{"id":426,"date":"2006-11-11T10:04:03","date_gmt":"2006-11-11T15:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/426"},"modified":"2006-11-11T10:22:06","modified_gmt":"2006-11-11T15:22:06","slug":"why-we-fightcontinued-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/426","title":{"rendered":"Why We Fight…(continued)"},"content":{"rendered":"

…and why I’m so thrilled that our gutter crawling bigot of a Governor John Ehrlich got the boot last Tuesday.  In May of 2005, Ehrlich vetoed a domestic partnership bill, saying it would "…open the door to undermine the sanctity of traditional marriage."  This was, some of us noted<\/a>, at a time when he was conducting a whisper smear campaign against the family of Baltimore Mayor O’Malley, who everyone figured would be his democratic challenger in the upcoming election.  Ehrlich and his henchmen spread lies that O’Mally was having secret extramarital affairs utterly without concern for the effect on O’Malley’s wife and children.  So much for the sanctity of marriage.<\/p>\n

\n

Ehrlich Vetoes Bill Extending Rights to Gay Couples<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. vetoed a bill yesterday that would have granted rights to gay partners who register with the state, concluding after weeks of intense deliberations that the legislation threatened "the sanctity of traditional marriage."\n<\/p>\n

The emotionally charged bill was among 24 that Ehrlich (R) rejected yesterday afternoon, including legislation to raise the state’s minimum wage by $1, allow early voting in elections and heighten oversight of the state’s troubled juvenile justice system. Another measure sought by gay rights activists that would have extended a property transfer tax exemption to domestic partners was also scuttled.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

(Emphasis mine)  His staff made a big noise to the news media afterward that he would "probably" sign the bill adding gay people to Maryland’s anti-discrimination laws.  But that was another of his little moves to the middle made only when he knew he had no choice.  The statehouse would have overridden a veto of that particular bill and he knew it.  But it was useful to put the word out there that he’d sign it, because he’d just made a move which shocked, shocked, the chattering class…\n<\/p>\n

\n

Ehrlich’s decision to side, almost without exception, with business interests and social conservatives surprised some analysts, who thought he might try to burnish his credentials as a moderate by allowing some of the session’s more controversial bills to become law.\n<\/p>\n

Most of the legislation vetoed yesterday had been strongly opposed by Republican lawmakers. But Ehrlich’s appeal to swing voters was key to his 2002 election in a state where registered Democrats still hold a nearly 2-to-1 advantage.\n<\/p>\n

"I think it’s just breathtaking that he’s casting his lot with the right wing of his party," said Tom Hucker, executive director of Progressive Maryland…"He ran for governor as the moderate, affable son of an automobile dealer who would stick up for working-class families."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

No it wasn’t breathtaking.  It was eminently predictable.  Ehrlich ran as a moderate.  But he wasn’t.  A simple glance at his political career would have made it obvious to anyone. He’s pure Ellen Sauerbrey Republican, and there are no moderates in the Maryland republican party since the Sauerbrey wing took it over.\n<\/p>\n

\n

A leading Republican lawmaker praised him for making "a principled decision."\n<\/p>\n

"I know the governor wrestled with this decision because he may be sympathetic to some of the intentions," said House Minority Whip Anthony J. O’Donnell (R-Calvert). "But sometimes bad laws are the result of good intentions."\n<\/p>\n

Modeled after laws in California, Hawaii and other states, the legislation would have granted nearly a dozen rights to unmarried partners who register with the state. Among those: the right to be treated as an immediate family member during hospital visits, to make health care decisions for incapacitated partners and to have private visits in nursing homes.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A principled decision.  <\/em>Anyone who knows a same sex couple, knows exactly the threat that constantly hangs over them from their lack of legal recognition…<\/p>\n

\n

A woman who could have benefited from the bill, Stacey Kargman-Kaye of Baltimore, said yesterday that she was heartbroken. "I don’t understand how a human being who has a significant other and children could not see the need for this," she said.<\/p>\n

Kargman-Kaye, 37, said that after she emerged from heart surgery five years ago, a nurse literally pushed away her longtime partner, who was there to support her, "because we’re not considered a family in the eyes of Maryland."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But republicans just can’t seem to twist the knife in us enough… <\/p>\n

\n

A group of conservative activists had launched a petition drive in recent weeks that sought to repeal the bill if it became law. They argued that it was part of a "homosexual agenda" advancing in Annapolis. Maryland allows residents to put legislation passed by the General Assembly to a public vote if enough signatures are gathered.\n<\/p>\n

Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr. (R-Anne Arundel), a leader of the petition drive, said organizers would soon decide whether to continue, in case lawmakers override Ehrlich’s veto in January. Dwyer said he was "very pleased that the governor has sent a strong message about the morality of the state."\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Dwyer had been puking anti-gay venom into the Maryland statehouse for years now, and I am delighted to say he lost in his bid for re-election this year.  Good riddence.  Perhaps the voters in Anne Arundel Country had just about enough of his brand of morality…<\/p>\n

\n

Baltimore man wins gravesite battle<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

A gay Baltimore man has won a courtroom battle to keep his late partner buried in the Tennessee grave the two men chose.\n<\/p>\n

But the victory is not absolute. Kevin-Douglas Olive said the parents of Russell Groff have indicated they plan to appeal the Nov. 2 ruling that Olive received Thursday.\n<\/p>\n

“This is awesome,” Olive said. “It may not be over if they appeal, but I feel so good.”\n<\/p>\n

Baltimore City Orphans’ Court Judge Karen Friedman ruled against Lowell and Carolyn Groff, who sought to overturn their son’s will and move his body to a family cemetery.\n<\/p>\n

Groff’s parents argued in court Sept. 25 and 26 that their 26-year-old son didn’t know what he was doing when he completed his will and burial instructions shortly before his death on Nov. 23, 2004.\n<\/p>\n

Groff, who was HIV-positive, died from a staph infection that spread throughout his body.\n<\/p>\n

Olive said Groff was estranged from his parents at the time of his death, and completed a will and burial instructions in anticipation of the legal battle.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So he knew what he was doing all right.  He knew his own parents would try to take him from the man he loved after death.  And they tried.  And they might Still<\/em> succeed.  Morality. <\/p>\n

\n

Olive, who married Groff according to local Quaker tradition in 2003, said his battle illuminates the need for equal marriage rights for gay couples.\n<\/p>\n

“I won, but I wouldn’t have had to go through this at all if the state had some sort of provision that allowed my partner and I to have legalized our relationship in some sense,” he said. “This is kind of bittersweet because I had to go through a lot of shit to get this.”\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A principled decision…<\/em>  That simple Quaker marriage of two young men in love in 2003 did nothing, Nothing<\/em><\/strong> to harm the marriage of any heterosexual couple in this state, or anywhere else.  It takes nothing away from anyone save for this one thing:  the ability to twist the knife in the broken heart of a gay person who has just lost the love of their lives.  There is no pain like the loss of a loved one.  What kind of person wants to make that bottomless loss even harder for someone to bear?  What kind of person sees righteousness in it? <\/p>\n

You have to utterly dehumanize the person who suffers.  (Homosexuals don’t love, they just have sex…)<\/em>  But before you can do that, you have to take your conscience around behind the barn and kill it.  And you do that, so you can make other people scapegoats for everything fine and noble and honorable that a human being could be, that you could never live up to.  All your cheap failures of character, all your pathetic evasions of reality, all those need a scapegoat.  Otherwise, you’ve only yourself to blame.  And the best scapegoat of all, the one you can hate the most without reservation, is the one who faced their life squarely, honestly, and honorably, and became everything a human being can, that you could never be.  It isn’t the sanctity of marriage but the sanctity of gay bashing that they’re afraid of loosing.  Because if we don’t bleed, if we can’t be made to bleed, then they’re not righteous.<\/p>\n

Why we fight:<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…and why I’m so thrilled that our gutter crawling bigot of a Governor John Ehrlich got the boot last Tuesday.  In May of 2005, Ehrlich vetoed a domestic partnership bill, saying it would "…open the door to undermine the sanctity of traditional marriage."  This was, some of us noted, at a time when he was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[32,16,12],"class_list":["post-426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hate","tag-marriage","tag-the-struggle-for-our-lives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}