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Monday, 19 July 04 :: on queer marriage

i'm really angry. thats the feeling i have today. anger.

queer marriage is heating up in oregon. there's going to be a constitutional amendment on the ballot, one to ban queer marriage. and yes, i am against it.. and if some right wing nut starts off about why we should have this ban, or even some moderate nut starts off on why civil unions are just fine, i'll go after them with my claws out. i'll rip them to shreds.

but if i'm talking to a queer marriage advocate, i'll rip them to shreds too. because, really, marriage is privilage. and here is the queer establishment asking for 3 million dollars and the heart and soul of every queer person in oregon (because when doing a campaign, to do it right and to win, you gotta give your heart and soul, its that much work), and in the end, they aren't giving anything back. the queer establishment is not out there in the workers rights movement, they aren't doing diddly-shit about universal health care, they aren't advocating for better housing standards.. and really, they aren't just asking the queers, they are also asking their allies, to give and give and give, without giving anything back.

it infuriates me that the queers need the help of the progressive movement but they aren't willing to give anything back to it. they aren't willing to put their name and face on other movements. but you talk to those other movements, and they'll endorse the fight against this defense of marriage act, they'll put their name there. they'll gladly do the work. because they know that discrimiation is bad.

i'm not fully vocalizing what it is i'm talking about. marriage is privilage, the queers don't see that, they don't care, they are selling us a bill of goods that stink, and what do most of us get for that bill of goods? nada. nothing.

give me 3 million dollars, the eugene progressive community, and we could run a kick ass campaign in favor of universal health care.. this will benefit not only us but also the queer establishment.

btw, i'm a bi-girl who identified as lesbian for 8 years, i've been out for 10 years, i've worked in the movement for a decade.

posted by brooke at July 19, 2004 10:50 AM

comments

Oh, and welcome back! I like the new look...

posted by: chasmyn at July 19, 2004 02:11 PM

I think this new look suits you for where you are at right now. Looks great!

posted by: Lisa at July 19, 2004 07:38 PM

about
i'm brooke, born in '73. i am currently a phd student in instructional technology. this is the blog where i capture all the neurotic, and the few non-neurotic, moments that seem to come with being a phd student (if you want to read less neuroses and more professionalism go to: oer's, dl's, reuse and culture: it's about a phd student researching digital resources in a multicultural world). i have been from eugene, oregon for a long time.. 8 years specifically (its my home now, but i grew up in southwestern virginia), but now i'm here in logan, utah at utah state university. after finding my roots in eugene i never could have expected that i would leave that liberal oasis and head to utah. but i did and there are days when its a blessing and days when i'm tempted to go back to oregon and beg the folks at lost valley educational center to let me move in. but i won't leave because there are days when this process is better than any kind of high i could ever imagine. what else? i collect things, i have 2 cats, 2 kayaks, 2 laptops (i'm a geek - one mac, one pc). i can be emailed at brookesblog@rivervision.com.