Calm it down, folks. No one on our side is happy with what happened in North Carolina last night. Nothing I can say can alleviate the bitterness and disappointment that some of us have. Nor can it assuage the ugly pangs we feel when we see and hear people like Patrick Wooden, Brian Brown, or NOM crow like roosters.
All I can say is that it comes with losing. In New York when NOM lost the fight there, we blistered the organization, making sure to draw attention to the picture of Brown sitting in the gallery supposedly crying over the vote.
So the pendulum of life swings, as it always does, on Brown and NOM's side now.
But just remember that there will be another day. Whenever Brown and company talk about how the "voters decided," always remember the words of Prop 8 lawyer David Boies starting at 2:51:
Boies:
"It's easy to sit around and debate and throw around opinions that appeal to people's fear and prejudice, [and] cite studies that either don't exist or don't say what you say they do.
"In a court of law you've got to come in and you've got to support those opinions, you've got to stand up under oath and cross-examination. And what we saw at trial is that it's very easy for the people who want to deprive gay and lesbian citizens of the right to vote [sic] to make all sorts of statements and campaign literature, or in debates where they can't be cross-examined.
"But when they come into court and they have to support those opinions and they have to defend those opinions under oath and cross-examination, those opinions just melt away. And that's what happened here. There simply wasn't any evidence, there weren't any of those studies. There weren't any empirical studies. That's just made up. That's junk science. It's easy to say that on television. But a witness stand is a lonely place to lie. And when you come into court you can't do that.
"That's what we proved: We put fear and prejudice on trial, and fear and prejudice lost."
All I can say is that it comes with losing. In New York when NOM lost the fight there, we blistered the organization, making sure to draw attention to the picture of Brown sitting in the gallery supposedly crying over the vote.
So the pendulum of life swings, as it always does, on Brown and NOM's side now.
But just remember that there will be another day. Whenever Brown and company talk about how the "voters decided," always remember the words of Prop 8 lawyer David Boies starting at 2:51:
Boies:
"It's easy to sit around and debate and throw around opinions that appeal to people's fear and prejudice, [and] cite studies that either don't exist or don't say what you say they do.
"In a court of law you've got to come in and you've got to support those opinions, you've got to stand up under oath and cross-examination. And what we saw at trial is that it's very easy for the people who want to deprive gay and lesbian citizens of the right to vote [sic] to make all sorts of statements and campaign literature, or in debates where they can't be cross-examined.
"But when they come into court and they have to support those opinions and they have to defend those opinions under oath and cross-examination, those opinions just melt away. And that's what happened here. There simply wasn't any evidence, there weren't any of those studies. There weren't any empirical studies. That's just made up. That's junk science. It's easy to say that on television. But a witness stand is a lonely place to lie. And when you come into court you can't do that.
"That's what we proved: We put fear and prejudice on trial, and fear and prejudice lost."
4 comments:
I don't really think comparing NOM's loss in New York to this mockery of justice in South Carolina. When NOM lost, nothing but their pride and their ability to discriminate against others was actually injured. This loss in South Carolina, on the other hand, represents a real injury to the lives and well-being of many LGBT people and couples, as well as other couples and individuals who will fall prey to the full implications of this abysmal decision.
I agree that people need to keep a stiff upper lip and not let their understandable anger and pain get the better of them. But I'd caution comparing their very real pain to the faux pain of NOM's loss in New York.
Yes- 23% of the eligible voters in NC decided this vote. Quite an overwhelming victory (sarc). I blame the people who didn't even bother to exercise their right and duty to participate in the process. I'll also be curious to see if anything comes of the allegations of fraud, intimidation, and ballot tampering.
Correction, Jarred. You meant North Carolina ;p
Oops! Yeah, I had a brain fart.
Post a Comment