From today's Times, a profile of the man who stands in the way of marriage equality in New York.
Two of his brothers are gay, he murmurs, one of them recently deceased. So is a granddaughter. There is an old friend who works for him in the Senate. And a former campaign aide.Gee. I don't know, Mr. Diaz. How could you?“I love them. I love them,” says Mr. Díaz, who grew up one of 17 children in Puerto Rico. “But I don’t believe in what they are doing. They are my brothers. They are my family.”
His voice rises again. “So how could I be a homophobe?”
The whole article is infuriating. A man who says things like the following will likely be effective in keeping thousands of gay and lesbian couples from enjoying legal protections:
Mr. Díaz is also the Senate’s most outspoken opponent of abortion, and he once likened the harvesting of stem cells for research to Hitler using “the ashes of the Jews to make bars of soap.”But want to know what makes my blood just boil?
Christopher R. Lynn, Mr. Díaz’s chief counsel, who is gay and lives with his partner in Queens, said that he has undergone three back operations, and that every time he goes into the hospital, Mr. Díaz has been there.What pure, unadulterated bullshit. (No other word will do. Sorry.) You know how Mr. Diaz wants to be treated? Like a social equal. Like a citizen whose rights are the same as everyone else's. Like someone who can marry whomever he goddamn well pleases, without having to beg his case before the voting public and hoping they approve of the kind of person he loves. So his "Christian values" are a cold, cold comfort to me. (How particularly ironic that the example they chose of his vaunted Christianity is visiting a gay man in the hospital, when one of the cardinal rights of the married is to make medical decisions for hospitalized and incapacitated spouses.)
“He is a true believer in Christian values, in treating people the way you want to be treated,” Mr. Lynn said.
Seriously, read the whole thing. Read about how he treats gays and lesbians across the board. Ponder how valid he would consider the will of "the people" if it curtailed the rights of immigrants, or people of color. Marvel that he wants to "be friends" with the very people who he chooses to oppress, all the while objecting to being called a bigot.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll bang my head on the keyboard some more.
Posts
Do you remember the conversation on Prop 8 In CA? It was defeated by persons of color and Hispanics. No surprise here.
ReplyDeleteHmmm.
ReplyDeleteI would urge... caution, when parsing social phenomena such as those.
UJ, look above, do you really think Mr. Diaz's outrageous Holocaust comparison does anything other than trivialize the Holocaust and insult the victims? Oh, and make rational discussion more difficult?
ReplyDeleteAnd Dan, why do you want the approval of your marriage by people who hold different religious views? The word 'marriage' is the contentious issue here, IIRC civil unions legally equivalent to marriage, not so much. Marriage is a doomed institution in Western civilization. Only the religious reguard actually care about preserving it.
GJ, I don't give a plugged nickel what we call the concatenation of rights currently referred to as "marriage." Call it whatever the hell you want. "Civil unions" works just fine for me. But whatever you're calling it for heterosexual couples, I expect the same for gays and lesbians.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't give two shits if religious people "approve" of my marriage. Changes are, I would be outright horrified by a lot of what many religious conservatives do with their spare time. Free country, and all that. What I want are equal rights.
Damn right Dr. Danny, marriage is a contract between two adults, provided they are both of sound mind it really is no ones damn business. Lets just get rid of all the mystical aspects of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd a lot of these rights are not just for straight couples, they also exist for families. No one anywhere objects to my brother visiting me in hospital (or even making decisions about my care in some cases), yet I didn't choose my brother. But you don't have the freedom to choose your own family. It is just insane.
I must say your statement that you would be horrified by what religious conservatives do in their spare time is silly venting. In actuality, you are a Doctor, I doubt you could possibly be one if you had the vapors all the time. Chances are, if it were not illegal, I think you would probably be amused. Imagine Jerry Falwell wearing a tutu and a harness with an apple in his mouth with his wife riding him around the room and tell me you wouldn't laugh.
charo
Charo, amigo, I was referring more to such things as telling their children that a vengeful god is just waiting for them to violate any of a number of self-contradictory rules before tossing them into hell for all eternity. Or that the woods are crawling with satanists, ready to disembowel them. You know, the kind of fun stuff I learned at Bible camp.
ReplyDeleteHowever, yes, I would probably be amused to see any number of social conservatives letting their freak flags fly.
Charo, Thanks for the Jerry Falwell visuals you have implanted. I will not sleep for several days.
ReplyDeleteAnd whatever you are calling for, I expect the same for multiple partner unions. Don't give me the crap about historical precedent (which has plenty of examples of multiple partner marriage) or your religious beliefs. I just want society to stop being bigoted about it and make it available for anyone who wants it. It is just as fair as gay marriage, or mixed race marriage, or marriage of divorced partners, all of which have been frowned upon in the past.
ReplyDeleteWhat I want are equal rights.
This is your one and only warning, John. I am not at all in the mood to deal with the question of multiple partner unions. I am tired, and I am angry, and I am frustrated. I don't feel like dealing with it, and I won't deal with it.
ReplyDeleteI will delete any further comments on the topic from here unto perpetuity. Unfair of me? Perhaps. You are free to create Polygamyblog, or whatever the hell you want to call it, and hold forth to your heart's content.
Do not try my patience.
It isn't unfair of you to delete whatever comment you desire. This is your place and your rules govern. I am but a guest, albeit a noisy and cantankerous guest, but only because I am paid such a large retainer by Old Scratch. I think you are a sensible, rational person. I like you and maybe one day I can buy you a beverage of your choice. But don't forget, the RCC probably feels like their ox is being gored on SSM just as you feel your ox is... well, I'll be quiet.
ReplyDelete