With a 4-3 decision the Connecticut supreme court ruled this past week in favor of gay-marriage. Connecticut is the 3rd state to allow same sex couples to marry with New York recognizing marriages from other states.

However, there are many dissenters, among them Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut who quoted in the New York Times says, “This is about our right to govern ourselves,’ he said. ‘It is bigger than gay marriage.”

Wolfgang is right. We should have the right to govern ourselvses and the ruling proves it. It’s called equality. The majority does not have the right to govern the morality of a minority. It’s Civil liberties. One of them is sexual freedom.

Today is the anniversary of a horrific hate crime on a member of the LGBT community. Mathew Shepherd died in 1998 bound to a fence Laramie, Wyoming. Shepherd had been beaten by two men just because he was gay. Many news stories today are asking if anything has changed since Shepherd’s murder.

Have they?

“I think if you ask the average American, they think Matthew Shepherd was the last person killed in this country for being gay,” said Kevin Jennings, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a national group that focuses on gay issues in schools. “Unfortunately, that’s not the case,” reports Ryan Lee on the Washington Blade website.

Since Mathew Shepherds murder there have been over 50 confirmed deaths caused by anti-gay hate crimes. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s senseless to use violence to object to someone’s lifestyle and morality. In my opinion it is senseless to have a majority legislate a minority’s morality when that minority is adult and doing nothing to harm a person in the majority.
I’d like to share an extreme notion of hate, which purports to adhere to the Bible and God’s word.Here is hate:

The anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, led by Fred Phelps, picketed Shepherd’s funeral as well as the trial of his assailants displaying signs with slogans such as “Matt Shepherd rots in Hell”, “AIDS Kills Fags Dead” and “God Hates Fags.” When the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that it was legal to display any sort of religious message on city property if it was legal for Casper’s Ten Commandments display to remain, Phelps attempted and failed to gain city permits in Cheyenne and Casper to build a monument “of marble or granite 5 or 6 feet (1.8 m) in height on which will be a bronze plaque bearing Shepherd’s picture and the words: “MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God’s Warning: ‘Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.’ Leviticus 18:22.”

- I got this from wikipedia and verified it on CNN

I know this is an extreme case, but I think it is fair to share and to show what was happening 10 years ago. Still, the LGBT community is still harassed, victimized, beaten, and sometimes murdered for being themselves.

In better news, Michelle Bruce who identifies as a transgender woman in Georgia won a case against her brought forth by two politicians who said she misrepresented herself as a woman.
“Gay rights groups said the lawsuit appears to be a first in the country.” quoted in an AP article By Greg Bluestein.
“I still have a dream to serve my community,” She is quoted in the article.

Why not let her?

http://mdrealestate.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/taxes.jpg

The other day I received in the mail “The official Massachusetts Information For Voters” This is the pamphlet containing all the information concerning the 2008 ballot questions for the Commonwealth. It has the full text of the act and an in favor and against written arguments.

This year there are only 3 ballot questions.

The 1st Ballot question is of the most importance. A yes vote will eliminate Massachusetts personal income tax. This is a sure no vote for me. The elimination of the tax will hit already hurting communities and programs designed to help working poor. The pro eliminators, a grassroots libertarian group, believe it will help working middle class families. I don’t believe this to be true. Regardless of what they say in their argument, revenue will need to be generated somewhere. States have been increasingly getting less money from the federal government. State programs for the working poor and other people in need will be the 1st things to be slashed and maybe not the 1st year or so without state income tax, but sometime soon after taxes in other areas will rise or new taxes will be made. Let’s be serious with the economy as it is the need for social services will rise to take the chance to have these programs budgets drastically reduced is not a gamble the citizens of Massachusetts should take.

Interestingly, under the arguments section a disclaimer reads: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not endorse these arguements, and does not certify the truth or accuracy of any statement made in these arguments…. Government looking after its people? or too busy to tell the facts?

The 2nd question concerns the decriminaliztion of marijuanna possesion in cases of 1 ounce or less. It would make such possession a civil penalty of a fine.

The 3rd question involves the banning of Dog racing, which seems to be a reoccurring ballot question (I personally despise dog racing or any foul use of animals, but that is a future post).