LGBT folks have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving eve.

[foreigncorrespondent]

They are in a country where this country has just deemed them second class citizens by the introduction of the constitutional proposal banning gay marriages.

They are in a country that would lock them away and throw away the key if they were able to get away with it.

They are in a country where most of its citizens are against them making the ultimate committment to someone they love more than life itself.

They are in a country where homophobia (which leads to hate crimes) is sanctioned by the federal government.

</sarcasm>

Do you wanna know how I felt this morning when I logged on and saw the news about the introduction of this proposal in the Senate? I felt like every single person (including those on this board) who is against my right as a citizen of this world to marry the one person I love more than life itself ripped my heart out and served it to the dogs.

Do you want to know why I sit here both angry and sad with tears streaming down my face? Simply because the person I love more than life itself has just been deemed a second class citizen.

Well I am here to tell each and every one of you who have shown your homophobia since the Mass. ruling last week, she isn't a second class citizen. She is one of the most sincere people I have ever known, and a darn sight better than those of you who have shown your true colours this past week.

You call yourselves democrats yet you have taken a crap all over my relationship, why? I don't take regular dumps on your relationship. I don't discriminate against your relationship. I don't see you as a second class citizen who doesn't deserve the right to marry the one you love more than life itself. What gives you the right to do this to my relationship? What gives you the right to treat my lover as a second class citizen?

I don't care if I offend any of you, because you have been offending me since the Mass. ruling last week. I don't care if I get tombstoned for speaking my mind, you know why? Because my relationship is worth more to me, than trying to teach tolerance and understanding to a bunch of hicks that will never get it.

I hope you are happy with yourselves now. It is the introduction of this proposal that deems every single gay, lesbian, trangendered, or bisexual, in the closet or not, in the United States of America (the land of the not so free) a second class citizen.

If you think this proposal won't pass think again. DoMA passed, Don't Ask Don't Tell passed, The recent abortion bill passed, and guess what the PATRIOT ACT passed. All these bills either attack the rights of a minority group or everyone. All these bills are an attack of the civil rights of human beings, and all passed with the blessings of a President.

To all my queer brothers and sisters, there is always room in my country for you. We might not be perfect but we are a damn site better than living in the dark ages.

[bicentennial_baby]

1. Rock on FC

I'm with you all the way on this.

:yourock:

[Hieronymus]

2. Well said,

Hoorah for you and shame on those who would make Gays second class citizens by dreaming up the idea that it would ruin their marriage.
:crazy:

[bicentennial_baby]

3. Kick

:kick:

[FredScuttle]

4. Good on ya...

I can't say I know what you've endured, but I stand with you.

I wish I was a wizard so I could take every Democratic Senator that has (or will) stood up for this piece of shit legislation, wave my wand to make them black and take them back to 1957 Mississippi so they could truly understand how honorable it is to defend our "institutions"

[foreigncorrespondent]

5. Unfortunately...

...some people will never learn, no matter what discrimination they mgiht face.

[dsc]

6. I truely understand your anger

but this Thanksgiving I choose to look at the strides we have made. I am utterly amazed thinking on it. I never would have suspected the Lawerence decision would go our way. I didn't think the Massachusetts case would go our way. I also didn't think polls in the aftermath of that case would show that the public there supports the decision. It wasn't that long ago that gay bars were routinely raided and run by the mob. It wasn't that long ago that gays were barred from professions and adoption. It wasn't that long ago that gays were viewed as security risks unfit for government employment. In my lifetime much of that has been wiped away. We haven't arrived yet but we sure have gone a long, long way. It is easy to get frustrated. Lord knows I have and do. But I don't think we will be the Moses generation. I think we will see the promised land.

[Rowdyboy]

7. Actually, Australia doesn't necessarily welcome immigration

do they? We discussed the possibility (my partner and I) and what little research we did indicated we were not eligible for immigration (I'm 49, he's 55). Maybe they're worried about a drain on social services?