To my friends planning to vote Romney/Ryan 2012, the impact their administration would have on my life:

• No legal wedding or marriage for my fiancée and me.
• No adoption of a child or children by my fiancée and me. 
• No chance of legislation that prevent my fiancée and me from being fired.
• No health insurance for my fiancée, as she would be kicked off of her mom’s insurance, can’t afford to pay for coverage through her work, and cannot be put on my insurance due to no legal recognition of our relationship. 
• Lack of coverage for my basic health care as a woman (further complicating any chance of my fiancée and I being parents because we legally could not adopt and financially could not afford the cost of having a child ourselves without any insurance coverage). 
• No benefits for my fiancée and me that even remotely mimic marriage benefits.

If I were to vote Republican in this election, I would be voting against my human and citizen rights to marry, to form a family, to receive affordable health care, and to work, among others. Those are not privileges. Those are rights that I would be denied. For me, the choice is simple, it is easy, and it is clear. 

Romney said: “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it — that that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. … These are people who pay no income tax. … [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

I am not a victim. I am responsible. I pay an income tax. There are certain rights which men and women who came before the politicians now in office determined were necessary to a life of dignity. If we’re to be the “best” or “strongest” nation or the “global leader,” we have to be the best, the strongest, the leader of human and citizen rights within our own borders. If we are to be a great nation, we need to be led by a president who believes it IS his job to worry about EVERY citizen. If you can look me in the eye and say I am less deserving than you of these rights, then perhaps you can justify a vote for Romney/Ryan 2012. I will vote for the candidate that agrees that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the human rights declarations, conventions, and our own country’s constitution and laws, without distinction of any kind. 

The simplest way to put it is this: If gay people are humans, then gay people have human rights and they’re desire to have those rights protected isn’t a quest for “special” gay rights; rather, it is a necessary demand for equality. People are people, so everyone’s marriage is marriage, gay or straight; we all have a right to it.

Thoughts on marriage equality:

• Why Same-Sex Marriage Matters
• Think about the meaning of tradition when you use it in your argument
• Why A Heterosexual, Married, North Carolinian Father Of Three Cares About LGBT Equality
• Kate Moulene: Why Legalizing Gay Marriage Will Strengthen America (The Huffington Post)
• Why I Left NOM
• Is marriage a basic human right?
• Equal Protection: A Lesson from Iowa
• Dear President Obama: I support marriage equality. Do you?
• Equal Protection: A Lesson from Iowa

In case you’re wondering what our Founding Fathers ACTUALLY had to say about citizens and their rights…

(Source: BuzzFeed)

“My sisters, my daughters, my friends – find your voice.” — Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

Nobel Peace Prize winners Tawakkol Karman of Yemen, left, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, center, and Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf display their diplomas and medals Saturday at City Hall in Oslo, Norway. The peace prize committee awarded the prize to Karman, Johnson-Sirleaf and Gbowee for championing women’s rights in regions where oppression is common and helping women participate in peace-building. (caption by AP)

(Source: bum-in-thecity, via human-rights-for-all)

“Canada’s Radio Act requires that ‘a licenser may not broadcast….any false or misleading news.’  The provision has kept Fox News and right wing talk radio out of Canada and helped make Canada a model for liberal democracy and freedom.”

¿Puede una institución entera autodeclararse libre de discriminación?