muckefuck: (Default)
muckefuck ([personal profile] muckefuck) wrote2004-08-04 08:02 am

Better kin than kinky!

"So Missouri voted to 'keep marriage like it's always been' there? What, between consenting fifteen year-olds?"--Lin Brehmer, Chicago DJ
Yes, I'd like to personally thank my home state for reminding me why most Northerners reckon it belongs to the South. And for reminding me that it's like a parent to me: I love it, I miss it, but I can't ever see myself living with it again.

[identity profile] muckefuck.livejournal.com 2004-08-04 10:05 am (UTC)(link)
The law is still on the books, but five years ago it was ruled not to apply to consensual sex. Since then, of course, Lawrence vs. Texas has definitively invalidated it.

Except that I think opposition was bipartisan. After all, the vote coincided with hotly-contested Democratic primaries (most notably the race for governor, in which Holden became the first sitting Missouri governor in history to lose his party's primary) and registered Dems outnumbered Reps at the polls. Proponents of the amendment spent almost no money on the campaign, prompting the Post-Dispatch to say that "values appeared to beat dollars at the ballot box". ('Cause, you know, we fags have no values, all we have are deep pockets, the better with which to finance our rampant hedonism and corruption of society.)

The one bright spot is that turnout was 41.3%. However, these voters were more than 2 to 1 in favour of defining marriage as "between a man and a woman". In order for a solid majority to be in favour of same-sex marriage, almost every single person who didn't show up would have to support it. How likely is that?

No, I think there's no way of spinning this which denies the fact that most Missourians are not pro-gay--or even gay-neutral. That's why I've come more and more to rely on the courts to protect my rights instead of throwing them to the tender mercies of the tyranny of the majority.

[identity profile] gopower.livejournal.com 2004-08-04 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Based on my quick look at the gubornatorial primary results, it looks like the Missouri electorate yeserday was 58% Democratic. With 71%in favor of the amendment, that suggests at least 50% of the Democrats voted for it and probably much higher as I doubt the Republican vote was more than 80% in favor.

Some have theorized that many Republicans went to the polls and took Democratic ballots so they could vote for Gov. Holden, widely seen as the weaker candidate in the fall. I doubt it -- in my experience Republican voters are never that clever.

[identity profile] bunj.livejournal.com 2004-08-05 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not saying the amendment didn't have bipartisan support, but everything I've read about this year's elections is about exciting the base. Originally the proponents wanted to get the amendment on the November ballot, but Holden blocked that. What I ment was that Illinois could probably propose a similar amendment with similar results, but no one will because it doesn't make political sense in Illinois.

I guess it's not that comforting to point out that Missourians are not significantly more gay-hostile than most of the country. The one bright spot is that demographics are on your side. Polls show more acceptance of gay marriage among younger voters.