When the beating of your heart, echoes the beating of the drum...

[msparker16]

Tonight I went to my first “political” related gathering. It was a meeting for the GLBT Democrats of Suffolk County. Rose was interested in going because the topic at hand was a proposed Domestic Partnership Registry. So, excitedly, I tagged along. I always have the feeling that I want to be more political minded, that I want to stand up for

Comments

in support of Benchly

[that_girl2]

to add on to what he said....

recently, Mark Larson, a member of our House of Representatives, proposed a bill that will legalize same-sex marriage in Vermont. though we are not expecting the bill to be voted on (let alone voted out of committee) this term, we do believe it will be taken up next term. currently, the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force (a group that has been in existance since the early '90s and has lobbied for same-sex marriage, as well as other GLBT rights - namely the recently passed bill to protect folks from discrimination based on gender or supposed gender-identity -- a huge step forward for the trans folks in our communities) is running a grassroots campaign to get information to Vermonters across the state. a recent poll showed that approximately 45% of Vermonters are in support of gay marriage or are leaning in support of it...we still have a lot of work ahead of us, but we certainly have not stopped the conversation about full equality.

Re: in support of Benchly

[beauty_bandit]

Conversation has to lead to something more than conversation. In 6 years since instituting civil unions, the results just haven't been there. In all honesty, I hope that your same-sex marriage bill is successful....mostly because it will show the rightful evolution of rights. That people can no longer say that civil unions can/should be the end game when they look at vermont.

and just cuz i can't keep quiet

[that_girl2]

I agree that the seeming stagnancy of Vermont has proved stifling at times and I also wish that we had moved forward at a faster pace; however, one point I believe has been missed is that because Vermont was the first state to provide any type of legalized union between same-sex individuals, we were also the first to garner the wrath of our conservative nation. The silence of the past 6 years has been more about GLBT Vermonters, both generational and transplanted, effectively countering the constant backlash that resulted from being first to provide unions. The backlash continues to this day, as I'm sure it does in other parts of our country. Being the first to do something new usually results in being the first to come under attack and to continue to be attacked. After all, it could be argued that if not for Civil Unions in Vermont, perhaps Massachusetts wouldn't have jumped on the queer bandwagon...or at least, those are the types of arguments we still hear up here...in effect, it's "our" fault that the whole gay marriage debate

Re: and just cuz i can't keep quiet

[beauty_bandit]

If it wasn't for Hawaii or California, perhaps Vermont wouldn't have done what it did either.....Those who are saying its "your fault" that the whole gay marriage debate began, are ill informed as to the history. But again, anyone who is railing on gay marriage seems ill-informed - to me - to begin with