Slowly but surely gay marriage is being recognised in America. I think this is something no-one would have thought during the Bush administration, so yay!

This article on the new law in Maine, had a very interesting paragraph:

In New Hampshire, the House voted 178-167 in favor of the legislation Wednesday after the Senate approved an amended version of the House's original bill last week. The amended version distinguishes between civil and religious marriage. It allows each religion to decide whether to acknowledge same-sex marriage, but extends the option of civil marriage to any two individuals.

This distinction is what is needed in all the laws concerning marriage and it needs to be pointed out to all those religious fanatics out there. Civil marriage is not the same as religious marriage. It's that easy, people!


So, president Obama listed the Netherlands as a tax paradise. For big enterprises, maybe, but the little man or woman? Pays a helluvalot of tax. My intership pay is €450,- of which I see about €290,- after taxes. Still, the Netherlands is a wonderful country to live in, as Russel Shorto shows in his article Going Dutch on the NYT website. He lauds the Dutch social welfare system and explains it very well. The only complaint he has about the Dutch is that our stores are not open 24/7 and that it is not likely to change, which we should do to become a truly multiethnic society. Then again, he lauds the distinction the Dutch have between work and free time. No work e-mails on the weekend, just like the stores are closed on Sundays and in the evening. Café's, theatres and musea are often open on Sundays, so his complaint of not being able to do anything on Sundays is rather unfounded.

(By the way, the supermarket in my small town (pop.20.000) is open seven days a week, 8.00 -20.00 and 10.00-17.00 on Sunday)

The cultural tendency not to stand out, which he notices, is not entirely true. We are an ambitious people, especially the younger generations. We just tend to be quieter about it.

America is the land of the free. But I think we are freer.

I believe this to be true. We are free in different ways. We have the freedom of speech, of equal rights under the law, of being healthy, of having an education as high as we want it. These freedoms come from the social welfare state, which pays me money so I can go to university for four years or for longer if I want to loan money from them. When I'm 70 I'll have a pension worth 70% of my average salary over the year's I've worked. When I hurt, I can go to the doctor without having to pay huge bills. Being in hospital, for whatever reason, is covered. I'm 21 and I have a house, a car, a job, an education and a partner of my choice. Life in the Netherlands is not bad at all.

I wonder when if the time will ever come when women can be as sexual as they want? I saw a video linked by [personal profile] rm over on LJ, in which some old white guy tried to explain slash. Of course, according to his views on the subject. Video and deconstruction can be found in the following article:

Slash and teh magick testicles of perspicacity

Almost everything he talks about is wrong, but what really gets my hackles up is the way he puts women down. If he cannot understand us, we must be wrong. It's all still about the good old het vanilla sex. The gay sex is unrealistic, because how could women know how to have gay sex? Nevermind all the gay porn sites on the internet, the how-to guides (read those and get sophisticated!) and the communities for slash writers and/or gay men. Fucking without lube is not possible! If anyone wanted to fuck him they'd need a whole gallon of the stuff. I'm going to stop here, before I burst into flames.

If you really want to know about slash and the research done on it, read some yourself or check the comments in the article, which cite several good books on the subject.
kayleigh_jane: All you need is lube, lube is all you need (Default)
( Apr. 30th, 2009 09:23 am)
I've come to a realisation: fandom isn't the whole world. Well duh, but sometimes it seems like it is. I was talking to a RL friend Monday and she had no idea about Amazon!fail, which seems really odd after all the hoopla on the internet. The other thing is a bit outside of my circle of interest, but still threw me a bit. I was linked to some pics of one of the contestants on American Idol (Adam?). He was in full drag make-up kissing some guys. My first reaction was: "ooh, pretty and hot!". In the comments to those pics some people were totally disgusted, even though I had the impression that he flew his flag proudly and loudly.

The point is that I somehow assume that everyone is as comfortable as my peers and I are about gays and their rights. I understand the anger everyone has towards the NOMmers and their 2M4M (those abbreviations still make me giggle), but their message perplexes me. "The consequences of gay marriage", which are those, exactly? Teaching about gayness at schools: they are teaching about apartheid, aren't they? It is still a struggle to get the same rights as everyone else! And not giving those rights is still discrimination.
Here in the Netherlands we have had gay marriage since 1-04-2001. We've had legalised abortion and euthanasia even earlier. We're still alive. We've got a pretty good country, if I do say so myself. We've got healthcare, good schools, universities which everyone, rich or poor, can attend without being in debt for their whole lives. I think we can eventually grow into a country where the basis is love and tolerance for everyone by everyone.

Lily Allen's latest, 'Fuck You', illustrates my thoughts perfectly. Deceptively sweet, but with a strong message.

So, fandom isn't the world, but the ideas of fandom should be the ideas of the world (without the wank, if possible ;-)
.

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