Bush Admin. At War With Unions Over Gay Support

[DallasTim]

(Cincinnati, Ohio) The Justice Department is involved in a court case that could affect the way labor unions support LGBT issues.

http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/11/111505labor.htm

[joeybee12]

1. This is essentially what Ah-nuld was trying to do in California...

...screw 'em!

[soothsayer]

2. jeez o pete, this makes me furious. They hate us for our freedoms.

is there no end to their desire to totally erode our rights and freedoms? Rat bastards.

[TrogL]

3. This guy needs a history lesson

Unions are about rights.

Unions (IIRC) got started to make sure employers' rights didn't trample over workers' rights to fair pay, a proper workplace etc. etc.

Rights issues are settled by a short list of methodologies. Politics is top of the list.

I'm in the same situation as he is. For reasons I can't explain (confidentiality issues), a union I'm not a member of negotiates my pay, benefits and workplace issues.

If I don't like it, I'm free to work someplace else.

[Ian David]

4. We should be able to withold taxes that support war, then! n/t

[Ontheinternets]

5. shouldn't unions be able to support what

ever causes they want, so such for freedom.

[ninkasi]

6. Why do these people have to interfere in other people's lives?

This Greenwood guy, who objects to his union dues being used for "social issues" because he is homophobic, is an example of hatred enclosed in human form. I don't support the war in Iraq, but I can't withhold taxes because of that.

I disapprove of many right-wing churches, but my tax money is still used for "faith-based" funding. The unions are one of the last organizations we have which still try to fight for issues of equality, and naturally, they are an considered an enemy by the right-wing.

The whole issue seems to me to be worded wrong, anyway. I'm not gay, but shouldn't the whole issue of gay rights be considered one of human rights? If I'm free to marry, and my preference is for someone of the opposite sex, the same right should be extended to any other person who is legally qualified to marry.

Why shouldn't rights be extended to all? Are gays less than human? We went through a lot of the same arguments about minority rights, and women's rights, and it all boils down to the same thing...it is wrong to discriminate against another person because of an individual's personal beliefs.

Partners in a gay relationship, since they are denied to right to marry, should at least have the same rights as others to have their partnerships legally recognized in regards to insurance, medical decisions, adoptions, etc. Chimp says we fight for democracy in Iraq, and at the same time, he and his party deny the most basic of human rights to a segment of our population because they don't like their sexual identities. Hypocrisy at it's worst.

I guess what infuriates me more than anything else is the sheer wrongness of denying human rights, in a country which pretends to support them. No wonder the rest of the world has a negative view of America.

[Voltaire99]

9. Good post. You're right...

...about the heavy imposition on all of us to support right wing culture.

All our lives we are taxed to fund institutionalized hatred; that, and not the seldom and spottily realized liberties enumerated in our constitution, is the first fundamental of American citizenship.

Pay for that hate-screaming church. Pay for that skin-melting army.

Then celebrate "freedom."

It's doubtful the US, with its puritan psychology, maniacal leaders, grotesque educational system, and attraction to violence can surmount the barriers between itself and a just society.

All the more reason to try! Either as a people we strive to rise from the mud, or the further shall we sink into it.

[xchrom]

7. notice greenwood is not a member of the union

one wonders if he likes what they have bargained for him?

can he do without some of the wage increases he's gotten or some of the medical benefits?

dental?

are there retirement packages involved?

[Cha]

8. Do the log cabin repukes just

ignore these kind of issues?