By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | Sep 14, 7:30 PMA joint session of the Massachusetts Legislature voted 157-39 on Wednesday to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage while calling for legalizing civil unions.
It may be true, that fifty years from now, bigots will still be calling you Those People and trying to deny you your rights, but you remember history, and you take your strength from it, from knowing that right is on your side, and from the hands - the many hands - that are here to help you make it fair.
"If any man claims the Negro should be content... let him say he would willingly change the color of his skin and go to live in the Negro section of a large city. Then and only then has he a right to such a claim."
Robert Kennedy, US Senator, back in the day.
"In a composite Nation like ours, made up of almost every variety of the human family, there should be, as before the Law, no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no black, no white, but one country, one citizenship equal rights and a common destiny for all.
A government that cannot or does not protect the humblest citizen in his right to life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, should be reformed or overthrown, without delay."
Frederick Douglass, back in the day.
"Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours."
Grover Cleveland, US President, back in the day.
"If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."
Abigail Adams, way way back in the day.
"The gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power ... That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today. Why do you think we see the rationalization for abortion and multiple sexual partners? That's a gay agenda."
Tom Coburn, US Senator - recently.
"When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one."
Epitaph of Leonard P. Matlovich, 1988
"You could move."
Abigail Van Buren, "Dear Abby," in response to a reader who complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to improve the quality of the neighborhood
"In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation."
Simone de Beauvoir (my hero, of course)
Thanks for the quotes. Some cool, some downright scary. I'm going to add Simone and the epitaph to my collection...
Posted by: Wolfger at September 16, 2005 8:12 PM