Comments on: Sometimes, I Like To Take My Own Mental Vacations Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:56:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: clark http://hahnathome.com/?p=1371&cpage=1#comment-7631 clark Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:36:39 +0000 http://hahnathome.com/?p=1371#comment-7631 I don't vote in California but I would have voted for Prop8. I think all persuasions should have equal rights but not the right to force their beliefs on someone else. I think there should be a word that is parallel to "marriage" for those who are not of different genders and yet want to commit their lives to each other. I don't understand same gender intimacy and I'm not sure whether it is a choice or birth characteristic or perhaps that all of us are born loving both genders equally but are conditioned by family and society to seek a different gender for a long term relationship. Other than the ability to bear children I'm not sure why there should be a difference in the kind of commitment between same gender couples. However, the word marriage has had a meaning for a woman-man relationship for thousands of years. Yes, we use the word marriage in situations other than for holy matrimony between a husband and wife. But since you have an atypical relationship, why not call it something else that would clarify how it is different and applaud its unique nature? You already have rights to be domestic partners, just start calling your love connection something that is meaningful to you, but the word "marriage" has already been used for centuries in a certain way. Guys have always had, and still have, strong connections to guys and gals to gals but not in the intimacy sense. The human body is not constructed for same gender intimacy connections the way it is for different gender relationship, so why not name and identify your own relationship in a healthy and positive way that shows both your special connection but in a different way than the connection between those of different genders? Same gender relationships may be even stronger and richer than different gender relationships for all I know, but there is a difference. Why not celebrate that difference rather than climb on a wagon that has its own centuries of problems? I don’t vote in California but I would have voted for Prop8. I think all persuasions should have equal rights but not the right to force their beliefs on someone else. I think there should be a word that is parallel to “marriage” for those who are not of different genders and yet want to commit their lives to each other. I don’t understand same gender intimacy and I’m not sure whether it is a choice or birth characteristic or perhaps that all of us are born loving both genders equally but are conditioned by family and society to seek a different gender for a long term relationship. Other than the ability to bear children I’m not sure why there should be a difference in the kind of commitment between same gender couples. However, the word marriage has had a meaning for a woman-man relationship for thousands of years. Yes, we use the word marriage in situations other than for holy matrimony between a husband and wife. But since you have an atypical relationship, why not call it something else that would clarify how it is different and applaud its unique nature? You already have rights to be domestic partners, just start calling your love connection something that is meaningful to you, but the word “marriage” has already been used for centuries in a certain way. Guys have always had, and still have, strong connections to guys and gals to gals but not in the intimacy sense. The human body is not constructed for same gender intimacy connections the way it is for different gender relationship, so why not name and identify your own relationship in a healthy and positive way that shows both your special connection but in a different way than the connection between those of different genders? Same gender relationships may be even stronger and richer than different gender relationships for all I know, but there is a difference. Why not celebrate that difference rather than climb on a wagon that has its own centuries of problems?

]]> By: julia http://hahnathome.com/?p=1371&cpage=1#comment-7432 julia Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:27:47 +0000 http://hahnathome.com/?p=1371#comment-7432 I'm slowly making my rounds to as many peace globes as I can. I think your peace globe packs a punch in just the right place. And your observation here makes me laugh (because I have a very dark sense of humor) - 'Countries that offer the one-dictator option election after election and voting is mandatory.' Don't you wonder why they need the validation of forcing people to vote for them? I’m slowly making my rounds to as many peace globes as I can. I think your peace globe packs a punch in just the right place.

And your observation here makes me laugh (because I have a very dark sense of humor) -
‘Countries that offer the one-dictator option election after election and voting is mandatory.’
Don’t you wonder why they need the validation of forcing people to vote for them?

]]> By: diane http://hahnathome.com/?p=1371&cpage=1#comment-7353 diane Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:40:57 +0000 http://hahnathome.com/?p=1371#comment-7353 Maunie, I couldn't agree more with Lori on this. I'm a middle-aged grad student in an allied health care program, whose 20-something straight classmates don't respect or understand gay people. Faculty is aware of the issues but feels no responsibility for teaching ethics as part of the curriculum. My class bullies have had a privileged upbringing and weren’t pushed around at home; on the contrary, they're a bit narcissistic. Imagine how they will treat their future gay/presumed gay clients, and how they might vote on an initiative like Prop 8. Cyberbullying is a prevailing tactic used by students to intimidate those labeled "different," to the extent that my school is carefully designing a program to deter it. Despite media portrayals of kids who are better informed and more accepting of diversity, bullying hasn’t changed much since I graduated high school 32 years ago—only the means by which it’s dispatched. Altho Prop 8 results may have taken the wind from our sails on Nov 4th, Jillie's news from Nov 6, about the ACLU action, gives us hope. Great blog, Lori. Your peace-loving activism is inspiring. Maunie, I couldn’t agree more with Lori on this. I’m a middle-aged grad student in an allied health care program, whose 20-something straight classmates don’t respect or understand gay people.

Faculty is aware of the issues but feels no responsibility for teaching ethics as part of the curriculum. My class bullies have had a privileged upbringing and weren’t pushed around at home; on the contrary, they’re a bit narcissistic. Imagine how they will treat their future gay/presumed gay clients, and how they might vote on an initiative like Prop 8.

Cyberbullying is a prevailing tactic used by students to intimidate those labeled “different,” to the extent that my school is carefully designing a program to deter it. Despite media portrayals of kids who are better informed and more accepting of diversity, bullying hasn’t changed much since I graduated high school 32 years ago—only the means by which it’s dispatched.

Altho Prop 8 results may have taken the wind from our sails on Nov 4th, Jillie’s news from Nov 6, about the ACLU action, gives us hope.

Great blog, Lori. Your peace-loving activism is inspiring.

]]> By: Paula Brooks http://hahnathome.com/?p=1371&cpage=1#comment-7348 Paula Brooks Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:02:57 +0000 http://hahnathome.com/?p=1371#comment-7348 Lori here is a quote I used in one of my articles on this subject of peace... "You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his (or her) freedom." ~Malcolm X Malcolm X Speaks, 1965 Lori here is a quote I used in one of my articles on this subject of peace…

“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his (or her) freedom.”
~Malcolm X
Malcolm X Speaks, 1965

]]> By: Bridge http://hahnathome.com/?p=1371&cpage=1#comment-7347 Bridge Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:07:28 +0000 http://hahnathome.com/?p=1371#comment-7347 On Wednesday morning, I got a text saying Obama had won and proceeded to run around high-fiving everyone I saw. Then I went to check on Prop 8 (because nobody else knew where to look), and all the Obama joy got sucked right out of me. I sit here in my adopted South Africa, glad in some ways that our population does not get to vote on new laws. If we did, we would probably be in the same situation as you - stifled by the conservatives. I wish you all an enormous amount of good fortune in fighting this one! P.S. Thanks Lori for mentioning my home country's election drama in your last point! It's good to know someone out there is watching with horror. On Wednesday morning, I got a text saying Obama had won and proceeded to run around high-fiving everyone I saw. Then I went to check on Prop 8 (because nobody else knew where to look), and all the Obama joy got sucked right out of me. I sit here in my adopted South Africa, glad in some ways that our population does not get to vote on new laws. If we did, we would probably be in the same situation as you – stifled by the conservatives. I wish you all an enormous amount of good fortune in fighting this one!

P.S. Thanks Lori for mentioning my home country’s election drama in your last point! It’s good to know someone out there is watching with horror.

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