New England Emerging As Holdout In March To Ban Gay Marriages

[ruggerson]

New England. The proud, fighting spirit of freedom still lives there. I'm damn proud to be a Yankee.

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050406/APN/504061050

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By ROBERT TANNER
AP National Writer

It seems a can't-lose proposition: Ask voters to ban same-sex marriages and they consistently endorse the idea, from the South to the West.

Kansas on Tuesday became the latest and 18th state to pass a constitutional amendment barring gay marriage. With conservatives pushing to define marriage as between a man and woman throughout the country, similar proposals are on the ballot in three other states next year and more than a dozen are considering them.

New England has been the major holdout; there, legislators and judges have strengthened rights for gays and lesbians.

Kansas voted by a more than 2-to-1 margin Tuesday to ban gay marriages and civil unions, and voters also ousted the lone gay city council member in Topeka, Tiffany Muller, who had defeated an emphatically anti-gay opponent in the primary. But Connecticut legislators seemed headed in the other direction Wednesday, scheduling a vote to legalize civil unions. If the bill becomes law, Connecticut would be the only state to do so without a court order demanding lawmakers act.

<snip>

[mom cat]

1. Can new England seceed and take New York and the west coast

with us?

[Skip Intro]

3. You'd accept refugees from the south, right?

I'd rather we all fight for the whole thing, but if NE succeeds, I don't want to stay behind. I miss living in a free and (somewhat) proud nation.

It really is nice to see governmental action in defense of Freedom again.

New England and the West Coasters rock!

Just gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.


They dare to be free.

[mom cat]

8. Just follow the path of the underground railroad! That is how I got here.

[Redstone]

2. That's the way real Yankees are...

They may, as a group, be conservative about a bunch of things, but when it comes down to telling other people what to do, they generally don't.

They've been historically real strong on not caring what other people do if it doesn't affect them directly.

And they don't much care for being told what to do or how to think. Your average Vermont Republican, for example, is not likely to parrot the Bushco/Fundie line just because that's what the Republican leadership says he or she ought to do.

Redstone

[HockeyMom]

5. Divorce rate

Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country, followed bye the rest of the New England states. Maybe people in good marriages KNOW what makes a good marriage and what ISN'T a threat (gays) to marriage. Maybe all those anti gay people in other states are just looking for a scapegoat so they don't have to blame THEMSELVES for their failed marriages?

[mom cat]

9. LOL! What a queer idea!

[AuntiBush]

6. A Saying We State A lot...

"Live and Let Live." Living near the Mason-Dixon line, I know what side I'm on and it's facing northerly... ;)

[salin]

4. er... "Hold out"?

That suggests mere resistance/obstinance... looks like, at least in the CT senate... that it is more than a "hold out" for anti-amendments - but moving in the direct opposite direction. An understatement of an article/article title were there ever one.

[kohodog]

7. The CT House is likely to pass it too, and Republican Governor Rell

said she'd sign it. Rowland would have vetoed it, I think, but the House maight have enough votes to over-ride any way.

Ct is solidly blue. Lieberman has a better rating among Republicans than Democrats. Go figure.

[Shallah Kali]

10. Hold out for human decency

Makes me glad I am a native Maine-ah :)