"The only freedom deserving the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental and spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest." -- John Stuart Mill
These words were published in Mill's classic text On Liberty in 1869. That was almost 140 years ago, yet we are still struggling to realize this simple vision. As reported in the New York Times, the Mormon church helped raise millions of dollars to take the basic right of marriage away from lesbian and gay people in California. They did this in the name of pursuing what they thought was "moral," but in reality they (and others like them) have deprived many people of their own freedom and happiness. This cannot stand. To learn how you can help in the battle for marriage equality, visit http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/. We need everyone, gay or straight, to join the struggle for liberty.
2 comments:
I just want all of this to be recognized as human rights. If they don't have the word "human" attached to them, then we're not seen as human...because I believe that that is what perpetuates the lack of rights -- that we're not seen, really, as human...and so types like us, Clay, let people know real, live gay and lesbian (respectively) people, so that person by person, our humanity gets acknowledged. That's the answer: continually making our humanity apparent and undeniable.
Just remember, the Mormon church has been the bastion of bigotry since its inception.
It's opposition to the basic human rights of others has a long history.
As an example, here's an old article from 1959 about their opposition to the civil right movement:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,810998,00.html
Take heart...they lost that battle. They'll lose this one too.
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