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December 15, 2008
Ridiculously lame excuse no. 5,234...
Posted by: Chris
... given by Democrats for why the gays must wait for basic legal equality:
A proposal to allow civil unions in Illinois between same-sex couples has been stalled in the state legislature and seems likely to stay that way. First proposed in 2007 and running out of time before the current legislature expires, the Illinois Religious Freedom and Civil Unions Act would grant same-sex couples many of the rights given to opposite-sex married couples.
There are two remaining legislative days on lawmakers' calendar, but … it seemed less likely to be called after FBI agents arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on federal corruption charges Tuesday, casting state leadership into disarray.
"Everything has been trumped by what happened," said state Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), the measure's sponsor in the House.
So a civil unions bill pending for almost two years gets tanked, and we're to believe it's not because the Democrats are shafting us by prioritizing pretty much everything over our civil rights. Oh no. It's because on the last week of the (year-round!) legislative session, the governor got arrested.
Here are the Democrats in a nutshell: Blagojevich sells a Senate seat, and the gays pay the price.
And the salt in the wound is that the stalled civil unions bill would only advance us from third to second-class citizenship, since full (marriage) equality isn't even on the table (and is opposed by the soon-to-be-felon and soon-to-be-ex-governor).
And remember, my friends, this lame defense is from the bill's sponsor, presumably one of our closest allies. With "friends" like this, who needs the Mormons?
(Photo from Chicago Gay Pride 2005 of Governor Blagojevich, who does not support gay marriage, via Gay Liberation Network)
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Comments
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The Point, meet Bradley. Bradley, meet The Point. Don't be such strangers. The Point would be that the gov's arrest is being used as an excuse for why the bill won't pass this year, even though the Illinois legislature has already met for some 50 weeks before he was busted. Not to mention the 50-odd weeks of the 2007 legislative session, where our Democratic allies -- in control of the House, Senate and the governor's mansion, failed to act.
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Actually Chris, I'd proffer the same admonishment to you. 50 weeks? Not urgent. Governor arrested? Urgent. Urgent usually wins. Of course, given the prevelence of corrupt politicians one wonders why an arrest would be so unexpected and invoke the state of urgency.
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You're probably right though...Illinois only deserves one senator and no governor until some pro-gay legislation gets passed. But then, who'll sign it into law?
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OK Bradley, let's try this again. The Point is not whether the gov bust is a reasonable explanation for the bill going nowhere this last week of the session. The Point is that the gov bust explains absolutely nothing about why the bill languished the other 50 weeks of this year's session.
I am a bit curious. Do you work for HRC or does being apologist for those who deny us basic legal equality come naturally to you?
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I'm just sayin' they're apples and oranges. Your diatribe is akin to complaining apples don't taste like oranges. Set "A": The sorry state of gay leadership in advancing the cause. Set "B": Corrupt governor gets his ass arrested (finally). These are two separate sets; not subsets one of the other. Your original post goes so far as to imply Patrick Ryan is in collusion by timeing the arrest so conveniently to distract legislation. I don't know if you've been paying attention to Mr Ryan the last few years but my sense is he doesn't care about what any politian "wants." He's put the last (Republican) gov behind bars. He's put some pretty powerful Chicago pols(Democrats) behind bars.
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Congratulations, Bradley. Your misread of my argument either reflects basic reading comprehension deficiency, which I doubt, or the most ridiculous and ineffective use of a straw man that I've seen in a long time. (And that's saying something!) Either way, it was nothing if not memorable.
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My last post was brought to you by Old-Timer's Best. When it comes to politicians here in Illinois one should keep a players roster handy...I meant to say Patrick Fitzgerald, Patrick Ryan was just another lawyer/politician in the Chicago mold (though in Republican guise).
The comments to this entry are closed.
Bradley on Dec 15, 2008 9:20:37 AM:
This is simply another example of "the tyranny of urgency." The urgency of the governor situation has indeed "trumped" the importance of civil rights. Why this surprises anyone is beyond me.