Prop 8 protesters gather at Capitol

Am I the only one that finds it ironic that when 120 people gather to protest a ruling affecting a state 2,000 miles away The State News slaps the story on the front of their website, but when 5,000 people gathered at the Capitol in April to protest out-of-control spending and high taxes that affect this state I had to dig around the site to find the story?

Isn’t it ironic how there’s always got to be that one person who has to criticize The State News at a random late time? Let’s not have a life and go online to criticize a student newspaper.

Wow, great rebuttal Yellow-Journo, way to hit it out of the park.

No, Jacob, you are not the only one.

And you can say, “I told you so” when Slick Barry’s training program causes increases in taxes to re-pay the Chinese Communists.

Stupidity — a way of life at MSU.

Calif. voters (including African-Americans and Asian-Americans) approved Prop. 8 by 52%.

That is what the current U.S. president won by, 52%.

Should the 48% who did not vote for the current U.S. president — a state senator 4.5 years ago — demonstrate non-stop against the current U.S. president?

Heck — should Judge Sotomayor get the same treatment as Justice Thomas?

Fair is fair, isn’t it?

Oh. Non-Democrats have no rights?

Sorry.

““We’re disappointed that the Supreme Court in California has not stood by its duty to protect the constitutional rights of its citizens,” rally co-organizer Robert Van Kirk said. “The state of Michigan must come together as a people to oppose this unconstitutional amendment.””

What about the Constitutional rights of those who passed the amendments? Look, it’s too bad that you’re in the minority and that the majority of the state views your condition as either morally bankrupt or mentally ill, but the process for establishing amendments is clear and there for a reason. Want your condition recongized as valid? Get an amendment to ALLOW gay marriage. Follow the legislative process instead of whining and litigating.

And how can an amendment to the Constitution be unconstitutional? Did someone forget their brain medicine this morning?

I’m saddened by the ruling, but it will be repealed in the next decade or so in California. The chief question for the justices was not whether or not the amendment process was valid but whether or not the amendment constituted a re-writing of the constitution. On the one hand, the court said “Gay marriage is a legal right” by virtue of the California state constitution and the removal of that right via amendment could be considered a re-write and therefore require an additional legislative hurdle.

To be quite honest, the entire California situation is screwed up. There have been two attempts to get gay marriage legalized through the legislature that were vetoed by the governor (who, unlike all other politicians wanted the issue to go to the courts); the courts ruled it legal and then the people turned around and made it illegal— with quite a bit of pushing from the non-taxed LDS church running scare ads about those scary gays trying to take over your households.

As for Proposition 2 in this state, I doubt anything will be done for quite a while. It’s one of the key reasons (in addition to the dismal economics of the region) that I am going to leave this state when I get my degree. It is hateful and its proponents are true bigots. There is no legal reason why any two people should not be able to enter into a marriage contract. Anyone who denies the rights of a gay couple to marry is doing it only out of spite and fear.

These events will continue because the protestors know they’re marching downhill, which is a lot easier. Each new generation of Americans is more accepting of gay rights than the previous generation; in the end, acceptance of legal marriage/unions for gays is all but inevitable.

American society has always tilted toward the expansion of personal liberties. Of course, whether that makes us enlightened or decadent depends on who you ask.

Anyone who denies the constitutional rights of non-gay people is doing it only out of spite and fear.

It’s sad to see that those who are opposed to the will of the people think protesting in a state that passed a similar amendment with a larger percentage than California did. Gay marriage is a states rights issue, and that’s one of the great things about this country. During the early years of this country the first amendment only meant that the federal government could not step on people’s religion, but states were allowed to set up a state religion if they wanted. That’s the joy of living in our country.
If you want to get married as a gay couple move to a state that allows it. That is the point of federalism. The Constitution created a federal government that had limited control, so that states could be in tune with the people in that area. So go live in Massachusetts,Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, or Maine.
If being married is so important to you, move, don’t force your personal opinions on the will of the people.

Spite and fear??? No, it’s not about spite and fear. Opponents of same-sex marriage are actually observant to what’s happening in other countries with same-sex marriage. They see how pastors are arrested for “hate speech” because Christianity speaks against it. There are cases of churches being sued because a church would marry the gay couple. So I guess there is a fear, a fear that what has happened in other countries will happen hear. That the rights of the minority will infringe negatively onto the rights of the majority, and this is the problem.

What will tomorrow’s protest at the capitol be about? Increased traffic fines in Maryland?

I was one of the people there last night. It wasn’t so much about what happened in California. We are human beings too. We have just as much right as everyone else in this country. But all of you that are saying… oh..just go somewhere else…. NO. I won’t my WIFE won’t. We aren’t just going to go away. just like the African American’s didn’t. Just like Women didn’t. It’s not about your religous views people, it’s about every American having equal rights, no matter what their orientation is. no matter what. And We won’t stop. Not until the LGBT community has equal rights in all 50 states. So say whatever you want, but we won’t go away.

Civil Rights are not voted on, they are guaranteed by the Constitution. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Look out folks, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Doesn’t history show that the “majority” is always wrong (hence: progress)? There is no excuse to pretend to be a Bible thumper when you use it to bash people on the head in order to preserve the status quo.

Does anyone else think it’s ridiculous that the laws will recognize the marriages of game-show contestants, shotgun weddings, ridiculous celebrities making publicity statements, those performed by an Elvis impersonator in Vegas, etc. and somehow two committed, loving, same-sex partners getting married undermines the word “marriage” and therefore should not be recognized?

And the point of federalism is that a state can restrict your individual freedom and you’re forced to move from state to state, keeping your fingers crossed and hoping that the ignorant majority won’t push you to another state? Should people have to relocate, find a new job, and a new house just to be able to enjoy a right that should be recognized in every state? Since when did individual freedom become a luxury that only certain classes are entitled to?

Don’t “force your opinions” on other people?!? What do you think the majority in California did when it passed an amendment to ban gay marriage? How is it that the marriage of two same-sex partners affecting the freedom of anyone else other than those two people? If I want to get married to a person of the same sex, I don’t see how it concerns anyone else’s freedoms and rights but my partner’s and mine.

The court opinions and laws in other states have implications on the rest of the country. Good for those people who showed up at the rally and stood up for what they know is right.

How is marriage a “right?” Last time I checked, you didn’t have to fill out paper work and get a license for something that’s a right.

Between 1 man and 1 woman, to nme that is what make sense.

:-o oops! There I go again!

So you don’t have to fill out paperwork to exercise your right to vote? What about your right to bear arms?

Do the rights to due process and privacy in the Constitution only apply to rights that don’t require paperwork?

Lesley,

I know the wording is confusing because the word “right” is used in the Constitution, but many people are under the same mistaken impression that the Constitution “gives” us rights. It does not. It sets forth the limits WE place on the government. Hence, paperwork involved with voting or guns is a bastardization of the actual right, because those rights do not flow from the state and it has no business requiring any paperwork be filled out.

Federalism:

“If being married is so important to you, move, don’t force your personal opinions on the will of the people.”

The same could have been said to interracial couples in certain states before Loving v. Virginia in 1967. The will of the people in those times would have kept interracial marriage illegal. But luckily, we have a judicial system in place to protect the rights of minorities from the will of the ignorant dumbasses.

52%:

“Should the 48% who did not vote for the current U.S. president — a state senator 4.5 years ago — demonstrate non-stop against the current U.S. president?”

If you feel that he has impinged on over 1500 of your rights (the same amount of rights denied to gay couples who wish to be married), then yes, by all means you are free to demonstrate!

And even if it’s less than that, go ahead! But if you are demonstrating because he has given 95% of us tax breaks, while increasing taxes on the other 5% of us to levels seen in the Reagan years, and you do so “teabagging”, I will laugh and point at you.

Click it for more information. Great way to read the recent blogs that have been currently written to the wonderful SN articles. Way to go……..

Nate,

Not to go off topic, but I need to point out that you have been badly misinformed regarding that “tax break.”

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/INSIDE-WASHINGTON-Rude-apf-15091434.html?.v=1

To those who protested: if this is so important why not travel to California instead of wasting the time of Michigan lawmakers who had nothing to do with the decision?

Or better yet stay in your own yard.