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According to the AP, Brad Pitt is in Chicago at Grant Park with the crowds who are currently celebrating Barack Obama being elected as president.
Now we know why the Jolie-Pitt family decided to stay in the U.S. while Brad is on a filming break from Inglourious Basterds. Although they easily could have gone back to France or to their current rental in Berlin, they remained in the U.S. – not because they needed to be there to vote since they could have done so in advance – but because they wanted to be on home ground to see the results of the election.
If any photos of Brad Pitt in Grant Park celebrating Obama’s victory pop up I’ll be sure to let you know!
(Thank you for the heads’ up Lena!)
Congratulations Obama, looks optimistic and loyalty.
UNDER MOD:
Unfortunately, Neela, the picture isn’t that rosy at all. . .
I don’t mean to generalize that the entire population of Utah controlled Cali. Sorry for that faux pas.
Church and state just shouldn’t mix.
(Actually, a more current AP article put the figure at 18,000 couples. And yes, that will affect Ellen & Portia, George Takei & his partner, etc.)
My husband went to the SF City Hall demo after work last night – he said about 4000, good for such short notice. I heard a demo is being organized for Sacramento this weekend.
Unfortunately, Neela, the picture isn’t that rosy at all. And I’m more in favor of knowing exactly what the worst scenario is and preparing for it rather than not preparing enough and losing – which is what happened this time around. Maybe Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid would have done something else if they knew all those federales were out there waiting for them.
Hilary Rosen is one voice, but not the only one or the leading one in the LGBT rights movement. I rely more on California Secretary of State Jerry Brown’s statement that he will do everything in his power to prevent the annulment of the marriages performed before Tuesday’s vote. The Yes on 8 campaign’s position is that those marriages have been voided. The lawsuits are good as an immediate tactic to buy us time, but there’s no automatic win for us.
The couples who married on Monday were making a point of their optimism and commitment – to me, kind of like young couples getting married before the guy (now guy/gal) goes off to war. The war for equality and justice for all is definitely not over. We’ve lost a huge and important battle. But we’ll learn from our mistakes until we win.
They threw everything against us – money from all 50 states and 23 countries. They imported outside agitators from as far away as Sweden. Hundreds of pastors and 10,000s of their congregations moved to California to work fulltime for months on the campaign.
It took a long time to win universal suffrage – for everyone to get a right to vote extended from only white men of property to white men without property to white women to African Americans & other people of color to youth over 18 years of age.
It’s the same with this. The Yes on 8 people made it OK to openly discriminate against a group of people. It’s our – all of us who believe in equality & justice for all, no matter our personal belief about marriage or religion – job to make people as ashamed about doing this as they would be about being openly racist.
PONDER THIS, a substantial portion of California Obama voters voted Yes on Prop. 8.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-mew-gay-marriage5-2008nov05,0,917774,full.story
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/us/27right.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081105/ap_on_el_ge/ballot_measures
Sherry, I know what you mean. I too have also thought of California as being quite progressive. I love this state, but I am very much disappointed. While I still love it, I am a put off that we sort of allowed another state (Utah) to control our bums. Even the governator, who believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, opposes prop 8. It just shouldn’t be a law.
More on more, Canada is looking good to me.
I can barely even coherently talk about Prop 8 because it just upsets me that much. I was truly disappointed in the results and a little shocked because I always think of California as being progressive and ahead of the curve.
I’m glad they’re fighting it though.
Congratulations, Gena! You’ll be part of making history. I assume you’ll be going to the parade? Are you one of the lucky ones going to one of the inaugural balls?
Kim, just a moment of levity. Pro/con, I thought this would bring a smile: A party atmosphere reigned on the airwaves too, with BBC DJ Chris Moyles, host of the country’s most popular radio show, marking the occasion on air by singing “Obama is president” to the theme tune of “Star Wars.” (Variety)
Rita, I just got around to looking at the zimbio pics. Thanks for posting the link. :-)
actually, i was watching cnn the other day, and hilary rosen mentioned that if prop 8 passed, it wouldn’t have any effect on the marriages that already happened–it wouldn’t be retroactive. it kind of makes sense because city hall was quite overbooked for weddings before the elections. there were couples who felt pressured to get married.
i think we’ve lost the battle, but the war is still raging on. prop 8 won’t have any permanence in the CA constitution because it is discriminatory. lawsuits have already been filed, and protests will continue. there was a statewide one last night. sf city hall was packed last night. i couldn’t go to the one here in sacramento, unfortunately.
Gena, Happy for you and your getting to DC for Jan. 20th. I have a feeling that there is going to be many many people there and those not there will be watching on TV. My daughter-in-law works in a town that is all GOP and she commented that this year there was not the usual tons of GOP signs around in town and the yards.
I feel so peaceful when I watch Pres. Elect Obama. He looks so at peace with himself. Last night I was watching Larry King and everyone who knows or worked PE Obama says he is very intelligent man and knows how to listen to those around him before making a decision. I am of the J F Kennedy era, and I loved him and his family, and I feel the same way about our new president to be. I wish I was younger and in better health because I would go to DC also.
Ligaya, when you said “Eleven thousand coUples will have their marriages invalidated”, does it mean people like Ellen and Portia will also have their marriage invalidated? If so, that must be very bad news for them.
Am very sad about Prop 8.
What crock, to argue that in order to maintain your rights it is appropriate to take away someone else rights.
I got my plane ticket for Jan. 20, D.C. bound. Will be flying out to NY to meet up with my dtr and some friends, then driving to D.C. for the inauguration. So excited!!!!
I apologize for the disjointed posts … but has anybody seen photo essays of reactions (from around the world) to Obama’s win? HuffPost has a good collection. It’s amazing. And the Asian stock markets spiked up.
Just want to add that McCain’s concession speech was very moving. He bowed out with grace, and I respect him for that. It’s the McCain of 2000. :)
I am very sad about Prop 8. I can’t believe it passed. I know this is sensitive for some, and they support it, and that’s okay. For me though, I just don’t think it’s right to codify discrimination. I have plenty of gay friends and a couple of gay relatives, and it’s quite a struggle for them to have to be seen as second class citizens.
I hope I don’t offend anybody here, but I do genuinely feel Prop 8 is a bad move. Just my opinion.
UNDER MOD: As for No on Prop. 8, we lost . . .
As for No on Prop. 8, we lost – a discriminatory provision taking away civil and human rights was written into a state constitution for the first tine ever anywhere in the U.S. Eleven thousand coUples will have their marriages invalidated. I was hoping against hope, but California voters don’t have a great record of doing the right thing. I don’t know what our next step is – a lawsuit, or bring another initiative to the voters.
We underestimated our opposition – we were outorganized, outnumbered, out-everything. They were effective with their misleading propaganda that this issue was about recruiting children to become gay/lesbian. We started a little too late and tried to catch up in the last three weeks what we should have been doing for months. We need to take lessons from our opposition and the Obama campaign if we ae to succeed next time. Today, I’m in mourning.
Sherry, if you could push my comment sometime today, I’d appreciate it – it would be more timely.
UNDER MOD:
Good morning, everybody. I know there are McCain supporters here . . .
Good morning, everybody. I know there are McCain supporters here – I saw a headline saying he called for everyone to support President-elect Obama. I saw another headline that said McCain was a victim of the economy, the Bush legacy, and his own campaign’s missteps – so, I a way, it was inevitable. I hope you don’t feel too bad for too long.
This is indeed historic. I never thought I’d see a black man be the presidential nominee in my lifetime, let alone be president. Now, I’d love to see a woman – especially a woman of color – become a president in my lifetime. I voted for Obama, but I was never an Obamaniac. I guess you could call me a sober supporter, I saw the man’s weaknesses as well as his strengths. I hope he will be like Abraham Lincoln who grew into his presidency and became a greater man than when he entered it. Obama ran an impressive 21st century campaign, that’s for sure.
I think the majority of us around the world are all relieved, and many ecstatic, at the results and hopeful that all the wrongs of the past 8 years can be put right.
I so happy, I can’t stop screaming my whole family is crying, they just can’t believe it has happen.We woke up to a new America, Thanks to
all who voted for OBAMA. Thanks to Jolie-Pitt for their support, good to see Brad in Chicago.