The Ramifications of Prop 8

Someone sent me this in an email and I found it really interesting. I hadn't seen this perspective...think what you will.
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There is a LOT of talk in California right now about Proposition 8. Recently, four judges overturned a state law (Proposition 22 won by 62%) defining marriage as between a man and a woman. I was trying to figure out why everyone was getting so worked up over it. To me, gay people have all the same rights in California as married couples (visiting partners in the hospital, legal contracts, property, etc) so why did they care so much about calling it a marriage? And why do so many people CARE if they call it a marriage? Isn't it just semantics?

Well, I researched it, and in fact, it's NOT just semantics. There will be a legal ripple-effect, and if Gay marriage is the law, anyone whose moral code doesn't support that will be in violation of the law.

Barbara Hagerty of NPR wrote a very interesting article called 'When Gay Rights and Religious Liberties Clash.' It gives examples of situations where a religious organization is sued by gay rights activists, and Gay Rights win every time. Here are a couple very poignant examples:

Adoption services: Catholic Charities in Massachusetts refused to place children with same-sex couples as required by Massachusetts law. After a legislative struggle (during which the Senate president said he could not support a bill 'condoning discrimination.') Catholic Charities pulled out of the adoption business in 2006.

Housing: In New York City, Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, a school under Orthodox Jewish auspices, banned same-sex couples from its married dormitory. New York does not recognize same-sex marriage, but in 2001, the state's highest court ruled Yeshiva violated New York Cit's ban on sexual orientation discrimination. Yeshiva now allows all couples in the dorm.

Parochial schools: California Lutheran High School, a Protestant school in Wildomar, holds that homosexuality is a sin. After the school suspended two girls who were allegedly in a lesbian relationship, the girls' parents sued, saying the school was violating the state's civil rights act protecting gay men and lesbians from discrimination. The case is before a state judge.

Medical services: A Christian gynecologist at North Coast Women's Care Medical Group in Vista, Calif., refused to give his patient in vitro fertilization treatment because she is in a lesbian relationship, and he claimed that doing so would violate his religious beliefs. (The doctor referred the patient to his partner, who agreed to do the treatment.) The woman sued under the state's civil rights act. The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments in May 2008, and legal experts believe that the woman's right to medical treatment will trump the doctor's religious beliefs. One justice suggested that the doctors take up a different line of business.

Psychological services: A mental health counselor at North Mississippi Health Services refused therapy for a woman who wanted help in improving her lesbian relationship. The counselor said doing so would violate her religious beliefs. The counselor was fired. In March 2001, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with the employer, ruling that the employee's religious beliefs could not be accommodated without causing undue hardship to the company.

Civil servants: A clerk in Vermont refused to perform a civil union ceremony after the state legalized them. In 2001, in a decision that side-stepped the religious liberties issue, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that he did not need to perform the ceremony because there were other civil servants who would. However, the court did indicate that religious beliefs do not allow employees to discriminate against same-sex couples.

Adoption services: A same-sex couple in California applied to Adoption Profiles, an Internet service in Arizona that matches adoptive parents with newborns. The couple's application was denied based on the religious beliefs of the company's owners. The couple sued in federal district court in San Francisco. The two sides settled after the adoption company said it will no longer do business in California.

The scary thing about this is not that loving homosexuals would be calling their unions 'marriages', it is the small percentage that will sue anyone who believes otherwise. Churches could lose their 'tax exempt' status. They would stop being allowed to do their charitable work. Pastors could lose the state authority to marry couples if they refuse to perform same-sex marriages.

The very fabric of our society is threatened. Our country was BUILT on religious freedom and a separation of church and state. And here we see the state stepping in and telling churches what they are allowed to believe. It's more than a little terrifying.

We all have gay friends and want them to be respected and have legal rights to share property and hospital visits, but the price of redefining traditional marriage is TOO HIGH. As we learned in the Vice Presidential debate, both Obama-Biden AND McCain-Palin agree on this.

Funny Party Games

I came across a few fun party games while I am planning Lincoln's birthday.  I think some of these are a bit too old for him, but might be fun for the adults!  If nothing else, they'd be great photo ops!

*Baby Gym Relay

Have you ever noticed much moving your little one does?  Most adults would find this exhausting!  This relay race will give your guests a workout.  Place two baskets at one end of the room and a pile of toys on the other end.  Divide the guests into teams.  The game starts at the pile of toys.  Players take turns picking up a toy, crawling (or walking on the their knees) to the basket, dropping the toy into the basket and returning to their team.  Next player takes their turn and so on...until all of the toys are in the basket.  First team to finish wins!

*Muscle Builders

Inflate up to 100 small balloons.  Divide guests into two teams and select one guest on each team to be the "weakling."  The remaining guests will be "personal trainers."  Gather teams on opposite sides of the room and divide the balloons between them.  The weakling puts on one-piece long johns or any other simple jumpsuit type of clothing you may have.  When you say "go," the teams of personal trainers must make their weaklings grow instant muscles by stuffing as many balloons as hey can into their long underwear.  Give teams one minute for this task.  When time is up - and you've taken lots of pictures! - remove and count the balloons for each team.  The weakling with the most "muscles" or balloons, wins!

*Chimp Race (better than twister!)

Players stand side by side.  At a signal, they spread their feet apart, bend over and grasp their ankles.  In this position, with knees stiff, they must cross the goal line (about 20 feet away).  The one who gets there first wins!  If they lose grip of their ankles, they must return to the starting line and begin again!  Don't forget the camera!

*Monkey See Monkey Do (better for older kids)

In this very funny game, none of the players are allowed to laugh.  Here's how it goes:  All the players sit close together in a circle.  One of them starts the game by turning to the person on their right and doing something (eg. squeeze the arm, mess their hair, straighten clothes, make a face, etc.).  Whatever that player does, the neighbor must do it to the next player on their right.  That player must do the same thing to their neighbor.  When it get's back to the first player, they can add another gesture!  If someone laughs, they are out.  Smaller groups work best for this game.

Birthday Planning

So, Lincoln will be turning one (I'm writing this but still don't believe it) on November 9th.  We're celebrating with a big family party and I really need to start planning.  

I didn't have any specific theme until my sister in law suggested a monkey theme!  Fitting for him; if he were to be any animal, it would be monkey.  Not only does he love bananas, but he's most happy when he's being swung around, upside down...and he's definitely a climber.  She told me about some cupcakes she saw at another monkey-themed party.

Directions:

Make chocolate cupcakes

Frost with chocolate icing

Apply nilla wafers (top trimmed off) as mouth

Apply mini nilla wafers (trimmed) as ears

Either frosting or cheerios work as eyes

So really, that's all I have planned so far.  What's left...decorations, games, food, what to wear...I guess I should really get started!  Only 23 days!!  I love party planning.

Unreachable

You don't realize how dependent you are on something until you don't have it anymore.  I'm referring to nothing more than a piece of hardware, over the past few years becoming permanently attached to my palm.  My cell phone.  Hopefully this afternoon I'll be back in the game.  New phone, new outlook.  Although it's been super inconvenient being unreachable it has been surprisingly relaxing.