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Mother and blogger Cristin at Tales of an Ordinary Housewife went door-to-door in Republican Kern County to garner support of Prop 8, which would eliminate gay marriage in California. Here's a little slice of life from her perspective: "I decided today after going door-to-door in support of California's Proposition 8 , that missionaries would be much better received if they were allowed to carry a baby in their arms... When we were holding Charlie, people were so friendly! And, no, I do not feel guilty about using my baby as a political tool."
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Begley is a raving nutball and he is dead wrong. StrokerMcgurk
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I hope baby Charlie marries his boyfriend when he grows up!
Cristin is whoring out her own child to stop others from being married, sounds like a GREAT mom!
Did anyone else read the comments on her blog? Apparently equal rights will turn California into Sodom and Gomorrah or Rome. That wouldn't be so bad, I've always wanted to go to Rome. :)
Good coffee in rome - we could use a bit of that down here.
james
I shake my head in dismay. Or is it disgust? I live in Kern County and I trip on how some people can think and act this way. They laugh and give hi-fives and all that thinking they're cool. The rest of the world just shakes their head at these type of folk. Well their narrow-minded view is not shared by all here in Bakersfield...
Tales of an Ordinary Housewife? I thought I'd stumbled on Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian.
ALRIGHT!!! (This is going to be Long) We are actually getting a dialog on here that means something. Not that the daily fluffy stuff doesn’t count, but Prop 8 is a real meat and potatoes issue that needs to be discussed further.
First, Charlie wasn’t a political ploy, you obviously don’t know Cristin, nor her sense of humor. Charlie is 4 months old, and can’t be away from Cristin for more then an hour or two due to the need to feed. Got to keep that food source near by. Lets see any of you be brave enough to hit the streets with your infant for a few hours on a Saturday morning and dedicate your free time to a political cause you believe in. Are you truly dedicated to your beliefs, or are you just someone who sits around and shoots comments out as a random stranger on someone’s random blog?
Second, I applaud Cristin for being brave enough to go meet with people door to door and discuss political views. It’s pretty easy to sit at your computer and type your opinion behind the protective one way shield of your computer, but again I invite all of you to take up your thoughts on politics, and walk the streets, and meet the faces of your neighbors. It gives an outstanding perspective and actually promotes tolerance towards the views of others, don’t believe me?...then you haven’t tried it.
Third, since she has been called a bigot a number of times for her post, how can one call someone else a bigot without condemning themselves of being a bigot? After all, a bigot is someone who is intolerant of the differing point of view, belief or lifestyle of others. Aren’t the bigot callers just as blindly intolerant of Cristin’s views as they accuse her of being towards theirs? We all need to look in the mirror before the Bigot or Hypocrite words get thrown around as it always seems to point at the stone slinger as much as it does the target.
Fourth, the Anti-8 community claims that proposition 8 is hateful and discriminatory. My take is that this is the desperate plea of frustrated people who foolishly long to be accepted by people that they don’t know or even care about. Why does the Anti-8 community need the broad acceptance of the world around them? I wanted to be a cool and popular guy in Junior High school, but by college I found out that it didn’t matter what the people who I didn’t know thought of me. Why would Harry Heartache, or Sally Sobstory ever even care what my preferences and likes are? Isn’t shedding the need for broad acceptance and popularity typical for mature adults?
The 14 words in prop 8 hope to amend the California state constitution with the same 14 words that Prop 22 entered into state legislation in 2000. Prop 22 passed with a 61% yes vote in 2000 in one of the most liberal states in the country. So it’s not like this is a democrat vs. republican issue, there are plenty of Dems and other left leaning folks that voted yes on 22. The 14 words are: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California”. There is no denial of rights, no changes to the tax code, no bashing or hateful verbiage. It simply defines in the State constitution what marriage is, according to popular vote with a clear and plain definition.
Lastly, I really take issue with the fact that the CA state Supreme Court “overruled” what has already been voted into law. In a democracy, sometimes you or I will be in the minority on some issue, but if the will of the people declare it, then it should be binding despite the opinions or political views of a few activist judges. The people in a democracy dictate the rule of law, not the judicial branch. The judicial is to sustain and execute judgment based on the choice of the people. Prop 8 simply is attempting to put what has already been voted on, into the state constitution where the activist judges can’t change it without a majority vote from the people.
I do believe in laws protecting the freedom and liberties of all people, to enjoy and practice life as they see fit. But I also expect the right to vote and defend the beliefs and opinions that I have. I believe that strong families are the fundamental building blocks of a healthy society. I believe that homosexuality is a choice of lifestyle and behavior and not a genetic trait. Behavior and lifestyles are choices we make everyday and ultimately how we choose to live our lives is our own doing and our own responsibility. We are accountable to ourselves, and responsible for our own actions. It seems like the belief of the days we live is that ______ made me do it. You can fill in the blank with, Genetics, the projects, racism, twinkies, hot coffee, my dysfunctional family and the list goes on and on, its always someone else’s fault but not the person who made the decision.
RocketBoy: Spin much?
To "Rocketboy" :
You said:
"Why does the Anti-8 community need the broad acceptance of the world around them? I wanted to be a cool and popular guy in Junior High school, but by college I found out that it didn’t matter what the people who I didn’t know thought of me. Why would Harry Heartache, or Sally Sobstory ever even care what my preferences and likes are? Isn’t shedding the need for broad acceptance and popularity typical for mature adults?"
Are you SERIOUS?... Equality isn't about just being "cool and popular"... I've learned not to care about what people think of me... but when people who don't like you are allowed to put discrimination against you into the LAW... It goes way beyond caring or not caring what they think...
....and your "few activist judges" were doing their JOB... It's their JOB to overrule the "will of the people" when the will of the people is violating the civil liberties of a minority... If popular votes were never overturned we very well could still be a country of slave owners...
PROP 8 = HATE !!
Let's take Rocketboy's post point by point. I didn't have time to do this yesterday, so I'm hoping rocketboy is still around to respond to my post.
Point 1. A person dragging thier infant child along to do canvassing IS a ploy. A person is much more likely to answer the door for a non-threatening mother type carrying an infant than they would a man carrying a clip board, or even a woman with a clipboard who is not carrying a child. Also the average person would be polite and hear someone like Cristin out, even if they didn't agree with them. I'm sure the yes on Prop 8 people would love to be able to produce enough Cristins to canvass the entire state if they could
I'll conceed you second point. Door to door canvassing is no picnic. It takes guts, a think skin, and an ability to engage people in a non- threatening manner, and get you point across to them. Having a baby in your arms has to be quite helpful breaking the ice though.
Third point. This law is bigotry. A same sex couple getting married, and having the same rights and protections under law as a heterosexual couple has does not in anyway infringe on yours or Cristin's rights to marry, raise a family, or believe what ever you want to believe. Anyone who feels strongly enough to canvass door to door to support a law that is bigotry is by extention a bigot.
Fourth point. Acceptance. We all want acceptance. If you say you don't you are lying. If you join any kind of group you are doing so for acceptance and a to gain sense that what you are doing is right. Society needs to give a broad acceptance to same sex couples. Marriage would take away much of the stigma, and perception that homosexuality is abnormal behavior, and this IMO the real threat fundamentalists see in same sex marriage rights.
Last point. Anyone can write any law, provide the signatures to get it on the ballot, and even convince a majority of voters to vote for it, regardless of how dangerous, or unconstitutional that law is. If said law is challenges in the courts and is found to be uncontitutional, that law will be struck down. That is our system of governance. A law must be fair. Prop 22 was passed on a low turn out election, it does not reflect that the overall will of most Californians. November 4th 2008 will be a high turnout election, and I fully expect prop 8 to fail miserably, fully reflecting the true will of a majority of Californians.
Did I miss anything Rocketboy?
Oh and sorry about all the typos. I didn't have time to run a spell check or proof read this. I have to punch in now.
Laters.
I think that the concept of gays wanting equal access to marriage, or at least, to the word "marriage" in describing their union is pretty much symbolic.
Aren't civil unions and domestic partnerships empowered with as much legal clout as a married couple? If not, why not? They should be.
I've been involved with Christianity for over 30 years, and if it's one thing I have learned, it's that anyone is free to chart their own course, and it's not my job to judge others for their choices. If someone wants to live a gay lifestyle, that's their business.
I have heard any number of people tell religion, "don't shove your religion down my throat!" I'm okay with that viewpoint, and support it.
The problem here is that if Prop 8 is defeated, that will open the legal door to lawsuits seeking to force churches to solemnize gay marriages, or risk losing their tax exemptions. Such suits have already been filed in other states, and have succeeded. This is a direct attack on the First Amendment. A religion no longer has the right of self-determination. The same is true of the doctor who refused artificial insemination to a lesbian. He was not allowed to act according to his own conscience.
I can only echo what has been said: "Don't shove your values down my throat, either!" I really don't think Prop 8 is about who can marry whom. It is about a political agenda being forced upon a group of people who feel that homosexual acts are in conflict with God's law, which have been a part of religious canon for thousands of years.
And, like millions of non-Jewish Germans in the 1930s, the reasoning seems to be on the part of the non-religious: "It doesn't affect me, so how is that my problem?"
The freedom of all of us is at stake here, gays and straights alike.