“No on Prop 8″ movement alive and well (NOH8 Campaign)
WASHINGTON, DC (Herald de Paris) - California’s Proposition 8, effectively banning the marriage of same sex couples, may have been ratified in a public vote more than a year ago. Nevertheless, the “No on Prop 8″ movement never ended. It has been given a new life as the NOH8 Campaign (http://NOH8campaign.com), a photo project and silent protest begun by Los Angeles photographer Adam Bouska and his partner, Jeff Parshley, as a direct response to Prop 8. Thousands of gay, lesbian, and straight individuals have offered their photo in a visual show of support.
We pick up the discussion, below, as it occurred in the last hour of the East Coast Edition of Le Morning Show (The Herald de Paris’ LIVE news program), which is twitcast weekday mornings, from 6-9am. The panelists are Herald de Paris publisher and Le Morning Show host Jes Alexander (Jes) and Le Morning Show news anchor Fi Brownrigg (Fi). The format of Le Morning Show permits listeners to be an active part of the conversation, and their interjections are also noted.
(This is an excerpt of the actual show transcript, as it aired on December 07, 2009)
(Jes) For those of you who missed it, The Herald and I are now supporting the NOH8 campaign.
(Listener Jojo) All this denying people marriage rights really troubles me.
(Jes) SF Mayor Gavin Newsom calls it, “Separate but equal,” and it’s wrong. It reeks of segregation.
(Listener Jojo) I agree it’s just wrong!!!
(Jes) In Virginia, same sex marriage laws completely ruined the Virginia Statutes for Religious Freedom, written by Thomas Jefferson. The government is not supposed to be involved in telling the church what to do. It’s so basic it’s unreal. You see, the thing about the same sex marriage bans is that you don’t even have to BELIEVE in same sex marriage to know it’s wrong to deny certain segments of any population the basic rights afforded to others.
(Fi) “Separate but equal” is a joke. And yes, this is a religious issue, not a moral or legal one. Didn’t we learn this lesson already with Brown v. BOE?
(Jes) You’d think that as a nation birthed by people seeking refuge from (religious) persecution, we’d know better. Clearly we don’t. I’m afraid that the same sex marriage issues prove that Brown vs. the BOE taught us nothing.
(Fi) Doesn’t seem so. We seem doomed to keep repeating the same mistakes, over and over. Is our memory really that spotty?
(Jes) I think our memory is “selective” .. Yes – And it’s disgusting.
(Fi) I don’t know why we can’t just admit to ourselves that this has no business being in our Constitution.
(Jes) Anyway, that is why I’ve decided to openly throw my support to the NOH8 campaign. Wrong is wrong.
(Fi) What’s next, outlawing fornication? Re-instating the death penalty for adultery?
(Jes) I can admit it.
(Fi) There are in fact individuals in this nation who would like to see this country turn into a theocracy, and I can’t understand it.
(Jes) Somewhere on Monticello Mountain, Thomas Jefferson’s spirit is restlessly stirring – he was adamant about religious freedom.
(Fi) Name one thriving theocracy in existence today. This is a notion from ancient tomes, not a healthy, democratic ideal. Exactly! Even from a religious perspective, though, none of this makes any sense. The basic principle of Christianity is that God gave man a CHOICE, rather than FORCE him to be good.
(Jes) Well, a theocracy sort of DEFIES a democracy.
(Fi) And we’re not talking about murder or rape, here, where we can clearly identify a victim. We’re talking about marriage, so why *force* someone to meet one religion’s definition of “good?”
(Listener Al) (”Name one thriving theocracy in existence today.”) Apple?
(Fi) 50 years from now, we’ll likely be shaking our heads at the bigotry of our nation, the same way we do looking back at Jim Crow days.
(Jes) We can only hope so, Fi.
(Listener Bryan) So here is a question…what if those new laws indicted someone who refused to perform a same sex marriage?
(Fi) *laugh* It’s true. I feel like we go on a gay marriage rant at least once a week. We’ve lost at least one follower for that. I think it’s inevitable; as the orthodox populace dies off, more progressive-minded (in original sense of the term) youth take over.
(Jes) Well Fi, we can lose a whole lot more, if necessary. Wrong is wrong. Separate but equal is wrong. The state dictating church activity is wrong. I think we just lost another. Run. I have no room for the short-minded autocrats. I hope I speak for all of us at Le Morning Show when I say that we believe in equality for ALL people. Period.
(Fi) As a frequenter of church, and an active and passionate member of my faith, I can say we are not anti-religion here at LMS, just not proponents of legalizing religious ideals that don’t translate over into hard-and-fast moral issues, such as murder.
(END transcript)
Please visit the NOH8 Campaign at: NOH8Campaign.com
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