Drawing the Line on Same-Sex Marriage

the time has come: friends and family, you’re either with us or against us

Yet another new poll out today showing national support for same-sex marriage at an all time high: (from CNN/ORC)

Indeedy, it is getting better. A CNN/ORC poll released yesterday revealed that 54% of Americans believe same-sex marriage should be made legal. 42% still oppose the idea, but with the support at the highest levels since 2008, the news is a ray of sunshine warming our smiling faces through the storm clouds. (Forgive the cheese.) 73% of people polled aged 18-34 gave their support.

Same sex marriage at a +12 favorability nationally is pretty stunning to see, but it seems like that’s pretty close to the actual number, with this May 23rd Washington Post/ABC Poll showing support at 53-39 (+14). The most stunning number is that 3 out of every 4 people under the age of 35 back same-sex marriage, putting that issue on the same level as interracial marriage in a very real sense (roughly 25% of Americans are publicly against interracial marriage). More interesting stat lines from the polling:

Less than a quarter, 23 percent, of Republicans supported marriage equality, compared with 70 percent of Democrats.
60 percent of people said they had a family member or close friend who was gay, compared with 45 percent in 2007.

The most dramatic take from this data is how far out of the social mainstream the Republican Party has come. With only 23% in support, that means that the polling must have found roughly 60-65% overall support for same sex marriage between Democrats and independents. President Obama’s historic endorsement of same sex marriage seems to be the catalyst at pushing same sex marriage support into the driver’s seat on a permanent basis, even in the African-American community, where same sex marriage struggled to gain a foothold previously.
But what does that mean for us? The main point to be drawn from all of the above is that now, more than ever, the war for public opinion is over. The 65+, super conservative voting bloc is pretty much cancelled out because the rest of the country is with us. And the fact is, the time for fence sitting is over.


I’m sure many LGBTQ individuals can relate to having that one friend or family member that just can’t bring themselves to support same sex marriage, but boy, are they sure nice to you! Hey, they think you should be able to see your “partner” at the hospital, but “marriage is marriage”! Maybe it’s because of their religion, or they just are a “traditionalist”.

Well, here’s the thing: When roughly 7/10 non-crazy people agree that not allowing same-sex marriages is a violation of civil and human rights because it denies equality, your support for denying equal rights to gay and lesbian Americans is no longer acceptable because the rest of us have evolved enough to realize that it is a bigoted, discriminative and morally abhorrent position that, very shortly, will be as socially acceptable as a KKK cross-burning. Get with the program. The simple fact is, on a personal level, how you can look me in the face and profess your “love” or “care” for me while simultaneously supporting the government’s ability to legally discriminate against me for something I can’t control is SICK. It’s wrong, and it’s fucked up.


And I am sorry if you just “can’t do it”. Maybe it’s the Bible, or whatever backwards, outdated, and usually outrageous excuse that you use to justify your innate homophobia, but here’s the deal: we’re done. To those in my life that don’t support my fundamental right to marry whomever I choose, then fuck off. This might seem callous, but why do I want to remain on speaking terms with someone who believes that I should be discriminated against in the eyes of the law? I am not friends with any white supremacists, or neo-Nazis. I am sure as hell not going to be associating with anyone who’s a bigot and homophobe, and yes, when you’re a homophobe, and believe in discrimination, that absolutely makes you a bigot. You are NO BETTER than a racist or a sexist. History will judge you that way, and I have no interest in associating with someone who will be known as a member of the last generation that opposed same-sex marriage in America.

You can log out, but you can never leave.

google+, google photos, google docs, google maps…google internet?

    

The infographic on the right details the  effectiveness of high popularity on Google+ and the way it transitions to search result rankings on Google Web Search.

click here

Launched only 10 months ago, Google Plus is Google’s last and grandest attempt to gain a foothold in the social networking market after the abject failure of Google’s last hyped social network debut, Google Buzz. Today, Google+ is ranked 3rd on the social web for monthly visitors, trailing only Twitter, and of course, Facebook. Even with that, news on Google+ has been quiet – it has a well developed niche of current users, but doesn’t drive any excitement – most likely because of it’s lack of colorful “bloat” – a mixture of apps, games, 3rd party disasters, and stupid teenagers.

But it increasingly looks like this may be the calm before the storm. In a bold move, Google merged Google Places (the internet’s most widely used location look up service) and Google+ to create Google+ Local, integrating free Zagat ratings and Google Places listings with Google+ pages – effectively meaning that if you click for details on a business on Google Maps, it will, at some point, push you straight through to a company’s Google+ page. It’s sort of like the Facebook search bar…except it’s on the world’s largest search engine and highest visibility website. Now – while aggressive – this isn’t pushing users to go through Google+ for everything related to a business’s presence online.

What IS going to push EVERYTHING business page related through Google+ is a combination of two main things:

1. Integration of Google+ profiles and +1’s into Google Web Search results. Active Google+ pages rocket to the top of Google search results for people logged into Google when they search.
2. Direct Google Web Search bar access to Google+ pages. Take a look at this neat trick in Google Web Search if you use a “+” in front of a search term:

The top search suggestion automatically reserves for an applicable Google+ page, meaning potentially, the very first search result for even the world’s biggest and most searched for brands won’t be a proprietary website, but the company’s official Google+ page. Right now this feature is only available for what seems to be a group of well known brands or people, but will be rolled out to all business pages eventually. 


Google is also implementing fixes for their last major hurdle: their business pages are just dull and boring. From the above link:

The first thing you’ll notice is the new layout and design for the listing for your business. All your basic business information is still available. And by streamlining the layout and putting more focus on photos and reviews, we hope to help you highlight what makes your business truly unique.

Google did us the favor of rolling out the updates to a select group of small businesses to get an idea of what “new” Google+ pages will look like. Updated Google+ business pages include direct Zagat integration and direct OpenTable integration, marking the first foray into third party/page applications. The page for +The Meatball Shop is a perfect example, showing the updated features, but unlike Facebook, no increased bloat.


While it’s an ambitious overtaking and lofty rhetoric for a social networking that has not generated the heat that many thought it would, if performed correctly, Google+ will put themselves in a position to perhaps rival Facebook in less than five years, mainly because instead of trying to fit the conventional internet into a social network, they will make the internet fit a social network via their massive search provider presence. This should be interesting to watch.
Guess you’d better +1 this post.

Here to Publish

Our Neighborhood Ashram.

Gurdwara Sahib Guru Nanak Dwara, Coronado Historic District, Phoenix
 

This is a part of a series on the Coronado Historical District in Phoenix, AZ