Civil Rights

[asterroc]

A nice "doctored" video about civil rights. California is facing a ballot question that would make gay marriage illegal, Question 8. The Yes on 8 people put out a video w/ people talking about what's wrong w/ gay marriage, yadda yadda. And then someone took that video and replaced every mention of "same-sex" with "interracial," and "gay" with "black," even re-recording the vocal track.

I am multi-racial, and I approve.

Comments

[marquiswildbill.livejournal.com]

I actually talked with Jeff about divorce statistics waiting for court the last time. Apparently the statistic for first marriages failing is pretty close to the overall divorce rate. The impact of so called serial divorce is washed out by the extremely high success rate of second marriages (more than 80% go the distance). I will ask him if anyone tracks the number of people who have at least one divorce. We need something to pass the time waiting for judges, and I pay him quite well to make small talk. I'll be someone's friend for his hourly rate. Even with the professional courtesy rate I get for having a federal judge as my maternal uncle (not the asshole).

In response to your other comment: What's your opinion about marriage as a legal institution now? I wanted to reply ten minutes after you posted it but I had company come over.
As far as not having a legal contract marriage I think that there is no reason why a religious marriage would not be recognized internationally. The issue I worry about would be benefits, but I think they should be opened up to domestic partners or whatever you want to call them anyway. It's bias against people who choose not to marry. I also think that people who don't marry their partner to keep some kind of benefit (like alimony from a previous marriage contingent on not remarrying). You shouldn't get the best of both worlds in my book.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I've changed back and forth a few times since then. Without any form of marriage/union, spouses would not have legal rights as a next of kin, such as making healthcare decisions when the individual is incapable of making them him/herself. (And healthcare directives are not good enough, as gay couples have been shown repeatedly in the past.) The word "marriage" has religious context, so we should rename it at the federal level to "civil union." But singles get a tax disadvantage.... So yeah, I do not have a well-formed opinion, I just keep waffling around.