This entry was posted on Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 23:52 and is filed under Controversy, Fight, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This is truly touching. But we need to stop pretending that it has anything to do with the general readership of this weblog. The GLBTQWhatever “community” is no more tolerant than the H “community” and they are as likely to string you up on a meat hook as their counterpart.
Yes, seventeen-year-olds can express physical and emotional intimacy with other seventeen-year-olds, regardless of gender. Forty-year-olds can express physical and emotional intimacy with forty-five-year-olds, regardless of gender. Does that really have anything to do with you? Does it free you?
Perhaps it should; perhaps you classify yourself such that it does. But imagine your own testimony and the reception that it would receive by this same audience..
Rejoice in the victory of others, but to not claim them to be your own.
I think the whole point is that what this seventeen year old is advocating is a start, and it all has to start somewhere. Not all aspects of the gay world will be instantaneously accepted because gay marriage is finally accepted, which it will of course be, someday. Praise to this young guy, and anyone else who trys to forward some aspect of the cause of equal rights for gays.
Thanks, Josh. Nice post.
This kid understands the future far better than most of the people in his audience, I would wager. To most older people the idea that it is exactly as acceptable to be gay as it is to be straight is simply beyond their ability to comprehend. Unfortunately, most of older society believes gays should be tolerated, not accepted. I hope that in 50 years when his generation is running things that we’ll live in a society that realizes that the idea of sexual orientation is simply false. No other culture save modern western culture has ever come up with such an idea. Every other culture, even when they demonized homosexual activity, did not deny that everyone can have desires for the same gender and that they are entirely normal. It’s quite disappointing that the first question one of the council members asked after he was finished speaking was “how old are you?” It displays for all to see that even the council members aren’t bothering to address the issue on its merits, they want to judge it based upon who puts it forward.
Wow – this broought tears to my eyes and a warm but heavy feeling to my heart. :-)
This guy has great public speaking talent. To be able to bring across your message , with such a calm voice .
And even though it was obivously on the verge of getting emotional – he pulled through with bravado.
Way to go – all the best to you and your life, and thank you! <3<3<3
Very well spoken. How can society treat gays or any other sexuality for that matter equal if governments do not. As long as there are governments and people representing those governments that differentiate between sexualities, be it concerning marriage, adoption or anything else, they will always keep alive the notion that it is somehow different, thus making it a target for bullying, abuse and more.
I congratulate this young man on his courage, on his perseverance to actually go out and collect those signatures, make the speech and present it to the people of power, thus doing his part in making a difference in this world and I sincerely hope he does.
As for the relevance of this speech to the general public of this blog, I think it is very relevant. Yes, the subject might be a bit more controversial and yes it will probably take quite a bit longer to be accepted or even recognized, but the way in dealing with it is the same. Most discussions with this usually focus on the sexual/physical part of it, but of course it is a much more fundamental issue. It is still a matter of two people loving each other and their wish to be allowed to express that. So yes, I think this kind of things is where to start.
Teratos, the readership of this blog is not exclusively pedophiles. Unless you know something about this site that I don’t, you have no good reason to assume anything about the demographic of people who view this site. What makes you assume this is a site intended for pedophiles? Am I misunderstanding you? In my case, the kid in this video is only a couple years younger than I am and gay marriage among adults is very significant to my interests.
This kid’s speech does not represent any kind of victory and even if it did, it would be a victory I and many other people who view this blog share.
Equal protection under the law, as it relates to civil contracts, is an important constitutional principle, so is freedom of religion. SO, all you conservative Americans who pay lip service to reverence for the constitution, let’s support our constitution and get on with supporting civil marriage in all states for all citizens [and taxpayers I might add - yes gays pay taxes too], and continue to protect churches freedom to set their own standards as to who gets married in their church.
The argument as to whether gay or straight parenting is best is foolish because gay couples and straight couples can be wonderful or terrible. It is as individual as any other human endeavor, and the sexual orientation of an individual has little to do with competence in other aspects of their life.
I love the courage and honesty of this boy, but he should know his peers in the locker room really don’t want a big tacky wedding!
Canada has gay marriage already as do other countries. From the outside looking in it seems strange that a country that portends to fight for freedom doesn’t provide it to some of it’s own citizens.
Great speech; this young man is brave and articulate. I hope his aspirations can be realized. I live in a state where, if this young man stood up and said this, he’d stand the distinct chance of being stoned to death. That fact saddens, disgusts, and frightens me. I salute him; he is, and always will be, far more courageous than I can ever be.
Bravo! He made some excellant points on how society can make gay people feel like less simply by the rules they impose. In 1984 the idea of two gay people getting married was as far fetched as travel beyond the galaxy. The thoughts of coming out of the closet in high school were about persecution, fear, intolerence, social rejection. I went to a school of 2000 students and we didn’t have a single out of the closet person. Today thay have a club of gays with over 35 members!
Times are changing and it is because of young people like this boy who are making the old school people understand that it is OK to be gay, that it isn’t a lifestyle choice, and that all gays are not pedophiles out to molest their children.
This young man did a great job of seperating church and state, and making the point of equal rights. I wish we could all be as strong.
Congrats to this young bloke & others like him. It demonstrates the power of speaking out. (The world listens too)
As reported by Australian National Broadcast Network courstesy of BBC.
Vermont has become the fourth US state to legalise gay marriage after legislaters overrode a veto by the state governor.
Both the state’s House of Representatives and the Senate passed the bill by more than the required two-thirds majority.
Gay rights activists have launched a campaign to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in all the states of New England.
The vote, nine years after Vermont was the first in the United States to adopt a same-sex civil-union law, also makes the tiny state of 624,000 people the first in the nation where politicians passed a gay marriage law instead of the courts.
Vermont joins New England neighbours Connecticut and Massachusetts in allowing gay couples to marry.
The vote comes just four days after Iowa’s Supreme Court struck down a decade-old law that barred gays from marrying.
California briefly recognised gay marriage until voters banned it in a referendum last year.
I suspect the forum he is addressing, although I’m not certain, is “case day.” It is intended to be very much like a courtroom hearing. It’s designed to give high school kids the opportunity to argue important, and generally controversial cases in something of a mock court. It is usually attended by a large portion of the school (students and teachers) and often a lot of community leaders. The kids spend weeks preparing and argue their cases before judges (other students) in the format of the U.S. Supreme Court. Generally the students do not get to pick the cases, or the side they will argue. It seems like whoever picks the cases goes out of their way to find the most complex, controversial, and difficult cases for the students to argue. From my observation, this boy blew it out of the park. He might have contributed to the decision of the one Republican in the Vermont Senate that switched his vote today -resulting in the Gay Marriage victory.
With a few exceptions I don’t believe young teens ‘know’ if they are gay or not. Hormonal imbalance can lead to ‘crushes’ or experimentation but that is not to say these youngsters should be pigeon-holed because of what society may term as indescretions. I think these lads should find their true identities without prejudice or pressure from a society which has yet to realise that the true abomination on this planet is religion.
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heart.
This is truly touching. But we need to stop pretending that it has anything to do with the general readership of this weblog. The GLBTQWhatever “community” is no more tolerant than the H “community” and they are as likely to string you up on a meat hook as their counterpart.
Yes, seventeen-year-olds can express physical and emotional intimacy with other seventeen-year-olds, regardless of gender. Forty-year-olds can express physical and emotional intimacy with forty-five-year-olds, regardless of gender. Does that really have anything to do with you? Does it free you?
Perhaps it should; perhaps you classify yourself such that it does. But imagine your own testimony and the reception that it would receive by this same audience..
Rejoice in the victory of others, but to not claim them to be your own.
This is amazing.
I’m 16. In 50 years, when I’m 66, I’ll come out of the closet if the world is how that boy is fighting for it to be.
I think the whole point is that what this seventeen year old is advocating is a start, and it all has to start somewhere. Not all aspects of the gay world will be instantaneously accepted because gay marriage is finally accepted, which it will of course be, someday. Praise to this young guy, and anyone else who trys to forward some aspect of the cause of equal rights for gays.
Thanks, Josh. Nice post.
Bright articulate young guy.
Ironic he moved to Vermont from Iowa (where the courts this week opened the door to gay marriage).
bollocks he would have tacky a wedding
Amazing young boy, he is very right, Eperle
This kid understands the future far better than most of the people in his audience, I would wager. To most older people the idea that it is exactly as acceptable to be gay as it is to be straight is simply beyond their ability to comprehend. Unfortunately, most of older society believes gays should be tolerated, not accepted. I hope that in 50 years when his generation is running things that we’ll live in a society that realizes that the idea of sexual orientation is simply false. No other culture save modern western culture has ever come up with such an idea. Every other culture, even when they demonized homosexual activity, did not deny that everyone can have desires for the same gender and that they are entirely normal. It’s quite disappointing that the first question one of the council members asked after he was finished speaking was “how old are you?” It displays for all to see that even the council members aren’t bothering to address the issue on its merits, they want to judge it based upon who puts it forward.
Wow – this broought tears to my eyes and a warm but heavy feeling to my heart. :-)
This guy has great public speaking talent. To be able to bring across your message , with such a calm voice .
And even though it was obivously on the verge of getting emotional – he pulled through with bravado.
Way to go – all the best to you and your life, and thank you! <3<3<3
Very well spoken. How can society treat gays or any other sexuality for that matter equal if governments do not. As long as there are governments and people representing those governments that differentiate between sexualities, be it concerning marriage, adoption or anything else, they will always keep alive the notion that it is somehow different, thus making it a target for bullying, abuse and more.
I congratulate this young man on his courage, on his perseverance to actually go out and collect those signatures, make the speech and present it to the people of power, thus doing his part in making a difference in this world and I sincerely hope he does.
As for the relevance of this speech to the general public of this blog, I think it is very relevant. Yes, the subject might be a bit more controversial and yes it will probably take quite a bit longer to be accepted or even recognized, but the way in dealing with it is the same. Most discussions with this usually focus on the sexual/physical part of it, but of course it is a much more fundamental issue. It is still a matter of two people loving each other and their wish to be allowed to express that. So yes, I think this kind of things is where to start.
@Teratos What? I have absolutely no idea what you are on about.
Eyes on the lady on the right
Teratos, the readership of this blog is not exclusively pedophiles. Unless you know something about this site that I don’t, you have no good reason to assume anything about the demographic of people who view this site. What makes you assume this is a site intended for pedophiles? Am I misunderstanding you? In my case, the kid in this video is only a couple years younger than I am and gay marriage among adults is very significant to my interests.
This kid’s speech does not represent any kind of victory and even if it did, it would be a victory I and many other people who view this blog share.
Equal protection under the law, as it relates to civil contracts, is an important constitutional principle, so is freedom of religion. SO, all you conservative Americans who pay lip service to reverence for the constitution, let’s support our constitution and get on with supporting civil marriage in all states for all citizens [and taxpayers I might add - yes gays pay taxes too], and continue to protect churches freedom to set their own standards as to who gets married in their church.
The argument as to whether gay or straight parenting is best is foolish because gay couples and straight couples can be wonderful or terrible. It is as individual as any other human endeavor, and the sexual orientation of an individual has little to do with competence in other aspects of their life.
I love the courage and honesty of this boy, but he should know his peers in the locker room really don’t want a big tacky wedding!
Canada has gay marriage already as do other countries. From the outside looking in it seems strange that a country that portends to fight for freedom doesn’t provide it to some of it’s own citizens.
holy crap i know that kid.
and he did a good job. props james.
Great speech; this young man is brave and articulate. I hope his aspirations can be realized. I live in a state where, if this young man stood up and said this, he’d stand the distinct chance of being stoned to death. That fact saddens, disgusts, and frightens me. I salute him; he is, and always will be, far more courageous than I can ever be.
Wow,
Not only is he cute but his speech is great!
That boy is the future – thank God.
Hi all,
does anyone know to whom he is speaking out to?
It appears he is very close to the “judges” when he hands out his papers.
Somehow the feeling i get from the place of happening is of a courtroom hearing.
Leaves me with an unsettled feeling …..
Bravo! He made some excellant points on how society can make gay people feel like less simply by the rules they impose. In 1984 the idea of two gay people getting married was as far fetched as travel beyond the galaxy. The thoughts of coming out of the closet in high school were about persecution, fear, intolerence, social rejection. I went to a school of 2000 students and we didn’t have a single out of the closet person. Today thay have a club of gays with over 35 members!
Times are changing and it is because of young people like this boy who are making the old school people understand that it is OK to be gay, that it isn’t a lifestyle choice, and that all gays are not pedophiles out to molest their children.
This young man did a great job of seperating church and state, and making the point of equal rights. I wish we could all be as strong.
Congrats to this young bloke & others like him. It demonstrates the power of speaking out. (The world listens too)
As reported by Australian National Broadcast Network courstesy of BBC.
Vermont has become the fourth US state to legalise gay marriage after legislaters overrode a veto by the state governor.
Both the state’s House of Representatives and the Senate passed the bill by more than the required two-thirds majority.
Gay rights activists have launched a campaign to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in all the states of New England.
The vote, nine years after Vermont was the first in the United States to adopt a same-sex civil-union law, also makes the tiny state of 624,000 people the first in the nation where politicians passed a gay marriage law instead of the courts.
Vermont joins New England neighbours Connecticut and Massachusetts in allowing gay couples to marry.
The vote comes just four days after Iowa’s Supreme Court struck down a decade-old law that barred gays from marrying.
California briefly recognised gay marriage until voters banned it in a referendum last year.
- BBC/Reuters
In response to 3Robin,
I suspect the forum he is addressing, although I’m not certain, is “case day.” It is intended to be very much like a courtroom hearing. It’s designed to give high school kids the opportunity to argue important, and generally controversial cases in something of a mock court. It is usually attended by a large portion of the school (students and teachers) and often a lot of community leaders. The kids spend weeks preparing and argue their cases before judges (other students) in the format of the U.S. Supreme Court. Generally the students do not get to pick the cases, or the side they will argue. It seems like whoever picks the cases goes out of their way to find the most complex, controversial, and difficult cases for the students to argue. From my observation, this boy blew it out of the park. He might have contributed to the decision of the one Republican in the Vermont Senate that switched his vote today -resulting in the Gay Marriage victory.
With a few exceptions I don’t believe young teens ‘know’ if they are gay or not. Hormonal imbalance can lead to ‘crushes’ or experimentation but that is not to say these youngsters should be pigeon-holed because of what society may term as indescretions. I think these lads should find their true identities without prejudice or pressure from a society which has yet to realise that the true abomination on this planet is religion.
I am still crying having watched this vid. I think the person speaking is amazing and I truly hope that his words were heard.