There are times I'm ashamed of my fellow Americans. The very negative response to the California Supreme Court's ruling that marriage equality was a right under the state Constitution just amazes me.
In all reality, the rights of full equality - inclusive of all Americans, not just some or most - is the purpose of our nation's Constitution as well. It is also embodied in our Declaration of Independence - that ALL [...] are created equal.
Why are so many people afraid of letting everybody live their lives, free of interference from government, church or society? If one person has a right, should not everybody have it as well? How selfish to think that liberty should ever be exclusive.
When I was a child, I loved what I understood America to be. I believed in it then, with the innocence an naivete of a child. As I grew older, I began to see that what I believed in was as real as Neverland, or Wonderland. Or Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. I realized that only one word suffice to define all of these things: lie.
But I'm realizing something else. That we have all been deceived and thus disillusioned by that lie. So, in response, we fail to accept the power of the words which built our nation. We the People no longer hold the power in this country, so we grab at straws, believing it's right to allow a majority to take away the rights of a minority. That a judicial system put in place to ensure the rights of the minority are not denied by the democratic process must be "activist judges" when they are simply doing their duty as proscribed in the Constitution.
If only our electoral system works as smoothly as voting for constitutional amendment to take away from our neighbors, families and friends.
But be cautious: in trying to vote in Constitutional amendments, you set a precedence. What if all the non-white Americans chose to unite against the white Americans. They nearly have the majority, and we white folks tend to blow off voting. You could wake of after election day with no rights at all. Bet you'll be wishing you hadn't gotten rid of all those "activist judges," won't you?
But the "battle" over marriage rights does not belong in the states. It's a federal right - a civil right.
And I will continue to fight for the America I loved as a child. Fight to bring true "liberty and justice" - and equality - "for all."
My thoughts and opinions on the world and events that affect me, my friends, and total strangers. I can get rather political, but hate that my life as a gay man living with HIV has to be political.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Ignorance is Not Justice
When I read the news item below out of Dallas, it made me very angry. How is it that after 27 years of HIV/AIDS, ignorance is still so prevalent? That fear (which is the source of most ignorance) is allowed to drive people to make rash judgments.
Read the article for my factual argument below.
HIV-positive man sentenced 35 years for spitting at officer
Thu May 15, 6:32 AM ET
DALLAS - An HIV-positive man convicted of spitting into the eye and mouth of a Dallas police officer has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Because a jury found that Willie Campbell used his saliva as a deadly weapon, the 42-year-old will have to serve half his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He was sentenced Wednesday.
Campbell was being arrested in May 2006 for public intoxication when he began resisting and kicking inside the patrol car, Dallas police office Dan Waller testified.
Campbell was convicted of harassment of a public servant.
It is a well-known fact that HIV is not transmitted by saliva. Thus, the officer's life or health were never in danger, thus Mr. Campbell's saliva was not "a deadly weapon."
Which body fluids transmit HIV?
These body fluids have been shown to contain high concentrations of HIV:
blood
semen
vaginal fluid
breast milk
other body fluids containing blood
The following are additional body fluids that may transmit the virus that health care workers may come into contact with:
fluid surrounding the brain and the spinal cord
fluid surrounding bone joints
fluid surrounding an unborn baby
HIV has been found in the saliva and tears of some persons living with HIV, but in very low quantities. It is important to understand that finding a small amount of HIV in a body fluid does not necessarily mean that HIV can be transmittedby that body fluid. HIV has not been recovered from the sweat of HIV-infected persons. Contact with saliva, tears, or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of HIV.
I am going to try and get ACLU and other rights organizations to fight for Mr. Cambpell's sentence to reduced to jail time only for a month or two. Not this fear and ignorance-driven sentence. When people are put in prison for 40 years on murder charges, this is shameful and discriminatory.
I'm ashamed that this happened in my state. Or in my country. Almost three decades after this disease was discovered, and the pandemic of ignorance rages on.
Read the article for my factual argument below.
HIV-positive man sentenced 35 years for spitting at officer
Thu May 15, 6:32 AM ET
DALLAS - An HIV-positive man convicted of spitting into the eye and mouth of a Dallas police officer has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Because a jury found that Willie Campbell used his saliva as a deadly weapon, the 42-year-old will have to serve half his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He was sentenced Wednesday.
Campbell was being arrested in May 2006 for public intoxication when he began resisting and kicking inside the patrol car, Dallas police office Dan Waller testified.
Campbell was convicted of harassment of a public servant.
It is a well-known fact that HIV is not transmitted by saliva. Thus, the officer's life or health were never in danger, thus Mr. Campbell's saliva was not "a deadly weapon."
Which body fluids transmit HIV?
These body fluids have been shown to contain high concentrations of HIV:
blood
semen
vaginal fluid
breast milk
other body fluids containing blood
The following are additional body fluids that may transmit the virus that health care workers may come into contact with:
fluid surrounding the brain and the spinal cord
fluid surrounding bone joints
fluid surrounding an unborn baby
HIV has been found in the saliva and tears of some persons living with HIV, but in very low quantities. It is important to understand that finding a small amount of HIV in a body fluid does not necessarily mean that HIV can be transmittedby that body fluid. HIV has not been recovered from the sweat of HIV-infected persons. Contact with saliva, tears, or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of HIV.
I am going to try and get ACLU and other rights organizations to fight for Mr. Cambpell's sentence to reduced to jail time only for a month or two. Not this fear and ignorance-driven sentence. When people are put in prison for 40 years on murder charges, this is shameful and discriminatory.
I'm ashamed that this happened in my state. Or in my country. Almost three decades after this disease was discovered, and the pandemic of ignorance rages on.
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