[lbo-talk] Re: anti-gay marriage amendment in Michigan

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Dear List:
>Joel shared the following:
>>We have some incredible news to share with you today.
>Not incredible in the way they think, however.
>>The AFL-CIO has added a strong and powerful voice to the chorus of 
>>those opposing to this poorly written and reckless amendment.
>Let's look at what was posted (not on the front page of the website, 
>but near the bottom of a second page):    
>"This constitutional amendment, if passed, would take away some of 
>the bargaining rights of public employees."
>Translation: Hets may get hurt.
>"Currently many unions have bargained domestic partner benefits into 
>their contracts. These benefits, including health insurance and 
>pensions, covering both opposite and same sex partners and their 
>children."
>Hets listed first.
>"The ballot language is overly broad and this proposed 
>constitutional amendment takes benefits off the table. Public 
>employees have seen a steady erosion of bargaining rights, items 
>that can no longer be on the bargaining table and this proposal adds 
>to the list."
>The amendment is bad because it hurts bargaining rights, not because 
>it discriminates against queers.  If you missed that point, the post 
>concludes:
>"Futhermore, in Michigan gay marriage is already against the law."
>We are already screwing queers over, so what is the need for this 
>amendment which might hurt hets.
>So much for the fantasy of supportive unions.
<snip>
>Brian Dauth
>Queer Buddhist Resister

By supporting John Kerry 
<http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/2/10/4384/65428>, John Edwards, 
Barack Obama <http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/09/092604obama.htm>, 
etc. unconditionally, lots of queers have already sent a message to 
not only the Democratic Party but also to all Americans that they 
will *settle for far less* than the opposition to the anti-gay 
marriage/anti-domestic partnership initiative based on expediency 
(not justice) that the AFL-CIO managed to muster.
-- 
Yoshie

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