"Inasmuch as a marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."
People are a bit confused on this issue b/c they think it is banning same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage is already illegal here. What this Amendment will actually do is ludicrous. If passed, the amendment will ban all recognition and benefits for unmarried couples, straight and gay. It will block civil unions, domestic partnership and repeal existing protections and family benefits relied upon by millions of Floridians.
This means that any couple, gay or straight, who has been in a long term partnership will not be able to share any sort of benefits. Individuals will not be able to see their significant other if they are in the hospital, possibly not be able to say GOODBYE to them if they are dying in a hospital. It would be a killer to the senior population here in FL, b/c so many of them just form domestic partnerships instead of remarrying after they are widowed.
This Amendment is tricky for the uneducated person. The backers of this are obviously up to something. Two primary motives are driving this amendment and neither have anything to do with protecting anyone's marriage or family. Those backing the amendment see this as an opportunity to eliminate any protections for unmarried Floridians - gay and straight - by stoking anti-gay sentiments. They want their religious beliefs to have the force of law by being embedded in the Florida Constitution. THE CONSTITUTION! Why are we even messing with that to begin with???? Others backing the amendment see it as a political tool to drive ultra-conservative voters to the polls in the hope that they will improve the prospects for conservative candidates in the November election.
UGH!!! My thoughts on this are SO heated right now. I am so completely over religion controlling our country. Separation of church and state is the biggest sack of BS I've ever learned in a history class. The tight hold Christianity has on this country makes me ill. And do not mistake me for being anti-religion. I am very much in favor of people having and believing in a religion. But that is a personal relationship that you have with who ever or what ever you choose to serve and believe. YOURS AND YOURS ALONE. No one on this stinkin planet has the right to shove their beliefs down someone else's throat.
Supporters of this obviously believe that Atheists shouldn't get married, since they obviously don't have any scriptures to go by to begin with. And I am not sure that Buddhists or Doaists or Confucionists or Hindus have some sort of marriage statement in their texts (I am not an expert, so please correct me if I'm wrong), so they obviously don't deserve to marry either. It makes me laugh at how this country is so proud of the medley of ethnicities, races, creeds, and cultures that inhabit these lands, yet here we are, in 2008, still trying to dictate to all of the VASTLY DIFFERENT PEOPLE, how they should live their VASTLY DIFFERENT LIVES. Besides, last time I checked, the Christian God was a loving and accepting being.
And don't even get me started on the Social / Family side. You can take that "children need a mother and father to grow up normal" elsewhere. I grew up without a father, and know countless other "single parent home" children such as myself. Having a man and a woman as parents doesn't make a damn difference! YOU KNOW WHAT DOES? Having UNCONDITIONAL LOVE AND SUPPORT, you idiots! My mom ran circles around the traditional family set up. She provided me with EVERYTHING I needed from parents - all by her onesies. And I am sorry, but there are way more traditional homes out there that are completely broken. If a same-sex couple is truly in love and wants to share that love, they are providing EXACTLY what a child needs from parents. This one lady stood up to talk about her situation. She and her lesbian partner of many years want to adopt, but of course they can't. However, they can be foster parents. SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME??????? How dare we use these willing and loving people to foster children, just because we are in desperate need of foster parents, yet we won't let them adopt one of these children, and provide them with a stable, loving environment.
VOTE NO ON AMENDMENT 2!!!!!!!
Make sure you make an educated choice.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Florida_2008_ballot_measures
My last thoughts: If you don't believe in same-sex marriage, then don't marry someone of the same sex. IT REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE. Why the hell do we have to make everything so complicated?? We are nosy controlling ppl in this country.
Ok, so now that is off my chest - off to do some homework...
