Voters Approve Same-sex Marriage for the First Time

CNN) -- In a historic turnaround, the ballot box is showing America's shifting attitudes about same-sex marriage. After gay marriage rights died at the polls dozens of times in the past, on Tuesday they passed in at least two states.

Rarely do popular votes reflect such dramatic social changes.

The result: Maryland and Maine will now allow couples like Chyrino Patane and James Trinidad to tie the knot.

The Maryland couple has been together for seven years, and now, after the historic vote, they plan to marry in the next six months to a year.

In Maryland, where just 51.9% of voters approved gay marriage rights, "It was a little bit pins and needles," said Human Rights Campaign's Kevin Nix. "It was going to be a close call all along."

A similar ballot measure in Washington state is pending. And in Minnesota, voters rejected a measure that would have banned same-sex marriage.

Pollsters got a hint of the coming change. Recent national surveys have shown shifting attitudes toward same-sex marriage, with a majority of Americans now approving of marriages between two men or two women. A June CNN/ORC poll, for example, reflected such a shift in opinion in the U.S.

Election Day brought two additional gains for proponents of same-sex marriage: Wisconsin elected America's first openly lesbian senator, Democrat Tammy Baldwin, and President Obama became the first president to openly support same-sex marriage and get re-elected.

In the six states -- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York -- and the District of Columbia where gays and lesbians have previously won marriage rights, it was because of actions taken by judges or legislators, not voters.

www.cnn.com...

So much societal progression this election, it is a good sign.. The legalization of MJ in two states, Same sex marriage winning popular votes, and a record amount of women elected to the Senate.

Social conservatism is dead.

It's nice to know that despite all the negativity surrounding the 2012 election, POSITIVE change really did occur.

This must be very worrysome and scary to very conservative/GOP/Republicans.

"The country is headed to hell in a handbasket!"

"We're loosing the country!"

Anyone care to guess what people were saying during the civil rights movement of the 60's?

"The country is headed to hell in a handbasket!"

"We're loosing the country!"

May I present someone you may have heard from before:

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

I was really excited for your country when I saw not only Obama elected but some of the social changes that you voted in. Especially same-sex marriage. I really think you guys are on your way of reclaiming some lost titles, of being champions again of social movements.

Plus I'm hoping now that the state bordering my province legalized MJ that we will follow suit soon too.

(I wonder if the initiatives about MJ will affect board rules here about not discussing it)

Well, who ever gets married in that these states can only move to other states that have or recognize same sex marriage.
And btw, just because someone doesnt agree with something like this, doesnt always mean its political or religious

reply to post by Juggernog


Hopefully Obama will pass something where even if your state does not legally recognize same-sex marriage it will recognize another state's marriage license regardless.

reply to post by MonkeyFishFrog


Obama has nothing to do with it and cant force a state to recognize another states law.

reply to post by Juggernog


Well then I guess the rest of the states better get on legalizing same sex marriages or else you are going to lose revenue and employees to states that are progressive and equality-minded.

Big companies are starting to become in favour of it because they can't head hunt employees they want if they live in states that do not recognize same-sex marriages.

Now this is what I call progress. Looking back over the years at what same-sex couples have gone through it's pretty interesting/nice to see this kind of result. Honestly I thought this would have gotten shot down hard but I'm glad I was wrong.

Originally posted by Juggernog
Well, who ever gets married in that these states can only move to other states that have or recognize same sex marriage.
And btw, just because someone doesnt agree with something like this, doesnt always mean its political or religious

edit on 11/7/2012 by Juggernog because: (no reason given)

It is political or religious. Do you understand the meaning of politics? I'm thinking not. Every opinion you hold is political. That is the very definition of political opinion!

Equality should never be open for public vote to begin with. No group of people should be given a vote on the rights of others when it has no effect on their lives.

But, the US is not a leader when it comes to Human Rights and equality, so I guess we shouldn't expect things in the US to be any better than countries like Zimbabwe or Iran when it comes to these issues - religious insanity all around.

It's definitely good news, and I hope it leads other people in other states to start to question how backwards they are. If I lived in a region that was this out of date I would feel embarrassed.

It's time for the students in those states still clinging to the old traditions to start being political again. It's no coincidence that the states with high numbers of youth and a vibrant student community are more forward thinking and modern.

reply to post by detachedindividual


That was our Prime Minister's main argument when it came to not holding a referendum or allowing the public to vote for whether or not we legalized same-sex marriage. If you want minorities to feel like they are protected or represented by your constitution/charter of rights than you cannot allow majority to decide major issues for them.

Originally posted by MonkeyFishFrog
reply to post by detachedindividual

 

That was our Prime Minister's main argument when it came to not holding a referendum or allowing the public to vote for whether or not we legalized same-sex marriage. If you want minorities to feel like they are protected or represented by your constitution/charter of rights than you cannot allow majority to decide major issues for them.

It's exactly right. We don't get a vote on how Christians are allowed to pray, on how they raise their kids, on who they marry or divorce. The idea that religious groups, or the public as a whole, should be able to dictate how a minority lives and what they have a right to actually makes me feel ill.

If it doesn't affect their lives directly, they have no right to vote on how others live or what freedoms others have.

But then again, this goes right back to the fundamentalist problem with Republicans. This is how they want to govern, by doctrine and demand. They think, like so many religious bigots from the Taliban to the Iranian regime, that they have the right to tell other people how to live their lives even when those personal choices have absolutely no bearing on their own existence.

reply to post by MonkeyFishFrog


It should be come a federal law, like the civil rights act but there is no way a majority republican congress would pass it.

reply to post by Juggernog


What is:
The Full Faith and Credit Clause?

reply to post by TheOneElectric

Until the Supreme Court struck down all laws banning interracial marriage in 1967, a number of states banned interracial marriage and did not accept interracial marriage certificates issued in other states. The full faith and credit clause was never used to force a state to recognize a marriage it did not wish to recognize.[17]

The clause's application to state-sanctioned same-sex marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships is unresolved, as is its relationship to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment. Between 1996 and 2004, 39 states passed laws and constitutional amendments that define marriage as consisting solely of different-sex couples. Most explicitly prohibit the state from honoring same-sex marriages performed in other states and countries. Conversely, same-sex marriage is legal in several states and the District of Columbia. In August 2007, a federal appeals court held that the clause did require Oklahoma to issue a revised birth certificate showing both adoptive parents of a child born in Oklahoma who had been adopted by a same-sex couple married in another state.[18] Another federal appeals court held differently in April 2011 in a Louisiana case, Adar v. Smith.[19]

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Trustfund


The marijuana and gay sex debates are two fantastic gauges of human stupidity. If you don't like pot - don't smoke it. If you're not a homo - don't marry a dude. How freaking hard is that to wrap one's head around? And if you can't tolerate someone else's homosexuality or drug use, then maybe you ought to see a therapist and work out why you're so emotionally invested in the lifestyles of people you've never even met before. Maybe it's some form of escapism, like this broken generation consumed by reality TV? You concern yourself with the 'flaws' of others so you don't have to concern yourself with your own shortcomings - be them real or imagined.

Are we so thick that we need legislation as a safety net to catch us when we make a stupid decision for ourselves?

And the gateway drug argument for MJ is bollocks. Sugar is a gateway drug. Booze is a gateway drug. You can get higher at the chemist legally than you can on a street corner. You can kill yourself quicker in a chemist too.

And the religious argument for gay marriage is bollocks as well. Religion and politics is a toxic concoction of doom. They don't mix. They don't serve any of us - religious or atheist, we all suffer for it. Let our morals determine our actions, not our Lawmakers! We don't need a guidebook for something so simply grasped as common sense! And if we do... then all is truly lost

Legalize weed and let gays marry each other - what's the big deal? Then maybe we can focus on issues of real importance for once and put this dusty archaic debate to rest. Let God judge the homosexuals and the drug fiends. You guys should take a break for a while, you've been on your shift for over 2,000 years. Time for a smoke-o, bigots!

Marriage is a social contract between consenting parties, it shouldn't be used to garner political favor and the govt sure as hell shouldn't be involved whatsoever. There should be ZERO voting on such an issues.

Originally posted by Juggernog
reply to post by MonkeyFishFrog

 

Obama has nothing to do with it and cant force a state to recognize another states law.

He can if its Federal.

yeah, this is great!

and next on the list of to do's is legalize pedophilia.

just like being born gay, pedophiles are born that way and they are people who should receive the exact same rights as every other human being!

hooray for social justice, lets see just how progressive we can get!



we wouldnt want to hurt a minority groups feelings after all right?