Vote No

Why I’m Voting No

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , , 521 Comments

Ben from TheSweatervest blog invited me to write about why I’m voting no to the Minnesota Marriage Amendment this November for his 42 Days of No project, which is highlighting “Why I’m Voting No” stories by Minnesotans (he started it 42 days prior to this November’s vote). This piece was submitted for that project.

I am voting NO on the Minnesota Marriage Amendment because a yes vote is a vote for discrimination. I don’t want to hear one more story about gay families being denied hospital visitation, bereavement rights or control of their possessions or children because they were not afforded the same legal protection that straight couples receive. The Minnesota Marriage Amendment is a Hail Mary pass supported by bigots that is intended to delay the inevitable; gay marriage WILL be legal in my lifetime.

I am voting NO because the Minnesota Marriage Amendment is a ploy by Republicans who are trying to win support from religiously-motivated voters. It is a cheap trick and dirty politics, and I don’t support it.

Vote No Jeep

Vote No Jeep parked outside of the YWCA in Uptown, Minneapolis.

I have a coworker who told me that she’s voting yes because the bible implies that gay marriage is wrong. She says she respects gay people, and that voting yes doesn’t mean that she doesn’t love her gay friends and family.

Bullshit.

If you love your gay friends and family, help protect them against inequitable representation in the legal system. If you are voting yes in November, you are spitting in the faces of people who need your help. You are telling them that you think they are wrong, that you know who they should love and marry better than they do.

Vote No Car in Front of Uptown Theater

 Vote No Car stopped in front of the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis

I have an acquaintance who doesn’t believe the government should be involved in marriage at all. He says he’s going to vote yes because he thinks this will send a message that government shouldn’t have any say over marriage at all.

That is an incredibly fucked up viewpoint.

The Minnesota Marriage Amendment would exert more government control over marriage, not less. It would be so bold as to define who can and can’t get married. What right does government have to make that call? For right or wrong, the government does have some say in marriage and in the rights of married people. If it is going to exert that control, it should at least do so without preference to one set of people over others.

It is my honor and duty to vote, and I am voting NO on the Minnesota Marriage Amendment because I will not stand quietly aside as discrimination is codified into our constitution. Neither god nor politics has a place in the Minnesota Marriage Amendment, and I will not let arguments to either of these blind me to the fact that voting yes to this heinous, sorry excuse of a proposed amendment would harm my fellow Minnesotans.

Why I’m Voting No
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Why I'm Voting No

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , , 506 Comments

Ben from TheSweatervest blog invited me to write about why I’m voting no to the Minnesota Marriage Amendment this November for his 42 Days of No project, which is highlighting “Why I’m Voting No” stories by Minnesotans (he started it 42 days prior to this November’s vote). This piece was submitted for that project.

I am voting NO on the Minnesota Marriage Amendment because a yes vote is a vote for discrimination. I don’t want to hear one more story about gay families being denied hospital visitation, bereavement rights or control of their possessions or children because they were not afforded the same legal protection that straight couples receive. The Minnesota Marriage Amendment is a Hail Mary pass supported by bigots that is intended to delay the inevitable; gay marriage WILL be legal in my lifetime.

I am voting NO because the Minnesota Marriage Amendment is a ploy by Republicans who are trying to win support from religiously-motivated voters. It is a cheap trick and dirty politics, and I don’t support it.

Vote No Jeep

Vote No Jeep parked outside of the YWCA in Uptown, Minneapolis.

I have a coworker who told me that she’s voting yes because the bible implies that gay marriage is wrong. She says she respects gay people, and that voting yes doesn’t mean that she doesn’t love her gay friends and family.

Bullshit.

If you love your gay friends and family, help protect them against inequitable representation in the legal system. If you are voting yes in November, you are spitting in the faces of people who need your help. You are telling them that you think they are wrong, that you know who they should love and marry better than they do.

Vote No Car in Front of Uptown Theater

 Vote No Car stopped in front of the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis

I have an acquaintance who doesn’t believe the government should be involved in marriage at all. He says he’s going to vote yes because he thinks this will send a message that government shouldn’t have any say over marriage at all.

That is an incredibly fucked up viewpoint.

The Minnesota Marriage Amendment would exert more government control over marriage, not less. It would be so bold as to define who can and can’t get married. What right does government have to make that call? For right or wrong, the government does have some say in marriage and in the rights of married people. If it is going to exert that control, it should at least do so without preference to one set of people over others.

It is my honor and duty to vote, and I am voting NO on the Minnesota Marriage Amendment because I will not stand quietly aside as discrimination is codified into our constitution. Neither god nor politics has a place in the Minnesota Marriage Amendment, and I will not let arguments to either of these blind me to the fact that voting yes to this heinous, sorry excuse of a proposed amendment would harm my fellow Minnesotans.

Why I'm Voting No

Vote No: Halloween Edition

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , 429 Comments

This lovely household in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis has taken the Minnesota Vote No to Marriage Inequality campaign down a wonderfully thematic path:

Photo shows a front yard with Halloween decorations: spray-painted foam/cardboard/wood gravestones, plastic pumpkin trick-or-treat buckets. The centerpiece is two life-size skeleton ghouls dressed in white under a “wedding” trellis, with two ghouls as attendants. In front of them is the Minnesotans United for All Families orange “Vote No: Don’t Limit The Freedom To Marry” yard sign. In the background is a huge hand-made sign that says “VOTE NO” in string lighting on a wood frame.

Don’t limit the freedom of ghouls to marry!

Photo shows the entire front yard in all of it’s Halloweened glory.

The idea that this amendment might pass makes for a very scary story, indeed.

Vote No: Halloween Edition

Voter ID Laws

Brianne Bilyeu, , , , , , 442 Comments

I was notified on Flickr that a group had used one of my photos for an article. I was a bit worried for a second because the photo that was used was this one:

Vote Yes on Voter ID

In my brain: “Please don’t be a pro-Voter ID article, please don’t be a pro-Voter ID article…”

I was happy to discover that the article was entitled: “How the New Voter ID Laws Impede Disadvantaged Citizens“. The article is on the The Society Pages Scholars Strategy Network. “SSN participants share a commitment to connecting good public policymaking to citizen engagement and responsive democratic government.”

Voter ID laws have more potential to disenfranchise minority voters than to solve the fake non-issue of in-person voter fraud. I’m pleased as punch that an article pointing out the downsides of Voter ID laws is using my work. Also, here’s another shout out for Creative Commons – sometimes your original content shows up in some pretty cool places!

Voter ID Laws