Leelanau Whippersnapper

From the Detroit Free Press:

Mich. court condones misleading ballot tactics

You know, before I was in a serious relationship I don’t think I would have really cared that Gay marriage was “banned” in Michigan through the passage of proposal 2 in 2004.  Now that I’ve been in a serious relationship and now that the relationship has ended it makes me wonder why I am continuing to live in this state at all.  I know why I continue on here but oh my fucking god folks, how fucking ignorant can you all possiably be?  Did your crack pipe explode in your face?  Did Bubba forget to wash his overalls again?

Already, Lambda Legal, which recently created a “Safety Scale” of states as guidance for convention planners as well as gay couples planning to travel or relocate, put Michigan, once a leader on gay rights, in the worst class.

For those of us who care about Michigan, the damage this court ruling does to the state’s reputation is, to put it mildly, discomforting.

Michigan Sucks.  If I had been allowed to get married to Jirar, I would already have the use of the legal system to help us both dissolve our relationship.  What if the 2 of us had adopted children?  We were together 10 years, it would not have been unusual for a heterosexual couple together that long to have had kids, why not a gay couple?  The fact is, Jirar and I had (and continue to have) no legal rights in Michigan.  He could walk out on his commitments tomorrow and I would have absolutely NO recourse.  He could have the power, gas, phone, and cable shut off here tomorrow and I could do nothing about it since they are all in his name.

Two justices dissented from that May 7 ruling, saying the five-justice majority read too much into the amendment. The dissenters, citing the campaign’s bait-and-switch tactics, issued a warning that should be heard nationwide: “(T)he majority condones and even encourages the use of misleading tactics in ballot campaigns… (I)n the future, organizations may be encouraged to use lies and deception to win over voters or the court. This should be a discomforting thought for us all.”

Not only is this one of the worst states in the county economically, it has also become so corrupt even our justices don’t know what justice is.