Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 03:01:01 +0000 (/usr/local/etc/localtime) From: Video_Ron Subject: suffering info overload Hawaii gay brothers and sisters, Whenever I get stories from the Hawaii newspapers, I get really frustrated and overwhelmed with the feeling I'm being slimed with "new speak" vomit. What is this double-talk with everyone patting them selves on the back claiming that they've done such an historic thing. Tell the slimy legislators that the clever smoke-and-mirrors trick they're trying to pull off is the same old bullsh-t that's been done to minorities in America, aparteid South Africa, et al. Basically they stab you in the back while smiling and trying to turn it into a press opportunity. The recent news story where the writer implies that the legislature has valiently done its job to rectify an oversight in the constitution pointed out by the supreme court. My understanding is that the refusal of the state to allow same-sex marriage VIOLATED the state's obligation to treat every citizen fairly regardless of gender. They did not instruct the legislature to screw around with the constitution. I know you folks are overwheled with this ongoing fight, but I'd appreciate some kind of run-down of the legislators -- who are the true friends of GBLT (if there are any) and who are in the pocket of the Radical Right. BTW, if you have access to SHOWTIME-2 on cable or satellite TV, on April 26th, they are showing "Mr. and Mrs. Loving", a dramatization of the inter-racial couple whose arrest for marrying and being sentenced to exile from Virginia, lead to the historic decision striking down all then-remaining laws in the US which prohibited inter-racial marriage. Many of the statements made by the Supreme Court in that decision have laid valuable groundwork toward the legalization of same-gender marriage rights, inas- much as much if not the majority of rhetoric from the Radical Right against gay marriages is the same b.s. the racist zealots used to condemn interracial marriages back then. Ron Eugene,OR Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 03:21:48 +0000 (/usr/local/etc/localtime) From: Video_Ron Subject: Addendum to previous post... I left out a paragraph in my previous post. Sorry. Here it is: What the legislature has done has created a new class of people "people who CANNOT marry" most of whom never contemplated such a concept and are not in a loving domestic relationship or having taken vows to each other. This has further disparraged gay and lesbian relationships putting them in a catagory far removed from people who wish to share a lifetime of love and commitment. Needless to say this move pisses me off, and should anger any fair-minded person. They have created additional financial burden on the state, whereas allowing gays to marry would have created a nominal impact. According to right-wing zealots we make up only 1% of the population (unless, of course this 1% figure doesn't work well for *this* particular battle.) Also, I feel it's counter-productive to politely sit by and pretend we're not pissed as hell and don't want to take this crap anymore. Let's expose our rage rather than let it eat us alive!