Gay Marriage and The Florida Constitution
Today, I was compelled to just review our Constitution, I wondered what treasures lie therein that give me my rights and responsibilities as a citizen of Florida. I didn't get very far in my reading today, in fact, I got stuck at the Premable. There is a huge lump in my throat, and honestly, I was nearly brought to tears when I read the very first part of our constitution.
How is it that we are even debating the rights of citizens, when it so clearly states the purpose of the constitution in the first line? What is happening?
PREAMBLE
"We, the people of the State of Florida, being grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty, in order to secure its benefits, perfect our government, insure domestic tranquility, maintain public order, and guarantee equal civil and political rights to all, do ordain and establish this constitution."
It doesn't say some of the civil and political rights for some of the people,
It doesn't say partial civil and political rights for all of the people.
It doesn't say equal civil and political rights for only those designated by petition initiatives.
It doesn't say equal civil and political rights for everybody except . . .
It doesn't say equal civil and political rights for the majority opinion.
It doesn't say partial civil and political rights for the minorties.
It doesn't say equal civil and political rights for the majorities.
It doesn't say equal civil and political rights if you belong to a certain political party.
It doesn't say equal civil and political rights if you belong to a certain religion.
It doesn't say equal civil and political rights if you belong to a race or ethnic origin.
It doesn't say equal civil and political rights if you are heterosexual.
IT SAYS guarantee equal civil and political rights to all.
If Christ Church of Peace and it's members were standing up to fight for rights of heterosexual families, and advocating dialogue to help heterosexual families grow stronger - there would be no rhetoric, only expectation and appreciation that we are doing the right thing. But for many their focus is on the 'gay issue' and not the civil rights issue.
All people deserve equal rights, period, and it says in the Preamble to our consitution that was established to do so. Whether you agree with gay marriage or not, as a citizen of this great state and nation, surely you believe in the foundation that everyone is entitled to equal civil and political rights.
You are absolutely correct....to ALL people as citizens of the United States men and women fall under this category. If you are a man or a woman you are allowed equal rights.
Equal Civil and political rights to all.
That means no matter what race you are you have equal rights in this country and as a U.S. citizen the right to vote. So vote for what you want and quit trying to make us believe that because of your sexual repression, oppression and whatever other sexual preferences you have, that this makes you anything other than a man or a woman or a United States citizen.
You are wanting this country to give you special rights because of who you choose to have sexual feelings toward.
This is not a race in itself, or a culture based on race and ethnicity.
This is sex pure and simple and you want the law to justify your behavior by making it legal to allow you to have the same rights as everyone else.
Well WAKE UP!!!!!!! You have the same rights as everyone else, as a person, as a female or male, as a citizen.
Now because you somehow have reached a crossroads in your choices sexually you want the world to revolve around you.
Stick with your beliefs just as I am sticking with mine, and look down deep inside, because you know that you are not a substandard citizen with less than equal rights. You have good jobs, you have nice houses, you have the right to vote, you have freedom of speech and religion, you have the right to marry. Under the law you have the right to marry one man or one woman, you choose not to do that. So live with your choice and stop trying to shove something illegal down the throats of law abiding citizens......
Posted by: al | June 20, 2006 at 06:42 PM
Al,
No one is trying to make you marry someone you don't want to. No one is forcing you to do anything. You'll be ok.
Even if one's sexuality was a choice, it wouldn't make the love any less valid. I'd assume that if you're married, you chose the person you married. If you're not, I'd bet that you would certainly not let someone else say, here, you have to marry this woman, but not that woman.
No one is saying that we want special rights, or that we're a special race. We want only what's fair and what's equal, the right to acknowledge the love between two consenting adults and expect the same legal treatment and protection as any other set of two legally married adults.
You suggest that people have the right to marry anyone, as long as its someone of the opposite sex. That argument is as thin as the old argument that a Black man may marry which ever woman he wants, as long as she's not White.
Posted by: Thomas | June 20, 2006 at 07:34 PM
“choose to have sexual feelings toward?”
Al, do you honestly expect me to believe that you choose to have hetero-sexual feelings? Are you saying that at any given moment you could just up and “decide” to be attracted to what revolts you the most? That you could have homo-sexual feelings at any moment if you so “chose?” Because if that’s true it’s astounding and I’d like to hear MUCH more about it.
Or were you using the word “choose” as in 'choose to be heterosexual' like Joyce Meyer on Larry King and Jerry Falwell on Chris Matthews have done, to mean choosing-to-do-absolutely-nothing-at-all?
Or have all the gay people in your life actually told you that they choose to be gay, and if so, what have they said when you asked them why they don’t just up and choose to be straight? (I’m assuming you would have asked that.)
Or have I missed something?
Posted by: Emproph | June 23, 2006 at 08:30 AM
Once upon a time, a Christian Education major asked a young lady (who was also a
Christian Ed. major) to marry him. They both planned to work in the church. He
was a perfect gentleman and the young lady loved and respected him so she said,
"Yes." In the third year of their marriage, THEY decided to start a family. They were delighted when they had their little baby girl. When the little baby girl was three months old, "the man decided that he was going to be what he wanted to be", and deserted his wife and the little baby. He told his boyfriend that he never wanted a baby and that the little baby was adopted. WRONG!! He had a penis and he used it. I was there. I am that young lady in the story. The baby girl is now a 15 year old who doesn't feel valued by her dad because he takes
extravagant vacations with his partner and then does not have time off when she
comes to visit.
While I have not remarried, I have not lost
faith in the sacrament of marriage as God intented it to be. There is a heart
problem in our country. There is a sin problem in our country.
The great ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome had loose sexual morals.
Those civilizations fell. How long before our great nation also falls? It has
been said: "If you do not stand up for something, then you will fall for
anything." I stood up and signed the petition. I asked people in my singles
Sunday school class to sign the petition. knowthyneighbor published my name
(0.K.), but they also published my address (NOT o.k.). As a single woman and parent, I am careful about my listing in the phone book and online postings.
Your method of posting names and addresses is an attempt to silence people from standing up for what they believe. It is a form of intimidation.
I would hope that as a church, you would give the single moms and widows prayerful
consideration and only post names of everyone.
Posted by: unclaimedtreasure | June 23, 2006 at 08:21 PM
If one does not want one's address to become public knowledge then one should not put it on public documents.
I have a right to access of that information all of it if it is put onto a petition that is all for intimidation, persecution and the guranteeing of the inability of my partner and I to enjoy the same right as your former partner and you had. Fine you don't want us to fight for marriage... You don't want us to have that because of your religeous views... THEN GIVE UP THE SPECIAL RIGHTS GIVEN TO HETEROSEXUAL COUPLES. There are over 1400 special rights given and confered ONLY on Heterosexual relationships. STOP accepting those SPECIAL RIGHTS and either give them to any consenting adult relationship or NONE!
Posted by: Rev. Ralph | June 24, 2006 at 03:45 PM
Hold UP! Fortunately I havent seen the petition yet so I havent given my information for all to see. I have many gay friends. I am not gay but do not judge them for how they feel or conduct their own personal lives. I understand the purpose of some kind of "legal" joining of two consenting adults. By this I mean if a person is living with someone for a certain length of time, the 2 people need to have some kind of amendment and right to claim each other on taxes and share insurance policies. I feel this way towards anyone even just roomates. I am saddened that we as Americans have to narrow personal relationships to sexual relationships. I hate that we tag and name everything. A heterosexual marriage is what I chose but since we are taking church away from state let it be. As a Christian to me a marriage is man and women, but if a government is to be non-religous let the people do their own thing and lets all focus as a Nation on taking care of our citizens because they are citizens not because of their sexual prefferences. As I finish I was shocked that a church would throw these kinds of low punches. Yes its public record, however listing their addresses was beyond the point. I would never draw a petition of "gay" folks and list it for all to see. The results of such an action would be very tragic... as we all know some people use this kind of information to do things they should not. Peace and Love to you All and I hope one day this can be resolved.
Posted by: Karen Moody | June 25, 2006 at 06:19 PM
"Thou shalt have no other God's before me."
Exodus 20:3
In the Bible, and through many witnesses of repute, the least of which is Reverend Billy Graham, God never said ignore my teachings regarding marriage or anything else I might have told you to obey. Do the judges of courtrooms tell our Judge, our Lord God Almighty the creator of the universe; (including each of these flesh made vessels that call themselves judges) presume that they can tell GOD that they are redefining marriage? God came with a message of love so perfect and all encompassing. His love is based on His redemption of our sins. Those sins are determined by what our God says is a sin. The travesty is not that you are trying to change a Law given in love, written by the finger of GOD. No. The travesty is that you are trying to suggest that you know the price of the priceless gift of love God gave to us all through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ.
"For God so love the (whole) world that He gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16"
By changing the decrees of man, from what God told you what sin is, you are shown trying to take away from the message of God's love and redemption for the homosexual, and lesbian. Do you have a rewrite for the murderer, rapist, thief, robber, liar, adulterer, drug addict/dealer, alcoholic pornographer, porn actor, pimps, prostitutes, strippers, child abuser, wife/husband abuser, bullies, cheat, those who love money, power and themselves more than anything else? If you begin to rewrite these sins as well you tell the lie that you can change the redemptive immeasurable quality of God's love. It is in the redemptive quality of God's immeasurable love, His sacrifice, that those of us who are one or all of the above are redeemed. That we can feel peace and forgiveness after living a life of terrorizing or being terrorized by others. This includes lesbian, gay, homosexual, transgendered, and bisexual children of a God who God loves dearly. God's proof of His love does not need mans interference to rewrite His law. God said homosexuality is a sin. His law is final, but so is His love. If we do not want to accept His gift of Salvation, we do not have to, but that does not change the fact that He loves us more than all that He has created. And even in His love for us He promises us that their will be a judgment. This is inescapable. "Jesus aswered I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through me. John 14:6." Your culpability in misleading those who are desperate to love and be loved, by inciting them to reject the Word of God, condemning them to destruction, makes your sin worse than the ones mentioned above.
"Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or the age to come." Matthew 12:32
A truthful witness does not deceive, but a false witness pours out lies.
Proverbs 14:5
All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.
Proverbs 16:2
Pele Seeker,
once a homosexual, murder, rapist, robber, thief, abuser, child abuser, drug addict/dealer, porn addict, alcoholic, pimp, bully, cheat, lover of money and myself more than anything else ---pardoned by God through the saving Grace of Jesus Christ.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come."
2 Corinthians 5:17
http://www.peleseeker.blogspot.com/
Posted by: King Of Love | July 08, 2006 at 07:46 PM
And again my only comment is WHERE DOES IT SAY TO LEGISLATE YOUR RELIGEON INTO LAW, WHERE DOES IT SAY TO PERSECUTE OTHERS FOR THEIR RELIGEON IF IT DIFFERS FROM YOURS? BY WHAT AUTHORITY DO YOU A CHRISTIAN FORCE THOSE WHO ARE NON-CHRISTIAN TO OBEY THE LAWS OF YOUR FAITH?
Posted by: Rev. Ralph | July 10, 2006 at 12:37 AM
unclaimedtreasure,
Wow, I'm sorry you got dumped. That wasn't very good of your husband. However, what that sad story has to do with this conversation I'm not sure. Are you trying to say that all gay people are wife-and-baby-abandoning, extravagant-vacation-taking jerks like your ex? Even you have to know that's not true. So what bearing should his bad behavior have on me?
You think there's a sin problem in this country? Ok, go preach about it. Save some souls. Don't attack MY family, which is a nice, safe, wholesome one (you know, except for that whole gay thing. As it turns out, being gay actually DOESN'T make you a horrible, indecent person, or a bad influence!)
If you put your name and address on a document that is public record, you have no right to complain when all of a sudden it's a little easier to find than you had hoped. It's PUBLIC. Think before you act, and don't tell us we should KNOW that you're just a poor, hurt single mom (abandoned by some homo, no less) who doesn't know enough to realize that God and your singles group wouldn't be the only ones that know that you signed.
I'm so fed up with sappy-sweet, pretend-nice people like you who don't have a coherent grasp of the legal concepts involved or the ramifications of their actions. If you had an actual argument, I could address your concerns and we could have a dialogue, but instead it's all just fluff and nonsense and "wahhh, my husband left" - pointless! Your -feelings- do not get to determine my right to be treated equally by my government. Ugh!
Posted by: A nice girl who happens to be gay | July 10, 2006 at 03:40 PM
There is no such thing as "gay marriage"... God made Adam and Eve...they were married. He didn't say two men. I don't know where you people got the idea He wanted gays to be together. Read the Bible guys...it's in there.
Posted by: Joe | July 20, 2006 at 10:09 PM
Ok, while you claim that the God talked of in the bible created the world and made Adam and Eve - where did their son's wives come from... since the only two humans that the bible mentions that God creating were Adam and Eve. Don't you think that taking that literally might be a bit on the naive side. It's just another creation myth. Just about every religion has a different one. It's a story to explain away questions that we didn't have the answers to at the time. If you want to interpret the bible literally then you believe that the world is about 5-6 thousand years old... We've carbon dated things older than that. We've found bones older than that. And I have yet to see an unadulterated version of the true word of that God. One that wasn't edited, translated, and changed by the hand of MAN. There are King James Versions, New World Versions, there is the Jerusalem Bible, the new international version, Holy Bible: New Living Translation, Burgundy Leather Flex, Holy Bible: New Living Translation, NIV Holy Bible, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, Third Edition, Zondervan NIV Study Bible, Archaeological Study Bible: An Illustrated Walk Through Biblical History and Culture... Which of these grand august works is the TRUE WORD OF YOUR GOD? And by the way your argument doesn't stand up since YOUR religion should have NO bearing on what rights I have since I am NOT of YOUR religion. And again I say if you want to put the word of your god into law then by all means do BUT do not pick and choose the laws that you put in ALL must be there. That means that lobster is off the menu, shrimp is off the menu, shell fish is off the menu, pork off the menu, non virgin prides are fair game with any large rocks that happen to be handy etc etc etc. I get to take the life of the man who killed my cousin not just get to see him put in jail but I get to take that life for a life. Also if anyone bear false testimony then they are immediately subject to an orchiectomy. Testify means to swear by your testicles - therefore giving false testimony you loose them. Oh this also relieves women of the right or obligation to testify since they by the very definition can not do so. They could bear witness but they could not testify.
There is gay marriage joe, whether you like it or not it does exist - just because your religion doesn't recognize it and just because currently this government doesn't recognize it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. It exists in many other countries. So go bury your head in the sand some more, believe everything in the bible literally if you so choose. I prefer to believe that it was a lesson book but even school books have things in them that are not correct. Take a school book from the 1700s and bring it out today and have a good laugh at the fiction that it tells.
But remember, joe, we aren't asking your religion to recognize our relationships and marriages we are asking OUR government that we pay taxes to. Fine you don't want to give me the same rights to marry the person that I love no problem, then I want discounted taxes since I don't have the same benefits of being a citizen of the country. Or, joe, if you feel so strongly about it GIVE UP the SPECIAL RIGHTS that marriage conveys upon straight couples. Then there will be equality and there will be nothing to fight over.
Posted by: Rev. Ralph | July 21, 2006 at 12:14 AM
It is very sad that you even want to portray that God may not exist and is a myth.
I would rather live my life believing in God and living His commands, and find out there isn't a God
Then to live my life declaring His NON-existence only to find out after I die that there IS a God.
If we all lived that way there would be a better world.
I am a supporter of marriage between one man and one woman,
I am a believer in preserving the family unit,
I am a believer in God and Jesus Christ.
No one can take that away from me.
This doesn't mean I am striking out against gays, it simply means I am supporting my beliefs with the right this country allows.
I am speaking up for what I believe in.
I am not a "hater" because I do not support homosexuality, any more than you are haters for wanting to have your voice heard.
So maybe you should stop striking out and start acting with a little more decorum then making out in the streets and flashing your genitals to prove a point.
Someone MIGHT want to listen a little to your views.
You probably should be addressing those gays give us the impression of homosexuals in a very negative light by displaying their flaming ways in public, and then maybe some of us would listen to what you have to say.
Posted by: alexa | July 25, 2006 at 05:52 PM
Alexa,
When heterosexuals don't make out in streets then you can say stop it to me and mine. If heterosexuals have the rights to kiss, hug and make out then so do we.
I've been to Fort Lauderdale during spring break, I've been to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, I've walked in Rome and on the Beaches of France, Spain, St Thomas, Sicily, and many other places. I have seen heterosexual genitalia there. I saw many heterosexual's behaving the way that you say ALL homosexuals behave. I've been to Fantasy Fest in Key West which is mostly heterosexual. I've seen a woman in her 80's with nothing on but tennis shoe's and body paint.
And if your going to use OUR adjectives then use them properly... A flamer is an effeminate man. I could hardly be called effeminate. However I have seen several so called heterosexuals that I thought were flamers.
If you believe in The God of the Bible and you believe in Jesus then you should follow the teachings there of. As another poster stated the only rules passed down from Jesus were - "love thy neighbor and do unto others as you would have them do unto you." If you love thy neighbor and do unto them as you would have them do unto you then you would not vote to deny other's the same rights that you now enjoy just because of the sex of your partner.
Did you know that one of the original translations of the bible said that Jehovah the god of the Bible went to the Elohim to ask them permission to create Adam and Eve. And did you know that Elohim doesn't mean angels like is commonly thought it means Gods of the others. This is one of the reasons that the bible forbids the marrying of other peoples because the God of the bible didn't want his children mingled with the children of the other Gods. So if one of the original translations of the bible says that there were other Gods running around why can't we practice their teachings? My people were never supposed to become people of the God of the Bible if they had followed their own god's rules. So why should your God's rules be made into law of the land over the Gods of other people? By what right do you have the right to deny me equality. By what commandment of your God do you have that right? Does not the bible say "render unto Cesar that which is Cesar's". Hasn't that always been taken to mean that what the countries laws demand has nothing to do with what the church's laws demand and vice versa?
I'm glad that you believe in your God and Jesus... BUT I DO NOT so why should I be forced to obey their laws? Also what does your god's laws have to do with equal rights under the law. Take your god out of it. Is it fair and just that one couple is denied rights that another couple gets simply because they are mixed sexes? As has been stated many times it has nothing to do with whether the heterosexual couple has children, they still get the 1400 extra rights... WHY because they are male and female and for no other reason. That is discrimination based solely on the gender of the persons getting married and that is not equality.
Posted by: Rev. Ralph | July 26, 2006 at 01:47 AM
Al wrote:
"You are wanting this country to give you special rights because of who you choose to have sexual feelings toward."
Incorrect. Equal rights by definition are not "special rights", but the same rights others enjoy.
"This is sex pure and simple and you want the law to justify your behavior"...
I suppose it is indeed possible that you're here merely to derive some twisted sexual thrill from antagonizing us,
but for most of us that is all about equal rights to recognition of and security within monogamous loving relationships
both spiritually rich and emotionally rewarding.
Unclaimed teasure wrote:
"While I have not remarried, I have not lost
faith in the sacrament of marriage as God intented it to be"
Neither have I, but I suspect that we have differing religious beliefs.
Joe wrote:
"There is no such thing as "gay marriage"...
Same-sex marriages, however, have been recognized by many religions for milennia.
"I don't know where you people got the idea He wanted gays to be together."
I don't know where you got the idea that our laws revolve around Him.
Posted by: Owen R. Broadhurst | July 26, 2006 at 04:39 PM
I think it is incrediby sad that so many gays and lesbians refer to religion in such derogatory terms. Of course, if I lived a life that would be viewed as sinful I might reject religion too. I suppose it's much easier living a life that has no boundaries or controls.
While it is indeed true that many heterosexuals are promiscuous, this behavior is not condoned and exalted by (heterosexual) society as a whole. And, those who enage in such behavior don't petition the courts to have their behavior legitimized.
The term 'marriage' was invented by and for men and women. Most fair minded people would support gays and lesbians having the ability to care for their families but the term 'marriage' is taken. Find a term that encompasses your needs.
For those of you who defend posting the names and addresses of the people who signed the marriage petition, keep in mind that what goes around comes around. Now that this genie is out of the bottle don't be surprised when your enemies use these same tactics against you. It's now not a matter of IF but WHEN. I wonder how supportive you'll be when it's your name on a list.
Posted by: Chris | August 25, 2006 at 05:06 PM
What hateful people there are here. I hope we stop allowing adulterers the right to marry again too, those horrible sinners.
Posted by: david | August 28, 2006 at 09:54 PM
Chris, I see you're rather confused. I'm hopeful that I might assist you:
"I think it is incrediby sad that so many gays and lesbians refer to religion in such derogatory terms."
Who posting here has done that? I certainly haven't. I'm a very deeply religious man.
"Of course, if I lived a life that would be viewed as sinful I might reject religion too. I suppose it's much easier living a life that has no boundaries or controls."
You seem to be making several assumptions here that lack validity. One such assumption appears to be that only your religion is a valid religion, and those who do not subscribe to that religion are somehow libertines. You're very wrong.
"While it is indeed true that many heterosexuals are promiscuous, this behavior is not condoned and exalted by (heterosexual) society as a whole. And, those who enage in such behavior don't petition the courts to have their behavior legitimized."
In case you didn't realize it, equal marriage rights advocates are promoting life-long monogamous partnerships. I'm of the belief that you DO know that, and are merely pretending otherwise.
"The term 'marriage' was invented by and for men and women."
Re-read my prior message above, and let it register.
"Most fair minded people would support gays and lesbians having the ability to care for their families but the term 'marriage' is taken. Find a term that encompasses your needs."
Re-read my prior message above, and let it register.
Posted by: Owen R. Broadhurst | September 06, 2006 at 02:34 PM
"Same-sex marriages, however, have been recognized by many religions for milennia."
Hi Owen. I've heard that said before, but I've yet to see any credible sources. The ancient Greeks celebrated same-sex unions, but referred to them by a different word than the word they used for marriage, and considered it a different institution. What millenia old religions actually referred to same-sex couples by the same word that they used for actual marriages?
Posted by: Genghis Cohen | September 14, 2007 at 06:36 AM
"As has been stated many times it has nothing to do with whether the heterosexual couple has children, they still get the 1400 extra rights... WHY because they are male and female and for no other reason. "
Reverend, for some of those rights, that's a pretty good reason.
Take right number 1026, "the right to annul your marriage in certain states such as New York if you haven't had sexual intercourse in the biological sense of that term." Seems to me, that's a "right" that wouldn't make a lot of sense to apply to two men or two women. That would make their legal contract something of a joke, if either party could just annul at any time without going through divorce.
Or check out "right" number 113, "The Presumption of Paternity." That means a husband is presumed the father if his wife gets pregnant. How does that rightly work when the couple involves two men, Reverend?
Have you even read all of these 1400 "rights" you speak of? Do you even know anyone who has read them all? I haven't. Maybe you should, before you start hollering that we should apply them all blindly to same-sex couples. Trouble is, the rules aren't aren't actually laid out and numbered all conveniently. And you're wrong about them being rights. They are not all rights. Some of them are pretty sticky obligations. You're likely to put some folks in an awful pickle, with all this religion-thumping and gung-ho language. Look before you leap.
Posted by: Genghis Cohen | September 14, 2007 at 06:47 AM
Oh, just in case anyone recognizes me and gets their panties in a wad: I go by the name "Christian" on most other blogs, because that's my actual name. I have learned from painful experience that I can't have a serious conversation with some people about this topic, because they see my name and assume that I'm preaching religion to them. Don't mistake my name for a calling. I speak for myself and not for any higher power, so if you have an issue with God or with Christianity, take it up with someone else, OK? I'm here to chat about the proposed law. I'll also disclose that I'm from Las Vegas, but I've visited Florida lately and am thinking of moving to Florida, for reasons entirely unconnected to the petition. And no, I haven't signed it; I'm not a resident.
Posted by: Genghis Cohen | September 14, 2007 at 06:54 AM
I'm wondering if anyone on the blog who is gay has experienced harassment by neighbors who have signed the petition.
My partner and I have lived in a suburban neighborhood in Port Orange for only a fairly short period of time. No problems at all with neighbors until a month or so ago when a pile of pruned shrub limbs was not picked up with the usual garbage delivery.
Before we could remove the limbs at the end of the day for next week's pick-up, we got a very hostile call from a neighbor who lives on another block, but must pass our house on her way to work daily. She instructed us to remove the shrubs.
Our neighbors across the street, a married couple, had pruned stuff out for days the same week, and did not get a call.
When I checked KnowThyNeighbor, I found the neighbor who placed the call had, indeed, signed the petition. I have no choice except to regard her call as a form of harassment, to let my partner and me know we are not welcome in the neighborhood.
Furthermore, since our number is unlisted, I suspect she got it from the neighborhood association office.
Interested to know if anyone else has had similar experiences. Fortunately, we will soon be moving from FL, where we've had other neighbors shout "faggot" at us as we rode our bicycles past their apartments. We also lost our jobs this year because we are openly gay.
Not a very welcoming environment here.
Posted by: JusticeforAll | October 23, 2007 at 01:05 PM
I'm wondering if anyone on the blog who is gay has experienced harassment by neighbors who have signed the petition.
My partner and I have lived in a suburban neighborhood in Port Orange for only a fairly short period of time. No problems at all with neighbors until a month or so ago when a pile of pruned shrub limbs was not picked up with the usual garbage delivery.
Before we could remove the limbs at the end of the day for next week's pick-up, we got a very hostile call from a neighbor who lives on another block, but must pass our house on her way to work daily. She instructed us to remove the shrubs.
Our neighbors across the street, a married couple, had pruned stuff out for days the same week, and did not get a call.
When I checked KnowThyNeighbor, I found the neighbor who placed the call had, indeed, signed the petition. I have no choice except to regard her call as a form of harassment, to let my partner and me know we are not welcome in the neighborhood.
Furthermore, since our number is unlisted, I suspect she got it from the neighborhood association office.
Interested to know if anyone else has had similar experiences. Fortunately, we will soon be moving from FL, where we've had other neighbors shout "faggot" at us as we rode our bicycles past their apartments. We also lost our jobs this year because we are openly gay.
Not a very welcoming environment here.
Posted by: JusticeforAll | October 23, 2007 at 01:05 PM
I'm wondering if anyone on the blog who is gay has experienced harassment by neighbors who have signed the petition.
My partner and I have lived in a suburban neighborhood in Port Orange for only a fairly short period of time. No problems at all with neighbors until a month or so ago when a pile of pruned shrub limbs was not picked up with the usual garbage delivery.
Before we could remove the limbs at the end of the day for next week's pick-up, we got a very hostile call from a neighbor who lives on another block, but must pass our house on her way to work daily. She instructed us to remove the shrubs.
Our neighbors across the street, a married couple, had pruned stuff out for days the same week, and did not get a call.
When I checked KnowThyNeighbor, I found the neighbor who placed the call had, indeed, signed the petition. I have no choice except to regard her call as a form of harassment, to let my partner and me know we are not welcome in the neighborhood.
Furthermore, since our number is unlisted, I suspect she got it from the neighborhood association office.
Interested to know if anyone else has had similar experiences. Fortunately, we will soon be moving from FL, where we've had other neighbors shout "faggot" at us as we rode our bicycles past their apartments. We also lost our jobs this year because we are openly gay.
Not a very welcoming environment here.
Posted by: JusticeforAll | October 23, 2007 at 01:05 PM
No special rights for heterosexual couples. Some people here feel it necessary to impose their religious beliefs on others. Please keep your god to yourself. This is not a religious issue, it is a civil rights issue, PERIOD! Please read the Florida Constitution, "guarantee equal civil and political rights to all" ring a bell?
Posted by: Liberty and justice for all | February 05, 2008 at 08:17 PM
Emproph,
Take heart, and remember that FL is a "right to carry" state - just in case of one of those unwelcome "confrontations."
Posted by: therapist4$100 | April 09, 2008 at 11:54 PM