Comments on: No We Can’t

By: We Can’t Be Free Separately «

We Can’t Be Free Separately « — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:43:54 +0000

[...] said that on the day after election day. For obvious reasons, a lot of people around me and a lot of [...]

By: Smite Me! [.net] » Blog Archive » Join the Impact - Protest Prop 8 on November 15

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:19:11 +0000

[...] also quite like this protest suggestion from Thomas, blogging at Feministe: Today is a day of both triumphs and disasters. When we went to [...]

By: 70% of African-Americans voted to “eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry” (Prop 8) « Cultivated Pages

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:02:17 +0000

[...] yes… very sad. So when I read this post by Thomas on Feministe, entitled “No, We Can’t,” I had to say I felt the same pessimism: We always know it’s wrong, and we always do it again. [...]

By: rivervision » Blog Archive » tolerance, mine. and more on prop 8.

rivervision » Blog Archive » tolerance, mine. and more on prop 8. — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:41:55 +0000

[...] feministe: no we can’t. Category: church stuff, my life, peace, proposition 8, queer stuff. You can follow any [...]

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:52:42 +0000

Almay, I was listing the failures of the American political system to treat people as equals, not acts of violence (though the two often go together, and the anti-gay rhetoric of the last few years has accompanied increases in violence). In the history of the failure of the American political system to treat all people as equals, no list would be complete without Korematsu, and without Jackson’s decision to ignore the Supreme Court, which led to the Trail of Tears.

No comparison is perfect, but Prop 8 shares features with
Plessy, NINA laws, miscegination laws, Bowers v. Hardwick, and Buck v. Bell, IMO. Do you disagree?

By: Almay

Almay — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:20:13 +0000

I know that it is a crushing blow, but…did you really just compare the passing of this proposition to, among other things, Reconstruction and the Trail of Tears?

And then quoted Kipling (even with the proviso that he was colonialist and racist, BUT-) right after that?

I appreciate that you apologized for it, and respect that you left it up, but…whoa.

I feel like there’s a dissonance there (that I’m not sure if I’m fully articulating).

By: Shal

Shal — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:21:39 +0000

I have nothing else to say except that I am so overwhelmingly sad.

By: n11dz

n11dz — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:16:19 +0000

Obama’s win is a huge stride for doing away with racism in the United States. There may have been some un-libertarian bills passed during the election, but with new executive leadership hopefully federal law will intervene and grant the groups of America that have been undermined a fair quality of life; why cannot we realize that we are all human beings longing to exist in a world where the minor details do not matter and the major issues are settled by a popular consensus? Mother Earth has a long way to go.
God bless,
Earth bless,
Bless you.
Regardless your affiliation.
Peace & love: nadz.

By: angela

angela — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:38:47 +0000

Thomas, thank you for the apology. I wanted to say, also, that I think the passing of Proposition 8 is atrocious, and it’s heartbreaking. That is an important point that I shouldn’t have left out.

By: William

William — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:08:27 +0000

Hey William? Fuck off.

As your scintillating response was unfortunately light on the details of what exactly I said to piss you off, let me elaborate. Proposition 8 is just another in a long string oppressions and examples of overt hatred. On the 4th it was the GLBTQ community on the end of the ugly human urge to beat down anyone who shows any kind of difference. So no, I can’t get all warm and fuzzy about some marginal number of people being able to get just far enough past their racial hatred to vote for a black man against a pair of psychotics in desperate times. Thats doubly true when some of the same people who came out to make a statement about racial equality took that opportunity to negate the civil rights of another.

So yeah, it was the GLBTQ community that was directly effected by proposition 8, but it was also an example of why letting people vote about who ought to be treated like human fucking beings is doomed to failure.