Thumbs up for Gay Marriage in Massachuassachusetts

[ribbon]

Tomorrow, monday May seventeenth is the big day. Massachusetts begins performing LEGAL gay marriages. The supreme court turned down hearing the appeal so no one can stop the marriages :yay :yay :yay :yay.
I just have to say, :hugon Massachusetts :hugoff you rock!

[Shauna]

Thank God!

I was just about to suggest that priests and clergy who are for same sex marriages ban woman/man marriages until ssm's are allowed. :sarcasm

[fiazzi]

:balloons :balloons :balloons

I am so PROUD to live in Massachusetts!

Hurray for tomorrow!

and Shauna... I go to a Unitarian congregation, so we're a bit more liberal than most, but my minister and a bunch of others in the area have done just that for some time now- refused to perform ANY kind of marriage until ALL kinds are legal. Just thought I'd let you know.

:love yay :love

[ribbon]

fiazzi said: :I go to a Unitarian congregation, so we're a bit more liberal than most, but my minister and a bunch of others in the area have done just that for some time now- refused to perform ANY kind of marriage until ALL kinds are legal.

Now that's the kind of church I like to hear about :yay. I don't live in MA (it's too cold and expensive) but I sure wish I did because of this.

[Dorian]

:sun I am very happy about this also - yay Massachusetts! :sun

:love Kate

[sunshinesmile]

It's things like this that make me even more proud to live in Massachusetts :supergrin . I'm so glad Mitt Romney couldn't stop it from happening and I'm so happy for all the people who will be able to get married :yay

[Rosey]

I just heard this on the UK news this morning. :cheesy

Way to go Massachusetts! :robot

:love Rosey

[shortstop]

Simply said....FINALLY.
So how long do you :fishy think it'll take before the rest of the states follow suit?

[Amsters]

so my internet service provider has an article on this on their main page and the title was...

Same Sex Couples Wed in Mass.

i appreciate the coverage but must admit the title had me laughing. My brother thought it meant "tons and tons of same sex couples get married simultaneously." I thought it meant "same sex couples get married during a roman catholic mass" (imagine the church reaction to that one). It was only after both of us really read it and saw the tiny period at the end that we realized Mass was Massachusetts. :happy

[Marigold]

I'd like to add a :yay to this too!

:balloons :love :love :love :rainbow :balloons

-Marigold:sun

[Shauna]

:hugonfiazzi:hugoff

:muhaha

I actually hadn't heard that gay marriages were allowed in Mass. Mind you, I could probably name about twenty places that stopped all marriages a couple of months ago because that was all that was on the news. I remember that even mail in marriage licenses weren't being accepted because "two men or two women might just get married". I mean, hello? Is it just me or is there a war going on in Iraq? Yep...I can see how much more scary it is for two people who love each other to get married.

:hugonshortstop:hugoff

I'm sure that quite a few of the states will follow, but of course, there will be the ones who don't allow it. Pity on those states. I believe it's legal in most of Canada, but some of the provinces are still against it.

[TapJazz]

:yay :balloons :yay :balloons MA :balloons :yay :balloons :yay
:yay :balloons :yay :balloons MA :balloons :yay :balloons :yay
:yay :balloons :yay :balloons MA :balloons :yay :balloons :yay
:yay :balloons :yay :balloons MA :balloons :yay :balloons :yay

[kapoker]

I'm proud to be a :starsBostonian:stars right now! It's sad that it took so long and so much fighting for this simple right to be afforded to everyone, but I'm thrilled that we've finally made it happen. Some of my friends were at City Hall at midnight for the celebration and they said it was absolutely incredible. Go MA!

Rachel :peep

[ribbon]

Do any of you bostonians personally know a couple who has been married in Massachusetts since the seventeenth?

[fiazzi]

I'm not a Bostonian, I'm a Northampton-ite :winky

but the answer is YES, I do know several couples who were married yesterday. Downtown Northampton was like a party- the clerk's office was overflowing, and there were people there with flags and balloons :balloons

the office opened early and closed late, and as far as I can tell the tide of couples shows no sign of stopping :happy

my aunts live in NY state, but they're talking about coming out to visit us, and getting legally married while they're at it (they've been together for over twenty years, so it's hardly a rash decision!)

the thing is... now there's all this contention about whether MA same-sex marriages will be valid in other states. The struggle never seems to end, does it? :ohboy

but regardless- yay massachusetts!

[ribbon]

fiazzi said: but the answer is YES, I do know several couples who were married yesterday. Downtown Northampton was like a party- the clerk's office was overflowing, and there were people there with flags and balloons :balloons

the office opened early and closed late, and as far as I can tell the tide of couples shows no sign of stopping :happy
That just gives me chills :supergrin.

[kapoker]

One of my former professors was on line at City Hall at midnight to get married :balloons. I also have a lot of friends who, while they're not getting married right this minute, will certainly reap the benefits of this new law in the future!

Woohoo! :yay

Rachel :peep

[fillmeup]

CONGRATULATIONS MASSACHUSSETS (not quite sure if that's how you spell it)

:robot :robot :bowtie :bowtie :yay :yay :smokin :smokin :balloons :balloons :gimmehug :gimmehug :lubdub :lubdub

i think it's really great that gay couples can now finally be given legal recognition and acceptance, let's hope that wider social recognition and acceptance will follow.

i very much hope that this precedent will be followed by other states and indeed countries (like my own).

x
fillmeup

[macgirl]

This letter was in today's (May nineteenth) Boston Globe.

AS OF May seventeenth, my family will not patronize any Massachusetts business, purchase any products originating there, or visit, for any reason. You are driving our nation down the path of decadence.

JOHN C. O'NEILL
Keystone Heights, Fla.

I'm so glad I live in Massachusetts. I want to live in the path of decadence! :supergrin :muhaha Honestly, though, isn't it something we all strive for? To live in decadence all the time sounds like fun to me!

[ribbon]

I'm sure John O'Neill and his family can find lots of places to shop in the bible belt :muhaha. If I lived in Mass. I wouldn't want his judgmental butt voting in my state!

[kapoker]

ribbon said: I'm sure John O'Neill and his family can find lots of places to shop in the bible belt . If I lived in Mass. I wouldn't want his judgmental butt voting in my state!

:muhaha :muhaha :muhaha

I couldn't agree more...my feeling is, why doesn't he worry about saving his own ass from whatever hell he believes awaits, and quit bothering everyone else??

Rachel :peep

[Tashawashere]

This gives me hope for the rest of the nation. Maybe Georgie Dubya won't be able to force his beliefs down the rest of our throats after all. God bless you Massachussetts!! :ribflag :supergrin

[shacki]

:yay MA :yay

i go to school in boston and i've had some pretty heated debates on the subject. i still find it hard to believe that there are kids my age in college that would be against same sex marriage but i guess you are a product of your environment.

i came home for the summer to liberal ohio right before the seventeenth but a bunch of my friends were out celebrating at quincy market and city hall.

[ribbon]

shacki said: . i still find it hard to believe that there are kids my age in college that would be against same sex marriage but i guess you are a product of your environment.

Why do these people oppose it? Is it discrimination under the guise of religion?

[lehilberg]

i like reading the :fishyies views on all this.

i live in kansas. i am pretty much willing to bet that this state will NEVER support same sex marriage. or at least will be the very last to pass the law.

i am one of the only people i know who supports it. i'm ashamed to admit that i kind of keep quiet about it. i just don't have the energy to deal with the amount of criticism and 'righteous indignation' i would face if i did.

anyone ever heard of fred phelps? he is a church pastor who travels all over the country picketing against people... i bet he spent last week in MA! this must be killing him. he lives in topeka, just blocks from where i go to church (which he pickets). you know it's his house cuz of the upside-down american flag hanging in his yard.

but i say...
YAY MASSACHUSETTS!

and i have to add... if all goes well, i will be moving there next fall! maybe i'll fit in better...

[shacki]

:hugon :ribpink :hugoff

some of the reasons i have heard against gay marriage are religious in nature. i go to a school that has a large jewish presence and most orthodox jews are against gay marriage as well as any type of gay relationship whatsoever.

i've also heard a lot of people say that it's not natural and men are supposed to be with women, that is how babies come into the world and so on.

i think that many guys also do not feel comfortable supporting gay men because they feel that it is a threat to their own masculinity. most guy my age that i know, even if they do not have a problem with gay marriage, are still "weirded out" by gay couples and not comfortable with it at all.

hopefully as gay couples are allowed to marry and become more visible in society, people will start to see them as normal and deserving of rights as well.

:hugon laura :hugoff

welcome to MA! *fingers crossed* :winky
are you going there for college?

[ribbon]

shacki said: :most guy my age that i know, even if they do not have a problem with gay marriage, are still "weirded out" by gay couples and not comfortable with it at all.

That's a really good point. Some people have the attitude that being gay is ok, as long as they don't have to see it :ohboy. I think/hope that society is changing now that it's more common to see same sex kisses, hugs and handholding on TV. I guess acceptance is a process, like everything else.