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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyOctober 1st, 2012
From time to time you come across a group so misinformed that you wonder if it’s a spoof. Today I ran across Jump the Broom for Marriage, and anti-gay group. This is their “about” description:
Jumping the Broom: The First African American Civil Right
Conceivably, the first civil right African-Americans obtained in this country was their right to marry. After being brutally forced to a country without their consent to serve as slaves, they were strategically separated from their homeland, homes, families and family traditions. Viewed as property, they possessed no legal rights. Their names were even taken from them. Yet, these resilient people had something that no man or demon in hell could take away, their faith! A simple act of jumping the broom symbolizes the first civil right. Today, the gay community is saying Marriage Equality is a Civil Right.
Jumping the broom, during the slavery of Africans in America, was an act with no legal consequence. Being denied even the basic human dignity of family, having those whom considered themselves superior restrict any civil protection, this was a sign to the couple and those around them that they were committing to each other – to the extent they were allowed. There is no parallel in today’s society, but some echoes can be heard in same-sex commitment ceremonies in those parts of the country in which gay couples are seen as inferior and granted no civil protections.
And as for the faith of African-Americans, only someone lacking the most basic knowledge in history would be unaware that the faith that West Africans brought with them across the ocean was largely replaced by the faith of their oppressors.
Jump the Broom for Marriage are a confused mess. Their motto is “Marriage: True to Our God, True to Our Native Land” and they are shooting for the goal of “preserving the biblical values and covenant rights of marriage between one man and one woman in all communities throughout Maryland through education, mobilization, advocacy and public policy that promote our spiritual values and heritage.”
But, and I may be cynical, I suspect that very little time went into planning the strategy page and more attention was paid to the “donate here” page. After all, when I read that I could sponsor lunch on election day for ten people for the tiny price of $465 or ten lawn signs for $30 each, I had a suspicion that just maybe this particular group was less dedicated to the mission than they were to the money.
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MattNYC
October 1st, 2012
I think they need to hire Eugene as a consultant–at these rates, they should be able to afford him for an hour or two…
Hunter
October 2nd, 2012
Jumping the broom is a Pagan tradition, part of a handfasting (marriage) ceremony, probably deriving from the ancient Celts. (Someone actually traced it from Wales to the New World.) There’s nothing particularly biblical about it.
And that quote is puzzling — establishing that marriage is a civil right, and then claiming that it’s not a civil right? Hah?
And as you point out, their faith was imposed on them.
Pretty incoherent.
Snowman
October 2nd, 2012
I’m pretty much scratching my head, sitting here thinking “WTF?”
They couldn’t be bothered to take ten or twenty minutes to read an article on African American history on Wikipedia or something, first? Did they just totally make this shit up??
I’m no expert on African American history myself, but I know a bit about Pagans and I know Hunter’s right about the broom thing.
Before I even read the comments I felt like someone was trying to insult my intelligence…and I’m a white guy. Why don’t they ever consider how something like this might look to somebody who isn’t them?
“Jump the broom for marriage” almost comes off as racist, even though they might have just been so frakking ignorant that they simply got their traditions mixed up. It’s offensive as much because they probably figure no one will bother to look up the facts. It’s hard to tell which is more the case, ignorance or malice?
Regan DuCasse
October 2nd, 2012
EXCELLENT, my friends!
And as I said on another thread, the difference in intelligence and being factually informed and CORRECT, when compared to what the anti gay say on a regular basis, is mind blowing.
I asked Priya if seeing the comments from the anti gay makes her feel as if she were arguing with someone mentally disabled. I mean THAT seemingly brain damaged that this nearly takes the sport out of debating them.
One of my typical enemies at TownHall, loves to speak for me. And he said I loved homosexuals. In that smarmy way as if it were a bad thing, and came at the expense of caring about heterosexuals.
When I was in middle school, I was sitting with my best friend (she’s Jewish, and just happened to be white), and a white boy came up to her and called her ‘nigger lover’.
I was always getting into trouble with fighting. Especially if I won. It was very hard to deal with bullying of any kind, even in self defense because punishment was meted out to both of us, or sometimes not even then, if the authority didn’t see what the other kid did.
Anyway, I thought back to that when an anti gay bigot talks to me that way.
My friend said later, even though she was upset at first, her mother told her to be proud of it and herself for NOT being a thing like that name calling kid.
That the name sounded ugly, but it meant that she was a good person after all.
Her mother, Esther Ravitz, was my first Jewish mom and a light in my life.
So, with this equivalent nasty behavior coming from a grown assed man, safe behind his computer keyboard, I’m proud to be THAT kind of lover.
But that doesn’t mean, after all, that I wouldn’t just love to pound that a-hole into a grease spot.
:0)
JFE
October 4th, 2012
Despite this, my fiance and I are still planning on jumping a broom at our wedding.
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