it? The state should respect and allow marriages between people and trees for all I fucking care.

[Spritzup]

Agreed, I don't see how it affects anybody else whether or not homosexuals get married. I mean if we're going to start regulating that, we better start regulating inter-racial marriage because that would just lead to a confused child as well.

 

The only thing that I can somewhat agree with is that if the church doesn't want to marry gay's, then they should have the right to refuse it.

[juanpe]

The only thing that I can somewhat agree with is that if the church doesn't want to marry gay's, then they should have the right to refuse it.

that is what is not understandable: the Catholic Church's refusal... the law which was passed in the spanish parliament allows for civil marriage, not religious one and still they opose to it (Chuch doesnt have any power or decision power on what a democratically elected government does)... and not only that; the last polemics in Spain has been that some priests have asked town hall majors to reject any gay couple who wanna get married "for moral issues"

 

who the hell are they to ask a democratically elected major to oppose to that? as if they had decision power on politics and what citizens have decided...

[Moonlight_Graham]

The state should respect and allow marriages between people and trees for all I fucking care.

then you've got a slippery-slope. Should the state let brothers and sisters marry? Cousins? What about polygamy?

 

If some of you have trouble understanding why people care if gays marry or not, then just imagine if the government let brothers and sisters or cousins marry each other. Or a son marrying his mother. If that idea disgusts you or is just morally offensive to you, then that is exactly how many of these anti-gay marriage people feel about gays getting married.

 

I support gay marriage. But after that, where do we draw the line?

Edited April 27, 2005 by Moonlight_Graham

[saturnine]

i really couldn't care less who gets to marry whom. i'm straight and will someday marry a woman. my rights are already in place. if people want to marry dogs and be able to add them to their benefits, so be it.