Wednesday 21 December 2011

You can't beat stupid.....

Here we go again. In an article in the News-Mail, Rob Messenger is spruiking the legislation he wants to introduce after the next election to repeal the Civil Partnerships Bill that was passed in November.

He states in the article that it will "give all elected representatives an opportunity to right a wrong".

Whose wrong are we talking about, Rob? I don't want to get personal, but clearly that's the way it has to be, because you know, we're talking about personal lives here. Lives of people you've never met, and haven't had the balls to actually talk to about this issue.

You want to preserve the sanctity of marriage, you say? How about out-lawing no-fault divorce? Wouldn't that serve to preserve the sanctity of marriage more than not allowing a small number of the population to access the same rights you have?

He also says "this reform is not about politics, it's about equality". Damn straight it is Rob. So explain, if you will, how repealing the Civil Partnership Bill will promote equality? The Bill allows for same-sex as well as opposite-sex couples to access it, so there's no discrimination there. In fact, you could access it if you didnt, oh, I don't know, want to do something silly like get married again, after getting divorced?

But enough about you, Rob, because what I really want to take to task is the comments that inevitably pop up on these types of articles. I truly thought I'd seen it all (and commented on it all as well), but no. Stupid has stooped to a new low.

This from kitwalker05:

"Homosexuals die at around the age of 40, with or without aids",

and this

"homosexuals have more health issues and therefore put a higher burden on the health system".

So very glad I was informed of this fact. I can now make sure I do everything on my bucket list over the next four years, since that's about all I have left on this earth. I mean, come on. You're shitting me, right? Where does this stuff even come from?

Also, by kitwalker05's logic, I've clearly been a bigger burden on the health system over my 36 years than any of my similar-aged heterosexual friends and family. Lucky, then, that I don't get the same tax concessions as those in heterosexual marriages to pay for my excess usage of the health system.

This from noelbowman:

"I do not give a stuff how anyone else chooses to live their PRIVATE LIFE but let it be PRIVATE" (his emphasis not mine), and then "this attempt to politically hijack the ceremony and its meaning is a bloody disgrace" however "I do not want to interfere with anyone else's life so get out of mine!" (again, his emphasis not mine)

Ummm.... ? So it's not ok that I be allowed to access rights and responsibilities that you have, because that would be impinging on your rights somehow, but you can stop me from accessing them, because, well YOU don't think I should. You're not interfering in my life at all, noelbowman, not one little bit.

I don't give a toss about your marriage. I give a toss about mine. Your relationship with your wife has nothing to do with my relationship with mine. 

You can't ask that I don't impinge on your rights without impinging on mine in the process. So how about this - I get the right to marry my partner, and you get to keep your right to stay married to your wife? Because that's how it would work, noelbowman. If I get to walk down the aisle with my partner and say I do and live happily ever after, it doesn't mean that you can't. You don't lose any of your rights by giving the same ones to me.

If the thought of two women, or two men, marrying each other makes you feel sick or icky then I have two things to say to you:

1. You're definitely not gay, and
2. You think way too much about those of us on the other side of the fence.

Rubyred is concerned about the children:

"Can you even imagine what it must be like as a child to not have a mother and a father but to live with two men or two women? What will happen to him or her at school?"

I applaud your concern, Rubyred, but I ask you, do you know what that situation's like? How about I give you an example of a young man who was brought up by two women?  Bullying, unfortunately, is a fact of life, particularly in childhood, and particularly at school. Kids don't understand that "different" doesn't necessarily mean "bad". It's up to us, as adults, to tell them and show them the difference.

Look, I could go on about a lot of other things here, but I've already dealt with them in other posts.

How about lets deal in some facts now?

Civil partnerships are open to any (eligible) couple who either can't or don't want to get married, so it's not a "gay" thing.

Civil partnerships give us a way to register our relationship from the start, rather than have to prove it existed after the fact.

Existing rights are not going to change. If you are currently married, you will not be required to register a civil partnership because the legislation clearly states that the Federal Marriage Act trumps the Qld Civil Partnerships Act. There are no further rights being conferred onto gay couples that heterosexual couples don't already have.

Gays and lesbians are already parents - have been for a long time. That's not going to change. There's not going to be an explosion of gays and lesbians becoming parents because we'd be able to get married, or enter into a civil partnership.

Gay parents do not have gay babies. Heterosexual parents have gay babies. How do I know? My parents are heterosexual and have been happily married for 36 years, and they had me. They also had two heterosexual daughters and a heterosexual son.

Finally, being gay is a trait we are born with. It's not a trait that dictates my life, and it's not something that should be a big deal. It's made into a big deal by people who choose to differentiate me from them because of it.

I'm proud of who I am - not as a lesbian, but as a person. It's disheartening to think that no matter how much I contribute to my family, community and society in general, all that good can be overlooked by people who can't see past the only thing that makes me different.

It's disappointing that no matter how good my relationship is with my partner, or how much I love her, it's not good enough to be recognised by my state or my country.

Would you like to hear any of your own comments said about your son or your daughter, your brother, sister or granchildren? Would you be happy for them to be excluded from accessing the same rights you have, simply because they're different from you?  

Next time you make comments such as the ones above, think about who you could be talking about and how it may affect them.

14 comments:

  1. Oh, Selena, I just HAD to comment - re: kitwalker05 - let's stoop to her level and totally generalise. As a heterosexual woman of your age, I have had three children. I am guessing, as a woman who isn't availing herself of sperm everytime she shares her body with her lover, you probably don't have three children. So who has been the bigger burden on the health system? HUH? LOL LOL LOL Oh, and then the burden of those children I brought into the world - what about them? Are they classed as MY burden too? I would say they are my burden and therefore contribute to the burden I put on the health system. And that is not even debating the fact that she is saying people using the health system are putting a 'burden' on it. LOL LOL LOL

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  2. I saw your comment on the Bundy paper website Selena. I can't believe the shit coming out of the mouths of some people, and like these ignorant people, some MP's are just as hateful.

    I began this petition against repealing Qld Civil Unions - feel free to spread the word.
    http://www.change.org/petitions/leader-of-the-qld-liberal-national-party-please-do-not-repeal-the-qld-civil-partnership-act

    Phil
    Brisbane

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  3. kitwalker05 is an intolerant bigot and her views decline the moral values of our society, not who you sleep with or want to marry. It is an undeniable fact that this town is full of uneducated, intolerant and unempathetic fools. Bullies bully because they hear this stuff from their parents, whether its about weight, hair colour, nose shape, the idea that this is an acceptable reason to bully is first heard at home. If everyone accepted everyone else for THEM not their weight, not their skin colour, not the clothes they wear, then bullying would not exist. Children don't see anything as "wrong" until they are told it is. The most worrying thing is that THESE people are breeding and passing on their biased views and applaude anyone who agrees with them.

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  4. I come into contact with Mr Messenger on a regular basis and I can safely say he is the most morally corrupt and unethical politician in Queensland Parliament. He regularly threatens, bullies, abuses and denigrates the town's journalists, councillors, Queensland Health workers and anyone in a position of authority who can undermine some of the blatant lies he tells.

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  5. Selena, you sure know how to twist things. I personally know and respect gay people and none of these seek to do anything more than live their lives PRIVATELY and in peace. Further I come not from the religious aspect and think it entirely appropriate that as you put it,seek "to walk down the isle with your partner", i.e. its about partnership. However and no matter how its put, it should not be to the same form of ceremony we and others through the ages have taken. Get on with forming your own form of bonding ceremony and that's fine with me, just do not impinge on mine. In fact it is nothing to do with me as is your choice of a car make, reading matter and etc,etc.!
    Noel Bowman, Bargara (who is neither anonymous nor frightened to attach his name).

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  6. Noel your marriage ceremony won't be diminished, unless in your mind, you allow it to be.

    Selena, I truly think it won't be long now until you can have your relationship recognized through marriage. The tides are changing for the better.

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  7. I am indeed nonplussed why some of the gay community are so fixated on entering into a ceremony designed for heterosexual (1 male + 1 female) twosomes. What is it I fail to understand or is there some under wraps reason not yet released. Finally unless there is some pressing reason for a personal rebuttal this will be my last on this subject; however I will finish by answering the question asked, yes I do feel my marriage of 56 years is devalued or diminished if and/or when it becomes a meaningless 'open slather' ceremony. Sorry!
    Noel Bowman, Bargara

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  8. Hi Noel,

    The concepts of a man and a woman walking down the isle is not only obsolete but also based from Religion - the reasons behind why gay people are frowned apon and are not considered equal is because of the church - 'its a sin' therefore branching down the stems of society - if your gay well go away - you can live your life but make sure we dont know about it. My sister is gay and she has every right to get married - she is no different to me or you - she if anything probably has more balls than both of us put together. I could not imagine a life where I am constantly considered second class and have been for many years - gay people have always been around, its just that now - more and more people are starting to realise that the church is A - absolute crock about a mythical person and B realising that you wouldnt even know that they are gay until they tell you.

    also in regards to ruby reds comments about children growing up with 2 parents of the same sex - I think that is disgusting - I grew up with a single mother, does that make me less of a person or a more damaged child because of this, simply because I didnt have one of each?? If anything we grow and understand life and people so much more. Gah just so frustrated that people can live with such closed minds...

    Selena, goodluck with everything - Gay people will be able to liberate and get married in due time and the time is coming.

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  9. Thanks everyone for your comments.

    Noel, you're still failing to explain how you feel me being allowed to be married will devalue your own marriage.

    It's definitely not the case that it would be "open slather" as you put it. To me, marriage is an important institution that signifies monogomy, stability, love and partnership. Yes, I already have those things so marriage doesn't change that. However, along with the ceremony and declaring your intentions in front of family and friends, it also comes with rights and responsibilities conferred by the government.
    I don't want to go into all of them, but the most basic is that you are granted next of kin status to your partner, which becomes important in mostly dire situations.
    For example, if my partner were to become ill or incapacitated, I am not automatically allowed to have a say in her well-being, as I would if I were married to her. As it stands currently, a relative could sweep in and make those decisions instead. Yes, we have gone to the expense of having powers of attorney drawn up, but this could still be fought through the courts.

    As for devaluing your marriage, I would think there are far worse things that would do that. Cheating and domestic violence, for example. Do they not go against marriage vows?

    My personal view is that there should be two distinct levels of marriage - religious marriage, performed by the church, and civil marriage, governed by the state. It is civil marriage I seek, along with the associated rights and responsibilities, and recognition. No more, no less.

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  10. Although I am not especially religious you make a fair point about the civil and religious ceremonies. Perhaps that or something like it is the answer. Whatever best of luck and a Merry Christmas.
    Noel Bowman, Bargara

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