PvP with teh gay (marriage)

[drwex]

I've avoided posting much because I'm both sad and frustrated and the people I'm sad about and frustrated at don't read this LJ. I'm sad that we still want to subject fundamental civil liberties to popular vote, and frustrated that people will vote to take those liberties away if given the chance.

I'm also sad and frustrated that more people didn't think the issue was important enough to come out and vote about. Losing 53-47 sucks. It sucks more when you lose 53-47 with less than half the potential electorate giving enough of a damn to get up and vote. I believe that most people are generally fair-minded and getting evidence to the contrary shoved in my face repeatedly leads to me being VERY cranky.

Comments

Fundamental liberties

[drwex]

I think that in this case it's a shorthand for the liberties associated with building a shared life and the things that go along with shared lives, primarily property and family. Those rights might be conferrable to a non-married male partner, but only through laborious work and under subject to challenge. In a marriage arrangement it's automatic and the burden of proof shifts.

For example, in a hetero marriage if anything happens to me my wife gets automatic and immediate custody of the children and gets to make all decisions on their wellbeing and upraising. For someone to challenge that requires them to meet a very high standard of proof. Contrariwise, the surviving spouse of a male-male couple that doesn't have marriage protections has to go through adoption and custody hurdles and even then the burden is on him to prove that he's more fit than, say, the deceased man's parents.