Three Strikes and I Am Out

Strike One my candidate lost. That in itself depresses me.

Strike Two I am a Southerner. Many people I considered friends and whose posts I read for support, from the other parts of the country has disparaged my "choice of living locals", my education level, my accent, my supposed inbred ancestry and my supposed lack of work and support for John Kerry. After hearing and reading all of this...I am supposed to accept that I and MY neighbors are the bigots. I logged on hoping to get a little solace with my friends and instead read a bunch of crap.

Strike Three I am Gay. I have had several local dems and several friends in general tell me that the Gay marriage amendments in the swing states brought the religious right out and THAT cost us the election. How dare I be gay and be in the democratic party and give the Repubs the moral issue on my party. If I had just kept quiet, sat in the corner, and shut up, gave money and voted and not asked for any type of benefits for my partner we might of won.

Since the democratic party doesn't want an educated gay Southerner who did what he could, maybe I should look at the libertarians or a more progressive party. After hearing from my friends I am not really sure I want to be a democrat any more.

But I think I'll stay with our fine old party...and see it through to happy days again.

They will come. We've been way more down than we are now...just not for long.

Let's take back the House in 2002.

Did you notice you are living in the past? 2002 did not work out. :(

... I'm just saying, I haven't heard anyone accuse gays for anything. In fact, people are mourning the amendments, but it is true the amendments were used to draw out the Social Conservatives. Just a fact.

Take a look at the election map... the entire South is Red.

Do Southern Democrats need Northerners to come down there and teach them how to organize and run candidates? I'm sure Illinois can spare a few people to help out.

If only the South had supported Bush, we would be celebrating Kerry's victory right now.

All you're interested in doing is scapegoating. At least be honest about it, instead of trying to dress it up with a snotty, condescending offer to send missionaries down to help out us benighted crackers.

because there ain't jack squat down here and i for one could really use y'all's help.

the only way any dems/green/leftists are gonn ahave a chance down here is isf we start with local governemnt first and build a real party down here.

I doubt that's what they meant. I also believe that the Gay marriage amendments in the swing states brought the religous right out and that cost us the election.

But that doesn't place any blame on people who want gay marriage, much less on you. It places blame on fundie whackos who choose to vote for hate and destruction over their own best interests.

I'm a lesbian, I'm legally married to my wife in B.C. I want to be legally married in my own country and I will be. But the reality is that it is my desire to form a family, take care of my wonderful wife, have legally connected children and have the rights and responsiblities that straight married couples have has cost the Dems the election.

It makes me feel sick. We're going to lose SCOTUS in the next four years. The nastiness from the RR is going to get worse now that they have a mandate in the form of 11 states writing discrimination into their constitutions. The backlash is here. Sad day to be queer in the USA.

I have to seriously address the possiblity that I may not be able to live the life I want in my own country. Canada is an option and I qualify to immigrate. Right now Canada is too close. I have an urge to run to New Zealand and never look back.

But the reality is that it is my desire to form a family, take care of my wonderful wife, have legally connected children and have the rights and responsibilities that straight married couples have has cost the Dems the election.


It is also the desires of people like you who give the Dems strength. The Democrats did not support gay marriage -- it was an issue the Republicans trumped up and used as a wedge. I suspect that, with the passing of time, the power of this "issue" to excite the fundamentalists will expire -- likely it was a one election deal. In the meantime, the talent, hard work, votes, and money you and the people like you give to the Democratic Party will go on and on. And in time, I hope the Democratic Party can repay you for that.

For now, I assure you, the Democratic Party is stronger with you than it would be without you. We lost the election, and perhaps that means we need to retool a little. But it wasn't a crushing loss. It would be a crushing loss if people like yourself feel scapegoated and further alienated.

Maybe we should have backed away from gay marriage and civil unions for now and focused on the employment discrimination gays still face. I am in the deepest, darkest South and I can tell you very few, if any, agree with firing/not hiring a person because of his or her sexual orientation. Flame away. I know our gay and lesbian brothers and sister, respectively, want and deserve full and equal rights now, but given the nature of the country and the power of the religious right perhaps the battle has to be won incrementally (see the legal groundwork before Brown v. Board of Education), with healthy dollops of education that heterosexuals have more in common with gays, who are, after all, your brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, and uncles.

A heavier emphasis on the unfairness of the sodomy laws so the country would be in relatively full support of the SCt decision on that issue. Really, the religious right just took off on the marriage issue immediately after that (and the Mass. SCt. just added fuel to the fire). I think we have to tell stories, true ones and hypotheticals, to persuade and gentle people along. But how to do that work without the media on our side I surely don't know. OK. Flame away.

Last thought--with universal health care some of the sting of not having spouse/partner benefits goes away. Some of the other could be legislated piece by piece until the last step wouldn't make much difference.

It's the parties fault for allowing gay mariage ammendments on the ballot!