Sunday, June 22, 2008

Language is Powerful

I heard a great interview the other week (look for "gay marriage redux") by Julie Goodridge, one of the lead plaintiffs of the historic MA ruling. Great interview, please listen.

But I have one thing to say to everyone. Language is powerful.

It's not gay marriage. That was a term decided on by the right wing efforts to paint equal access as a 'special right.'

It's not. It's about marriage equality. It's about two people being able to get a marriage license. You can't limit it to only white people, you can't limit it to only same racial background and you can't limit it based on the gender of the two people applying.

Period.

Every time we say "gay marriage?" think "partial birth abortion," another term created (and not even remotely true) to influence those on the edge of the discussion.

It's about a legal institution- marriage- and access to it.

It's about equality because as we all know, separate is never equal.

Ah, there goes that language again. Words creating a powerful image.

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8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

guess i have spent too much time up here in east jabit maine in the fog! couldn't find the interview. come resue me!! i'll cook anything you want, i promise! we could start at the top of the hugo's chef tasting dinner menu, and work our way down. you'll have to bring the wine though.
LOL

7:39 PM  
Blogger Sara said...

ah, hugo's... I just found that menu recently!

no foie gras floats, though. that did me in. not that we are talking about that ride home.

I did update the link... look for June 10th, Gay Marriage Redux...

8:28 PM  
Blogger Rev. Bob said...

Talking Point 2: marriage equality is the law in California. Our opponents are trying to change the law to take the right to get married away from people. They're the radicals.

TP2a: Read the proposed amendment. They're the ones who are *redefining* "marriage."

TP3: Link it to other kinds of discrimination. "Hey, if you want to change the law to take away marriage rights marriage based on race, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation, make your case." Since everybody knows our opponents are the exact same people who practiced racial discrimination in the past (and are still doing it).

TP3a: Make posters of Mildred and Richard Loving.


Foie gras floats? Eeeeeeewwwwwwwww!

2:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

we will have to forego the foie gras floats, as the supply of foie gras at the 4 corners market has been depleted with the influx of summer people! i wonder if liverwurst would work? LOL

the lobster and eggs will be available though. bob and mary are setting their traps this week! yippee, back in the lobsters and crabs! will almost make the fog tolerable.

i thought we were never to mention that ride home!

8:11 AM  
Blogger Sue J said...

Lobster? Did someone say lobster?

9:05 AM  
Blogger Fortune Cookies said...

When my wife and I went to Canada last year to get married, everyone there kept saying to us, "it's a shame you had to come this far just to get married". They got it. They understand. No one there called it a gay marriage, just- marriage. The minister wasn't performing a gay wedding, or a lesbian wedding, just- a wedding. We married in the same chapel she marries other couples in, said the same vows they say.Signed the same papers at City Hall and paid the same fees. Our license looks the same as anyone elses. We joked, though, as we boarded our plane in New York, we said that we were back in the land of the free, where we were no longer seen as a married couple, just a couple of second class citizens who can't even file our taxes together.
I agree, it's a ploy to negatively connotate the two words with specific language choice. My wife and I agreed to stop teasing about getting "gay married", because we got married. And it's offensive to our commitment to eachother and our proclamation of love to call it anything different. *end of longest comment ever - sorry :)

4:32 PM  
Blogger Sara said...

that's just it, fortune cookie, it's really easy to get sucked into the words- if you listen to the interview, the Patt keeps asking Julie Goodridge about gay marriage this, gay marriage that...

and I think there is a lot of people in the movement saying that, too.

5:33 PM  
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11:30 AM  

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