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Sorry to the OP, but battling stupidity is my job, if anyone still wants to debate this we can do it in the other thread about whether homosexuality should be illegal or not.
I don't know if it's just because we're in TEXAS, but when Texas was voting on Prop 2 (the constitutional amendment to define marriage blah blah.. which passed), I noticed that it was the heavily Catholic population in my city that seemed to have the most of those "Marriage equals man plus woman" bumper stickers on their pickup trucks. I live in a very old school, Hispanic, Catholic neighborhood... and I'm a lesbian. This fact was initially met with cries of "Oh Dios Mio!!!" but they seem to like us better now. Overall though, I'd say the Texas Catholics had a lot to do with that thing passing.
So who knows, I imagine there's a difference in the ways of thinking when you're discussing CA Catholics vs. Mass. Catholics vs. TX Catholics?
As for the poll... I'd hope GA, but I doubt it. Atlanta may be gay friendly but the rest of GA, or so I've heard, is pretty much NOT.
If it were put to a vote in the large Texas cities, I'm fairly sure it would pass now in Dallas and Austin. Houston, probably -- San Antonio, not so sure.
Grew up in the South. Went to undergrad in the South and I have relatives from Texas to South Carolina. I visit them often.
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Originally Posted by Frankie117
Backward compared to what? Your picture-perfect way of life? Just because a culture has different ways from your own does not make them inferior in any way.
Backward compared to other states (and other countries) that give all adults equal rights to marry who they want to.
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Originally Posted by Frankie117
The 'culture' of a California yuppie is not superior than that of an African tribesman, and if you think that it is then you are the ignorant one.
Oh, I don't know. If I were a gay person, I would probably think that California is certainly superior to an African tribe, especially if that tribe banned homosexuality, or worse.
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Originally Posted by Frankie117
Don't go forcing your culture on everyone else, this is a free country you know. South Carolina is a Southern state with elected gay officials.
The South has made this argument before.
It is not a "free country," at least in the way you define it. You aren't free to discriminate based on race if you are a private business. Your state doesn't have the right to discriminate based on gender either.
I realize that the 14th Amendment is an sore subject in the South, but it applies to you as well. And mark my word, at some point it will be used to protect homosexuals. It may take decades, but it will happen.
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Originally Posted by Frankie117
And for the record, Atlanta, GA has 5.1 million left-leaning voters, and a total population of 9.3 million. If Atlanta wants it, the whole state gets it. There is no stopping it. Just look at their transportation budget and how Atlanta gets 95% of the funding with only 55% of the taxpayers. Broken system if there ever was one, Georgia will pass gay marriage legislation.
Nonsense. Your analogy falls flat.
People outside of Atlanta proper that commute into the city for work support transportation funding for the City of Atlanta. I have relatives that live in Marietta and I can tell you that they would be 100% behind additional transportation spending for Atlanta but they would be 100% against gay marriage.
In the end it really does not matter what the people want when it comes to voting. The court will determine what it feels is right, this is what happened in Vermont with civil unions back in 2000. Voting is slowly becoming a futile exercise.
Both states where gay marriage is legal have had it imposed on them by the courts.
Which state will be the first to pass gay marriage at the ballot box and when? (California voting not to ban gay marriages in November doesn't count.)
I would say Oregon, Maine, or Rhode Island. Also, it will happen between 5 and 10 years from now.
(Please no debate on gay marriage. There are other threads for that.)
The state of Arizona might be a contender too. Let's face the facts: Arizona was the first state in the nation where the voters approved a paid holiday honoring MLK (1992). Arizona was the first state in the nation to REJECT a proposition banning same sex marriage (2006). This is a state that generally favors letting the people decide, instead of the government ... and that's the way it should be in all states.
Arizona has been a conservative Republican stronghold for many years, but that has changed. Anymore, we're a swing state that still leans Republican ... but not too conservative on social issues. In fact, the state as a whole is really more Libertarian when it comes to issues like this. Although I (and many others) don't personally favor same sex marriage, there's nothing "sacred" about traditional marriage either ... not when more than 50% of regular marriages end in divorce, and the infidelity rate is high.
Interesting you should mention Arizona. I have been wondering if New Mexico might be the first of the non-coastal western states. It seems to buck the conservative trend of the West.
How about Minnesota? It is a very liberal state in presidential elections, at least.
As for Texas, I imagine it is like most states, meaning that the urban areas are more likely to support a secularist issue like gay marriage. I know that Houston used to have the largest gay population out of San Francisco but that may have changed since I lived there 20 years ago. Still, I have a hard time imagining gay marriage pass outside of Austin or maybe Houston.
The state of Arizona might be a contender too. Let's face the facts: Arizona was the first state in the nation where the voters approved a paid holiday honoring MLK (1992). Arizona was the first state in the nation to REJECT a proposition banning same sex marriage (2006). This is a state that generally favors letting the people decide, instead of the government ... and that's the way it should be in all states.
Arizona has been a conservative Republican stronghold for many years, but that has changed. Anymore, we're a swing state that still leans Republican ... but not too conservative on social issues. In fact, the state as a whole is really more Libertarian when it comes to issues like this. Although I (and many others) don't personally favor same sex marriage, there's nothing "sacred" about traditional marriage either ... not when more than 50% of regular marriages end in divorce, and the infidelity rate is high.
And I think Arizona actually wiped its anti-sodomy laws off its books, something that other states that still have such laws don't want to do.
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