(no subject)

[jianantonic]

Election Day is tomorrow, and I've JUST NOW realized that part of the ballot tomorrow will say "Goode Weed." Okay, not exactly, but Virgil Goode is running against Al Weed for a seat in the House of Representatives. Guess which one is the Democrat? :) I already voted absentee, so I won't be going to the polls tomorrow, but I am trembling with anticipation already. I stopped by the Democratic HQ on the downtown mall today after lunch and picked up a Webb for Senate t-shirt. For those of you not from VA, Webb is the guy running against the guy famous for calling an Indian-American "Macaca." Here in VA, we need some Weed and some Webb.

One of my coworkers can't get the printer to work for him, so he emailed me a bunch of crap he needs printed off and asked me to print them for him.

"I'll print them if you vote Webb/Weed/no on the marriage amendment."

"Okay, deal."

This guy was pretty up in the air from the start, and he was born with such a silver spoon in his mouth that he's set for life regardless of what happens in politics, so it wasn't exactly a tough sell.

In less exciting news, closing on my house got pushed back yet another day. Nothing I can do about it, but fuck it really pisses me off. Blah.

So my office really stinks today. It smelled awful the moment I sat down at my desk, and I realized shortly that it was my feet that were stinking up the area - from inside my shoes. Oops. Another reason we're all glad I don't have an officemate right now. So what did I do to improve the problem? I walked a mile each way to Staples to pick up a new mouse for my computer. Yeah, that helped a lot.

Okay, onto a more serious note before I go. I know there are some Republicans among my readers, and I won't try to convince you not to vote for Allen or Goode or whoever is up in your district, but please, please, please think carefully about the marriage amendment. Whether or not homosexuals can marry affects you not one little bit, unless you are gay yourself in which case I doubt I need to plead with you. Regardless of how strongly you feel they should not be allowed to marry - hey, you're entitled to your beliefs, no matter how completely contrary my own are - please keep in mind that it is already in the Virginia code of laws that people of the same sex cannot marry. Voting no on the constitutional amendment will not change that. It will not make it any easier or legal for gays to wed in this state. The only change that will occur as a result of this amendment is that if it passes, it will establish the precedent of constitutionalizing social policy. Jim Crow was never even in the constitution. To me, a yes vote on this amendment is a vote against love and understanding - are those not pillars of the Christian faith?

Off my soapbox now. I wish my writing could adequately describe how I feel about the importance of this vote. I wish I believed a logical appeal could change minds that are already made up. I have a lot of wishes when it comes to tomorrow's events...

Peace. (That is my biggest wish.)

Comments

[stillbigonbnl.livejournal.com]

I'm voting Allen and No. I'm an oddball conservative who just can't understand how two homosexual people marrying undermines my own marriage. I also don't understand WHY in HELL we need an amendment to the constitution for this. It's gotten rediculous and I wish more people in my party weren't so fucking ignorant. I think the "vote yes for marriage" campaign is misleading. It pisses me off. I had to explain to someone over the weekend that they wanted to vote "no" if they wanted to kill the amendment. They thought voting "yes" was in support of gay marriage. *fumes*

[jianantonic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the campaign is intentionally misleading, IMHO. I kind of figured you'd be voting that way. I'm still not exactly sure why you're a Republican - you and I seem to have so much in common, except that kind of huge thing - but you don't need to explain it to me. Unless you want to. But you know I'm not changing sides:)

[stillbigonbnl.livejournal.com]

Same here and I appreciate the fact that we do agree on some things. I'm definitely more centrist than I used to be and it's because on some things, I'm willing to admit that the "right" way is not the right way. We're not all Bill O'Reilly's and Rush Limbaugh's. ;)

[flamingophoenix.livejournal.com]

The other thing about the gay marriage amendment...I'm not sure if I know the text correctly (I don't live in VA so I haven't been following this closely), but if I understand it right, it prevents any contract from being formed between members of the same sex. This would have prevented ANY close relative from being my great-aunt's Power of Attorney when she began to slide into dementia, because my mom only has sisters. This is a Very Bad Thing.

I could go on and on about how the current health-care system has fucked over my family, but I won't. Just remember: Laws that fuck over gay people fuck over straight people, too. Don't think you're being selective in your hate.

~psa

[medusa-stare.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely understanding it right. In fact, it goes one step further - it bans contracts which mimic the rights of marriage between unmarried people, even if they're not the same sex. So if I wanted to give power of attorney to one of my closest friends, unless I married said friend my parents could challenge it and automatically win. Charming, innit? Three cheers for Virginia.

[stillbigonbnl.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I can't predict whether or not it will pass, but I did have an encouraging conversation last night. After volleyball, we went for some adult beverages. The two gals I went with are conservative - duh - I'm in the valley. They're both teachers and have the day off, so we started to discuss election day. After some discussion of other things, they both surprised me by saying they were voting it down as well. It was surprising since they both grew up in conservative churches such as the one I go to. I just expected them to be all for the amendment.

I really hope we vote this thing down. I've done my part.