Equality, rant.

If you haven't seen this comment by Keith Olbermann on the passage of Prop 8, I'll start with it because it says what I could never so succintly do:



I took that in mind along with my gut feelings of morality and joined all the rallies of this Saturday in favor of LGBT marriages by attending the Houston one at City Hall. I was completely inspired by the people I saw there. I know that people think of the gay community and think if our Houston pride parades with eight foot tall drag queens and outlandish party floats and I adore that. It's fun and great, but it wasn't at all what today was about. Today was about couples who had been together a million years and families and a real sense of inequality. I stood next to a family with two moms and six foster children, including a down syndrome little boy. They deserved a medal, not second class status. Arkansas doesn't even allow gays to be foster parents anymore. That was the point of being there today, supporting people who just want to be recognized as normal citizens with normal rights.

First the lovely pics, then the lovely rant:

















and my fellow protester, Cate who had the quote of the day "I think my three month marriage destroyed the sanctity of marriage more than any of these people here will." Forgive me for repeating that, Cate, but right on sister.



Rant (read the whole thing before you get mad): I'll tread lightly here because I don't want to offend anyone involved in a specific church or religious sect that has dumped money into this cause (and they are varied and not limited to one, though one in particular is said to have dumped up to 77% of the funds into the campaign to pass this, mostly through dishonest ad campaigns in CA). BUT let me say that I fully support the grassroot effort to try and encourage government to take away the 501(c)(3) status these churches hold. That status gives churches a non profit status and prevents them from being taxes, but one of the conditions is that (and this is from the IRS verbiage):

"Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes. "

Take it away! I'd love to take all the money these churches rake in and send it to where we need it -- the American economy. Not that it will ever happen, but one can dream. I mean, South Carolina Catholic priest Jay Scott Newman isn't giving communion wafers to parishioners who voted for Obama who don't ask for redemption because it was a vote for evil. That church should be ashamed of these actions and they need to give up their tax exempt status if they cross that line. They have freedom of speech, yes, but they are bound by the rules of their 501(c)(3) status. And sorry Mormon church, but $20 million in donations (according to ABC, Utah) means y'all need to pay your taxes too. Freedom of belief, freedom of speech, all for it but rules are rules. Shut up or Pay up.