Journal Entries for Mata
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September 20th, 2007 1:34 pm MDT
as received today from EQCA: September 20, 2007 San Diego Mayor has Change of Heart Promises to Sign Resolution Supporting Marriage San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders held a press conference Wednesday afternoon announcing he will sign a resolution, approved this week by the city council, supporting marriage for same-sex couples. San Diego Mayor Jim Sanders Mayor Sanders, a Republican, previously said he supported civil unions only, and not marriage for all couples. "I have decided to lead with my heart, to do what I think is right, and to take a stand on behalf of equality and social justice," Mayor Sanders said. "The right thing for me to do is to sign this resolution." With Mayor Sanders' signature, San Diego will join several other large cities in California in filing a "friend of the court" brief that will ask the California Supreme Court to overturn the state's ban on marriage for same-sex couples. Equality California is a plaintiff in that case, represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, ACLU, Heller Ehrman LLP, and the Law Office of David C. Codell. "We applaud the true leadership Mayor Sanders has shown by supporting marriage for all loving and committed couples in California," said EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors. "Yesterday, Mayor Sanders and the City of San Diego have demonstrated that support for equality crosses party lines." view statement: http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=fmKSJeM5IqJ2JrL&s=fqLULYOzHgJMIRMtGlF&m=jwITJ7MSJjKaH
The world is what we make of it -- is that so ?
April 29th, 2007 6:01 pm MDT
If we all could live in the world of our dreams that particular world would probably be distinctively different from our current environment. I guess that's a fair statement for most of us. We would want to live in a world where we are accepted as the ones we are, we don't have to play roles to fit into society, no one's cheating on us, no wars, no killing each other, no poverty, no starving ...Now, fact is that we all accept the world we are born into as given ---Have you ever thought about why a chair is a chair and a table is a table ?Does a horse know what a table is ? Does a cat care about what time it is ? Does a lion feel uncomfortable because he doesn't know how to use cutlery ?What if today you started to call a chair a table, a table a clock, a clock a carpet etc. ?You'd take about a month or so and your world would have changed. Admittedly, you'd have a little problem communicating with other people any longer but that's beside the point -- the thing is you were able to change your world dramatically. And it was easy.There's quite a number of people here who feel the need to change their looks -- even those who have the word 'beauty' written across their foreheads feel a need to look even more beautiful ... why?Who's giving you the ideal you're chasing after? Is that your inner self or rather marketing apartments, magazines, movies, beauty contest etc.?200 years ago women had to be at least chubby to match beauty standards at the time. Have you ever looked at those old paintings of kings, queens, princes, and princesses from the middle ages ? Today you wouldn't want to meet them after dark -- in their time they were beautiful.So who determines what beauty is in your world ? Think about it.Another way to change your world: "my husband/wife had sex with another woman/man he/she is cheating on me and I'm oh so jealous".What if jealousy and cheating didn't exist in your world? Wouldn't that make you a happier person sometimes ?Would you be jealous if your husband/wife played tennis with someone else but you? Probably not. Now, what if there wasn't any difference in your world between playing tennis and having sex ? Nonsense, you think ? Don't you want your partner to be happy ? Yes, of course ... but .... He/she belongs to you, right ? Like the bird in the cage ...Who says you have to look at things the way you used to all your life ? Who has all the might to determine your own good and bad ? Who told you that society's "good" is good for you and society's "bad" is bad for you ? Think about it.And another way to change your world: Try and think about everything that comes to mind when you ask yourself "what is normal ?"."Normal" is to say "thank you" if you get a gift. "Normal" is to live in a monogamous relationship. "Normal" is to work in a job that you don't really fancy. "Normal" is to ignore global warming. "Normal" is to look the other way when you pass by a homeless in the streets. And there's a million other "normals" in your world that you come across every day.Now, why do you think did it take ages until homosexual marriages were allowed? Because it was not "normal" for a man to marry another man or a woman to marry another.Why do you think was Larry Flint shot? Because it was not "normal" to publish soft porn magazines.Why do you think can you not simply walk into your boss's office and tell him "Look, I was James until yesterday -- from now on I'm Jessica." Because it is not "normal".Maybe it's about time to reconsider "normal" -- and make the world YOUR world.
