This is why Zara is my friend:

Zara, who is the kind of successful blogger I aspire to be, is a friend of mine, and an amazing thinker and writer. Nevermind that I kinda wanna do naughty things with her boyfriend... I cant help it, I just wanna squeeze him, he is adorable... moving on,
Zara has an amazing point of view! I'm not saying this because I happen to agree with her most of the time, but because she is fearless in her presentation of her point of view. Like myself, she has little to no fear about voicing her opinion, to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Below is a blog she wrote regarding Proposition 8.

Im sure many of you are tired of my ranting about politics, wondering why Im not blogging about stupid people, work stress, bad drivers, douchebags, classy ladies, and my daily experiences with ROller Derby, friends, travels, and adventures. Well this is something I am passionate about because YOUR VOTE, and the votes of my fellow Californians...determines MY future, MY rights, and MY LIFE. Yes, Andru is more than a funny, goofy, loud mouthed fun loving homo-bear....he is actually an adult with a complex mind and serious opinionated side....weird I know.

Anyway, Zara wrote this and I was beyond impressed...I was touched. She even bulletined it on MySpace with the post saying "For Andru" She dedicated it to her gays...and this is why she is amazing. I know some people will not share her opinion, and thats fine...but this is MY BLOG and I personally agree with her and Im posting it....so there!! boom.


ZARA:


Be a Straight Without Hate: Vote No on Prop 8 (the attempt that actually posted)
Category: News and Politics

Hey there. Bet you're thinking... "Great, more political bullshit from Zara, that chick who used to know her place and dance like our monkey writing blogs about inane shit."

Well, it's kinda what I've been thinking about lately too.

A few weeks back, People Magazine featured a cover story about actress Portia de Rossi and talk show host Ellen Degeneres getting married. Glossy stills from their storybook wedding filled the center of the middle of the road circular. People were happy to be reading about Portia and Ellen in People. Hell, I think it's a line in all doctors' and dentists' oaths that they're required to keep the publication in their offices for their patrons to peruse.

Here in California, the state which most of the rest of the country regards as being forever a blue one, the state filled with hippies and their medical marijuana, we're STILL facing a crisis over same-sex marriages. First they were approved. Then our governator revoked those rights. Then the Supreme Courts ruled that the marriages would stand. Now? Well, now we face a proposition on our ballots trying to convince the people to overturn those rights AGAIN.

See, we haven't always been a blue state. In 1988, Bush Sr. colored us red. Same with Reagan in the 1984 and 1980 elections. The common assumption is that California is primarily Democrats mainly because our Democrats aren't going quietly into the night. We have celebrity clout on our blue side and being a Republican is a dirty word. Myself and my Sharpies have been thorns in the Conservative side for years.

But numbers are numbers. While our state also boasts the first openly gay political figure in San Francisco's Harvey Milk, we also have plenty of opponents to free thinking. Milk was a member of the San Fran Board of Supervisors and was so beloved a character that his story has been turned into an Oscar-buzz film featuring the ever-controversial Sean Penn. Once again, parading out the gays for everyone's enjoyment.

But Milk was also murdered along with San Fran mayor George Moscone. The shooter was Dan White, another city supervisor who blamed his fear of Milk's homosexuality and popularity as being part of the catalyst in the murders, as well as his desire to withdraw his resignation from his seat. Milk rallied to get together not just the gay community within his district, but had pull amongst others who overall regarded him to be an honest and decent man.

I personally believe that the fear of his popularity drove the murder more than his sexual orientation. Fuck. I hate that phrase. I hate that people who don't get the tingles from the opposite sex have to completely redefine their expression of love and lust. That they have even the smallest of things, like the designation of bride and groom on a marriage application, standing in their way. California has been more accepting of adding Spanish to every governmental form than being neutral in its other specifications.

So... here's the gay marriage opponent's main argument. Same-sex marriages "ruin" what is supposed to be "sacred" about marriage.

Hmmm.... Let's think about that for awhile. Not just the easy pot-shot jokes at hillbilly weddings or the ludicrous idea that Bristol Palin is more prepared for marriage than two adult, college-educated and highly paid and employed tax-paying men might be. Let's think about the very basic sentiment behind the thought that marriage is something "sacred."

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, MOTHER FUCKER.

Most people who oppose same-sex marriage are copping behind their bibles and whining that it wasn't what god would want. I'm not an expert on any religion in particular, nor do I ever care to be. But the basic lesson which I thought sprung from Christianity was that you're not allowed to judge. That only god can. That you're supposed to be accepting.

Why is it that people who claim to be Christians can never follow through on what they claim to be experts at: their own faith?

Proposition 8, the very fact that we're arguing at all about who can marry whom, it's all a fucking joke to me. Marriage, in fact, is a fucking joke to me.

Little known fact about me? Something that I never discussed before in my blogs? I've been married. I did it for legal reasons, because I see marriage as nothing more than that: a legal binding agreement that the court has to hold up for you. I did it so that my daughter would supposedly have support, no matter what. Lot of good it ended up doing for me, causing me more trouble than it was worth.

But my point remains: in the eyes of the law, marriage is simply a binding contract between two people.

If you're under 18, you can get parental consent to get married. Your parents have to sign your marriage documents for you. Why? Because people under 18 can't enter into a legal agreement. It's, well... illegal. They can't hold credit cards in their own name or get car loans. Hell, my kid can't even have a savings account without my name being attached to it.

Marriage isn't sacred in the eyes of the law. It's a way of collecting debt if your spouse defaults on a loan or taxes. It's a way for you to get a different filing status come April 15th. It's how the hospitals are able to find the responsible party when it comes time to pull the plug on a vegetable. Law doesn't give a shit if you attend church or if you don't. It doesn't care if you have kids unless you're asking for governmental assistance for them.

Law has nothing to do with religious, faith-based bullshit.

That's why it's called separation of church and state.

I can't understand being pro-discrimination. Every single person, aside from the straight, white, affluent males of this world, has something about them that people in the past have tried to legally repress.

Women? Well, if you have a brain and a uterus, you can't possibly figure out how to use them both at the same time. Blacks? Baby, you're still only a couple generations removed from slavery. Religious? You've got to be a nutjob fanatic. Atheist? You've got to be a nutjob conspiracy theorist. Drink? Impaired alcoholic. Smoke? Worthless, undisciplined addict.

Too young, too old, too fat, too short... anyone speaking under a faith based principle can use that shit against you. Faith isn't based on fact or science. It's based on hope.

Well, and fear.

And law, our gentle goddess of sorts, she's supposed to be blind. Law abolishes the former bullshit about how certain ethnicities couldn't marry. It says that those under 18 are still growing in their mental capacities, not just for their protection from abuse but to ensure that someone is held responsible for their upbringing. That if you're havin' em, you gots to pay for them and keeps them safe from harm.

Law says that if you're black, you can't be told that you're only allowed to sit at the back of the bus. It says that if you're a woman, no one can say that you're not entitled to a college education. That if you're retarded, you can't be given the same consideration for a job than just the average stupid person.

Law allows you to build a church to whatever deity you believe in. It protects you from those who might do harm to you for having your faith. Law even gives your church a fucking tax break.

And sadly... law even provides faith-based, hatred spewing assholes the choice, freedom and ability to vote on whether or not other people have certain rights.

I believe in the law. If I could say that there was anything close to a faith that I have, it's in the law to uphold the beliefs of the people. I just fear what the majority of the people are thinking right now in California. I cringe whenever I see "Yes on Prop 8" stickers on bumpers and I feel physically ill when people in my life that I consider quite admirable are told that they are "lesser than."

And I get absolutely infuriated when I spend a day listening and looking and hurting over this shit and then find out that the nation is watching "Project Runway" with a passion. Gushing over the gay designers. Laughing at gay comedians jokes. Snapping up issues of People with Ellen on the cover. Or Clay.

Treating gay people like monkeys in a cage at the zoo, there for their amusement, but ultimately "less than" them. Fuck that noise.

Vote NO on Prop 8.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

what did I tell ya? She is amazing.

FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Protect Marriage, yes on 8 is lying to California to win the vote.

they say that voting NO will do the following:

1. Remove the Churches Non-Profit tax status (NOT TRUE)
2. Force teachers to teach children that marriage is okay for two people of the same sex. (NOT TRUE)
3. Prove that 4 Supreme Court judges were WRONG to over turn the vote. (NOT TRUE...it will reverse their order, HOWEVER< the reason they overturned the vote was because the law contradicted the constitution by legalizing discrimination...they found a flaw, and fixed it...)


No on 8, regardless of what the bigots will tell you....does NOTHING to tax status of churches, does NOTHING to the Required teaching materials of the state, and doesn't prove anything except that ALL PEOPLE DESERVE EQUAL RIGHTS.
The bigots will tell you that gays already HAVE the same rights under the civil union, but that we want to use the WORD.....GET OVER IT. ITS A WORD.

****NEWSFLASH....WE ARENT ASKING FOR THE CHURCH TO ACCEPT US, WE ARENT ASKING FOR THE LAW TO FORCE YOU OR YOUR CHURCH TO ACCEPTS US...WE ARE ASKING FOR THE SAME LEGAL RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS THAT YOU GET. THAT IS ALL. YOU WANNA PROTECT THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE??? STOP DIVORCING!!! FUCKING HYPOCRITES!!!!

AND BLACK BAPTISTS!!!!! TALK ABOUT HEARTLESS AND SELFISH....YOU FOUGHT FOR HOW MANY YEARS TO BE TREATED EQUALLY BY THE WHITE MAN....AND NOW YOU ARE DISCRIMINATING AGAINST US????? YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE TREATED AS "LESS THAN" YOU SHOULD BE HELPING US, NOT HURTING US!! WHAT, YOU GOT WHAT YOU WANTED NOW FUCK EVERYONE ELSE? SELFISH. THOSE OF YOU BLACK BAPTISTS WHO SUPPORT PROP 8 ARE NO BETTER THE SLAVE OWNERS!! YOU ARE EXACTLY THE SAME AS EVERY KKK MEMBER AND RACIST...YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN THEY ARE IF YOU SUPPORT PROP 8.



SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.... this epiphany came to me last night as I was driving home....

Those of you who support proposition 8 are, by definition, "a group of people who believe that a certain group of people who are different that yourselves, or believe different beliefs that you do, are NOT deserving of the same rights and equal treatment as you."

there was another group of people who rallied together to remove the rights of people who were different and believed different things...

they were call NAZIS. Think about that you fucking hate filled, bigot NAZI!!!!!