The Big Gay Marrige Debate Merged!!!! PART TWO

Thought this might be of interest...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4991967/

I wish every state followed Massachusett's example.

 

yep...as of today gays can legally marry in MA...with all benefits...happy gay day guys...yipee!!! my hope in humanity has been raised...i'd say 20 degrees.

 

http://www.gallup.com/content/?ci=11689

 

http://www.civilunions.co.nz is the new zealand site.

you can sign up for the weekly mailing list there. Also, there's regular news updates - eg the legislation for civil unions is being brought in for discussion in june.

 

This article got me really pissed off.... What the fuck are they trying to put into these kids heads?
Texas OKs Textbooks That Define Marriage document.write(getElapsed("20041106T074724Z")); 56 minutes agoBy NATALIE GOTT, Associated Press WriterState Board of Education member Terri Leo, from Spring, Texas, speaks ...More...AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas Board of Education approved new health textbooks after the publishers gave in to last-minute pressure from some board members to define marriage as a "lifelong union" between a man and woman.

The decision Friday, which involves two of the biggest textbook publishers, is an example of Texas exerting its clout as the nation's second-largest buyer of textbooks. Officials say the decision could affect hundreds of thousands of books in Texas alone.

Board member Terri Leo, a Republican, said she was pleased with the publishers' changes. She led the effort to get the publishers to change the texts, objecting to what she called "asexual stealth phrases" such as "individuals who marry."

Leo charged that the proposed new books for the state's middle schools and high schools ran counter to a Texas law banning the recognition of gay civil unions because the texts used terms like "married partners" instead of "husband and wife."

"Marriage has been defined in Texas, so it should also be defined in our health textbooks that we use as marriage between a man and a woman," Leo said.

After hearing the debate Thursday, one publisher, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, agreed to include a definition of marriage as a "lifelong union between a husband and a wife." The definition, which was added to middle school textbooks, already was in Holt's high school editions, Holt spokesman Rick Blake said.

The other publisher, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, changed phrases such as "when two people marry" and "partners" to "when a man and a woman marry" and "husbands and wives."

"The board expressed an interest in having us" make the change, Blake said. "We thought it was a reasonable thing to do."

But Blake said the publisher does not plan to add its definition of marriage in books that will be sold outside Texas. A spokeswoman for Glencoe/McGraw-Hill did not immediately respond to questions.

A list of the books that were approved by the board, as well as those that were not, are sent to school districts for guidance when they choose books.

Board member Mary Helen Berlanga, a Democrat, asked the panel to approve the books without the changes, but her proposal was rejected on a 10-4 vote.

"We're not supposed to make changes at somebody's whim," Berlanga said. "It's a political agenda, and we're not here to follow a political agenda."

Neither publisher added all the changes Leo initially pushed for. For instance, one proposed passage in the teacher's editions read: "Opinions vary on why homosexuals, lesbians and bisexuals as a group are more prone to self-destructive behaviors like depression, illegal drug use, and suicide."

Randall Ellis, the executive director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas, said the board overstepped its bounds in suggesting and adopting the new wording.

"Their job is to review for factual information and instead what we see is the insertion of someone's ideology and agenda into the textbook of middle-schoolers," Ellis said.

The board's approval caps months of debate over health textbooks. Much of the debate had centered on how much sex education should be included in high school books.

A controversy arose last year in Texas when the board approved new biology textbooks that contained Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, brushing aside opposition from religious groups.

 

That angers me so much. There are so many problems in the world today and we actually have people spending their time and energy on changing textbooks to define marriage with "husband and wife" rather than "lifelong partners" or "individuals" to only appease their christian rightest ideology ..................ridiculous.

 

An they're foolin themselves if they think that marrige is "life-long" in all cases.

 

can someone point me in the right direction as to the diffrence in rights gay and non gay people have in 'marriage'. I do think the definition should mean between 'man and woman' however outdated an idea that maybe ...but i guess it should remain outdated because thats the point ???.

 

Un-fucking-believable, isn't it? I also read another article where they were considering entering a line like "Opinions vary on why gay and lesbian teenagers commit suicide so often" or some BULLSHIT like that. Why do you think, you raving idiots? Because of parents like you!


Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Usually I can have a sense of humor about all this stuff and accept that with time, things will change. But this really, really pissed me off.

 

they are trying to put their brainwashing out there before bush's next four years are over. its like writeing a text book a hundred years ago or more that read somehting about "black men being savage and less than human"

 

I bet if you asked Terri Leo why USA was better at educating our kind than China the first thing out of one side of her ass would be that we don't use our schools as propaganda vehicles while the other side was saying that we need to teach proper moral values or some other such B.S. The religious zealots are making a mockery of the whole premise that our country is built on personal freedom & especially separation of church & state.

Terri & poeple like her must think that "We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" Means that her version of equality, happiness, liberty is the only valid one.


Nothing about their bigoted agenda has anything to do with making our country a more perfect Union, establishing Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, providing a common defense, promoting the general Welfare, and securing the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. Seems quite the opposite to me.

They obviously have no concern for the part of our constitution that says Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.

To be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; must mean something different if you happen to be GLBT. If you can't marry the person you love & have the same rights to property that heterosexuals do you have been denied all of these.

 

So does that mean if there is a D*I*V*O*R*C*E between said man and said woman that there was never a marriage since it didn't endure the lifespan of the two individuals ?

 

Texas should be written off by anyone intelligent...no matter what happens there it will remain a violent and ignorant hell hole.....if I were a gay texan I would move ASAP, let the rednecks have their dusty plain.

 

I was reading another article in the local newspaper that highlighted gays and it was saying that many gay couples are moving out of the United States to seek equality. I think that that's the saddest thing I've heard in a long time. It just seems like our country is taking about 15 steps backwards, and they're taking the kids along for the ride so that they can't even be exposed to the wonderful people that our country is oppressing. I'm so upset about all of this.

 

It does seem like our country is moving backwards, and it's sad. I can honestly say that if I was 18, I would leave this country, because it is slowly turning into shit.

 

Texas: The belly of the beast in many ways. This is only one facet of what they're pushing. It also comes on the hilt of a recent decision to push some of the same standardized guidelines used for school funding in public schools (think no child left behind) onto institutions of higher education that would limit what even those schools can teach. Parts of this process would also remove the professors right to choose the textbook for their class. A multi pronged attack. The powers that be are by no means stupid to tactics and the overwhelming leverage of 'funding'. They are focused and plan well. They have a definite agenda that resembles a police state and they'll stop at nothing to achieve it. They are a skilled and dangerous presence. Organize now.

 

Well, what would you expect from a woman with hair like this?

 

You have to admit, it would make excellent drag.

 

I only do scary or dead. Scary this person definitly is!

 

It's such incredible bullshit. What have gay people done wrong? The US prides itself on having equality, but it's such lies...Of course, we do have a lot more feeedoms than many countries, so don't yell at me for complaining. It just makes me so angry that there's such blatant discrimination still going on in this way...