Tony Kushner Weighs In on Maine

It's time to kick ass on the homophobes of America. ACTUP now or face a loss of more of our Civil Rights at the ballot box. It is unconstitutional to allow one group of people to vote to take away the 14th Amendment Rights of another. Let's start by repealing the IRS Codes that allow the most bigoted Mormons and Catholics to lobby from the pulpit and spend money as if they were Special Interest groups. HRC is a Special Interest group and is not Tax Exempt like churches in this country. Let's take a lesson from the Anita Bryant years and write GAY MONEY on every bill we put into circulation while withholding our Gay Money as we organize to boycott every State, Business, Church, School, Doctor's Office, Website, etc. that uses its financial, written or verbal voice to deny us our RIGHTS!

In the long run, maybe it's great that the right-wing religious wackos waste all their money & energy obsessing about this relatively unimportant issue. More important gay rights initiatives, such as employment protections, can and do get approved all over the place without so much attention from them. Let them tie themselves up in knots about marriage - it's a good tactic!

a bigot,redneck or nazis does not care what you call it ,your struggle foe equality is what has them pissing themselves.In ohio, when they passedan ammendment that marriage is between only a man and a woman, they added that no partneship, union or pseudo-relationship mimicking their God-loving marriages could be recognized by the state.Thety added no benefits or any rights that marriage affords could be usurped by the unblessed. I live in a historic neighborhood gentrified by gays ,and still the closeted bisexual couples,posers, closet cases with their state sanctiond fag hag wives who moved in to feed off the gays, were the first to put up "Marriage is between a man and a woman" signs in their yards before the vote here years ago. Your neighbors are closet nazis and you should all realize it. Gays will never win if the voters can keep putting it on a ballot after a court rules in our favor . The Democtratic Party is just as spineless as we always knew.

As a long time fan of Tony Kushner's politics as well as his playwriting, I was shocked and saddened to hear that he had not been involved in the No On 1 Campaign in Maine - didn't even send money! Tony Kushner's Angels in America was a pivotal play in my life. It and a few other writings spurred me from armchair cynic to on-the-streets activist, something I've put into action in my career and daily life ever since. When even an outspoken member of the LBGT community's intellectual and activist crowd doesn't engage in the very real fights, then how in the world can we expect members of the non-LBGT community, those with no "skin in the game" (though inequality affects us all), to stand up for those rights? And sadly, I'm sure Mr. Kushner's not alone. The silver lining is that it is within OUR power to change this. It's certainly our responsibility. Thank you to Mr. Kushner for having the integrity to write his piece honestly.

"And I guess I should add that I’m angry at myself: I didn’t send money or help out in Maine"?! Yes, you should. In fact, that comment should be your entire essay. You're not entitled to spew righteous indignation and attack our national leaders if you didn't lift a finger.

I would also add that if I hear "let's not ask for marriage" one time time I will scream. As someone who had the typical sham marriage with a woman and now have a REAL marriage with the man I love in all the ways I could not love my ex-wife. I will not accept any one telling me the sham marriage was more than the real one. And as already proven in New Jersey, it DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHAT IT IS CALLED!! Rights are not enough, we need EQUAL RIGHTS and EQUAL LANGUAGE!!

Gay people, and liberals in general seem to be operating under the definition of insanity “Doing the same things expecting different results”. The same lame cowardly campaign that failed in California failed in Maine, what a surprise! I also agree with a comment someone else made – Where are all the damn lawyers?!! Starting with the so-called civil rights lawyer in the White House! Why should we have to win our rights in ways no one else did. I may have missed a history class somewhere, but I do not recall there being referendums to take away the rights of Blacks or Asians (as I recall there used to be official discrimination against Asians in California). Surely there are some precedents to fight this with? We do not have much time, 2010 is fast approaching and due to cowardice the liberals are failing fast.

I think people would be more tolerate if it isn't called "marriage" for gay people. Word "Marriage" has been for a longggg timeeee is between man and woman. Why do we fight to get a word "marriage". If we call it "civil union" or "holy union" or even "living partner" or "partner in life" whatever you call it as long as we can get the same benefits in The State and Federal level and same protections like the word "marriage", I think people would care less and would support it. I do not know why we stuck in the word "marriage". Even the bible say marriage is not for everyone. If I am straight, I would feel unease too if gay people call it marriage. That's why there are words called male, female, straight and gay just to distinct one another. It would be easier on the paper work if the question is "what is your status?" single, married, divorce, civil union or slut.

It's interesting just looking at the tone of many of the posts in the past 24 hours. It's gotten angry--which is GREAT! It's time to stop thinking American voters are progressive and fair. They ain't. As someone below posted, many Americans are mean and nasty, especially when it comes to social issues. The only way we are going to win this battle for equality in America is by realizing we are in a war. War is tough and mean. We've already come a long way from the first days of the Prop 8 campaign in California when our big TV ad showed a gay couple holding hands on the beach. That seems laughable now.

As they say, this fight ain't over. But I do think that the bigger objective should be to respect and follow that little thing called "Separation of Church and State" God loving people are more than welcome to keep their believes, traditions and ignorance. just stay out of telling everyone how you are right and those who are not with you are wrong.