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basking in WING afterglow...
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 3,554
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[SS Weekly] Same Same, But Equal. ~
22nd October 2009, 04:19 PM
Hello again Same Samers,
As the American state of Maine gears up to vote on the issue of gay marriage, a speech given to Maine's Judiciary Committee back in April from an 86-year-old war veteran has gone on to become a YouTube hit. His heartfelt words cut right to the heart of the matter - "we can all be different and still be equal" - and I felt compelled to pass them on. "Good morning committee, my name is Philip Spooner... I am 86 years old, a lifetime Republican, and an active VFW chaplain. I still serve three hospitals and two nursing homes, and I also served meals on wheels for 20 years. My wife of 54 years, Jenny, died in 1997. Together we had four children, including one gay son. All four of our boys were in the service. I was born on a potato farm north of Caribou and Perham, where I was raised to believe that all men are created equal, and I've never forgotten that. I served in the US Army 1942-1945 in the First Army as a medic and an ambulance driver. I worked with every outfit over there including Patton's Third Army. I saw action in all five major battles in Europe including the Battle of the Bulge. My unit was awarded Presidential Citations for transporting more patients with fewer accidents than any other ambulance unit in Europe, and I was in the liberation of Paris. After the war, I carried POWs back from Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia, and also hauled hundreds of injured Germans back to Germany. "I am here because of a conversation I had last June, when I was voting. A woman at my polling place asked me, 'do you believe in equality for gay and lesbian people?' I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally I asked her: 'what do you think I fought for on Omaha Beach?' I haven't seen so much blood and guts, so much suffering, so much sadness and sacrifice - for what? For freedom and equality. These are the values that make America, our great nation, one worth dying for. "I give talks to eighth grade teachers about World War II but I don't tell them about the horror. Maybe I have to invite them to the ovens at Buchenwald and Dachau. I've seen with my own eyes the consequences of the caste system, how it makes others seem less than others, or second class. Never again. We must have equal rights for everyone... It takes all kinds of people to make a world. It makes no sense that some people who love each other can marry and others can't, just because of who they are. This is what we fought for in World War II, that idea that we can all be different and still be equal. "My wife and I did not raise four sons with the idea that three of them would have a certain set of rights but our gay child would be left out. We raised them all to be hardworking, proud and loyal Americans and they all did good. I think if two adults who love each other want to get married, they should be able to. Everyone is supposed to be equal... Let gay people have the right to marry. Thankyou."
Until next week, Christian Taylor National Editor
Last edited by Christian Taylor : 22nd October 2009 at 04:47 PM.
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samesamesame.
Join Date: Oct 2006
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22nd October 2009, 04:22 PM
Wow wow wow wow wow.
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..
Join Date: Oct 2009
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22nd October 2009, 04:57 PM
Tears dropping off my eyes, the eloquence on the speech of this man touches you in every fiber, what a perfect example of unconditional love.
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watching cable.... just for something different
Join Date: Jul 2008
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22nd October 2009, 05:39 PM
I too, had a tear in my eye. In th 80's, I and a group of chums, chained ouselves to the gates of the QLD parliament. Why? Because that backward little state still could lock gay men up simply for making love in our own homes. The girls who were with us suffered even more, they were ignored. I've never had my thoughts and feelings expressd so exactly. Now why is it that the people we voted to look after our interests, seem hell bent on making sure our interests are not looked after. It sems in this day and age, it's great to have a gay friend, someone to help you dress and shop. But when the chips are down, we are not really equal are we? Society won't allow us the rights of each and every other citizen in this country, even those arriving off a boat in the last 24 hours. I don't want a fake ceremony pretending to be joined as our straight friends are, I want, no I DEMAND, the same rights. Maybe we should fly this old gent to Canberra to give ou pollies a slap upside the head. If they won't listen to us, maybe they'll listen to him....
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talking to the Everlasting So
Join Date: Jan 2008
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22nd October 2009, 06:41 PM
Beautiful.
Purrs peace and harmony. |
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loves being an ambassador for his community
Join Date: Nov 2006
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22nd October 2009, 11:24 PM
the voice of experience and real life is powerful
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Junior Member
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he's said all there every needs to be said ~
23rd October 2009, 05:10 AM
There is nothing to improve on in that speech. It makes no sense not to let gay people not get married and detracts nothing from straight ceremonies because a wedding is an INDIVIDUAL thing not a cause (or it least it shouldn't have to be). Just let people do what they want as long as they are in consenual loving relationships. Then we can get on with fighting causes such as battling for people in countries where it is still illegal to be gay or lesbian and the result of being so can result in jail sentences or stoning etc.
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going to Fabrik Midsumma after party at Miss Libertine
Join Date: Jun 2008
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23rd October 2009, 11:22 AM
Reasoned truth... my eyes teared up too.
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back to work after my holidays
Join Date: Nov 2006
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23rd October 2009, 12:33 PM
Thank you for sharing this with us. Having visited the US and Canada recently the difference in the way we were treated on entry to the countries is amazing. Canada welcomed as a couple the US treated us like aliens. I want to live in a country where i can be an equal partner with my BF of 14 years.
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working
Join Date: Feb 2009
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23rd October 2009, 01:31 PM
Thank you .. that was nothing short of inspiring .. the most inspiring thing i've read in a long long time .. thank you again .. it gives me hope for a better world
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working it
Join Date: Jan 2008
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23rd October 2009, 05:15 PM
This is the most touching statement I've heard in forever. * blows nose, wipes eyes
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completing his forms.
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 214
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Great Speech ~
24th October 2009, 06:48 AM
This is why I am swimming the (English) channel because men like him made the world free. That is why I want to say thankyou to those men in my this swim. It is that freedom that still needs to be carried to all facits of our lives. That we can have the same rights and that we can marry. Its what they faught for--freedom. It is what we still fight for--that same freedom straight people have.
Great speech--cheers! I have vented now off to practice. XG
__________________
"How it is I know not; but there is no place like a bed for confidential disclosures between friends." - Moby Dick, by Herman Melville |
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checking out P!nk photos
Join Date: Mar 2009
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24th October 2009, 01:59 PM
Gave me a lump in my throat.
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Junior Member
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Why are we fighting ~
30th October 2009, 04:42 PM
Why do we fight for gay rights? Because they are denighed us. I for one served in the Australian Military for 25 years, and fought in the Malayan Conflict, and part of the first gulf war and East Timore conflict. Could I be true and come out while I served? No! For if I did, I would have been Court Marshalled. Why? Because my love was for a man and not a woman. Why can men or women not marry a person from the same gender? Because the religions of the world object. There is no other reason. Why is the world in termoil through wars and terrorist actions? Because of religious fervour. Governments need to distance themselves from religion and make decisions based on human rights, and that means for all not the select few.
Phil Lesbirel |
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basking in WING afterglow...
Join Date: Oct 2006
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30th October 2009, 06:32 PM
phil - you are so right! when you boil it all down, how can you argue against that?
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Junior Member
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3rd November 2009, 07:32 PM
I and my partner, we are both 51 believe that we will not be given the right to marry in our lifetime.
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loves being an ambassador for his community
Join Date: Nov 2006
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3rd November 2009, 08:41 PM
Have faith warbboys.......this is what right wing christian/pharisee activist said in his news letter this week.
Quote:
Last edited by avb7 : 3rd November 2009 at 08:44 PM.
Reason: quote marks
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