boycott for equality

[smileswhf]

Boycott for Equality is asking the gay community and their supporters to withdraw $80 from their bank accounts on fri, oct 8. This is mainly to protest the now defunct amendment to ban same sex marriage. I'm not sure how effective it will actually be, but I think I like it. It's a really simple way to demonstrate in dollars how discrimination hurts us all.

Comments

Good Thing

[nokomisjeff.livejournal.com]

If Kinsey is right and 10% of the population is gay, just a small proportion of them withdrawing $80.00 from their account will give the economy a real boost. The money will be spent instead of finding it's way back into their bank accounts. It won't hurt the banks at all because money withdrawn from banks by individuals usually finds it's way right back into the bank as soon as it's spent.

I'm not sure personally how I feel about same sex marriage. If we allow it, then what about polygamy, and folks like brothers and sisters getting married, fathers and daughters getting married. I mean if you're going to stop discrimination, you should stop it entirely.

Aloha,

Jeff

Re: Good Thing

[smileswhf.livejournal.com]

I can see your point on polygamy-- if the idea is that consenting adults should be able to legally enter into a contractual relationship that is recognized by the state as confering certain benefits, then polygamy should not be outlawed. I think historically polygamy had the same bias against it as same-sex marriage has now-- religious outrage. And even though polygamy is illegal, there are still numerous documented instances of young girls/women being forced into polygamous relationships. Adding legal credence to it could make these situations worse. Arguably that's another type of problem.

But I really don't think you can fairly group incest into this discussion. I think there are 3 major arguments on why incest is not legal and should stay that way. There is the obvious known fact that it causes survival-of-the-species genetic problems. Second, incest is most often perpetrated against people who cannot defend themselves (children). And the last is a study that I read about some years back. It basically followd 1500 children who were raised together in a creche. The study found that of the children who were together before the age of 6, none of them married other children raised in the creche. Basically, they somehow got programmed that the relationship was too close and it felt like incest. Those who did marry within the creche did so to people who entered it after the age of 6. The study supported the idea that we have an inherent aversion to incest. I'm sorry I don't remember more of the details. Not even sure if I could find that one on the internet.

For me the problem of same sex marriage breaks down into 2 different arguments, the practical and the theoretical. On a practical level, denying marriage benefits to a committed gay is a violation of due process. Although I know some people are offended on a moral/religious level, on a purely secular level, I don't really think it can be countenanced. Then you get into the theoretical: how far should we go in giving legal acknowledgement to relationships. Polygamy is an excellent example because it raises some major issues about health insurance and family leave benefits, so there probably has to be some limiting factor. I'm thinking about one of the old west stories about a guy who was an elder in the mormon church who had 48 wives. A business being required to extend medical benefits to 48 spouses can easily be aruged as unduly burdensome. But if you could work out a reasonable rule in regard to the benefit issues and cost to society, why not allow it?

I'd say the pain of getting divorced would discourage many from getting too legally entangled, but good sense frequently doesn't enter into the picture when you are desperately in love.

Re: Good Thing

[nokomisjeff.livejournal.com]

Not all parts of the globe view incest as a taboo. Certain parts of Melanesia, Polynesia, New Guinea, and Africa not only allow it, but actually encourage it among the higher caste population. As we are becoming an increasingly multicultural society, this issue probably come up.

Also, there are many societies on this planet where girls as early as the age of 6 are married. India is a good example of where this happens.

Most of Western Europe allows first cousins to be married, and a fair number of states in the US also allow first cousins to be married. Is that incest?

What if a mother is post menopausal and wishes to marry her son. There is certainly no endangerment to the species anymore than two same sex partners not being able to reproduce.

Interesting.

Aloha,

Jeff