I got a PM from mmafan with the title: I may be moving to New Zealand sooner than I thought.
"Former governor of Texas...now Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry....Is currently polling 3rd or 4th in the Republican presidential primary.
So yeah I may be leaving America shortly...."
Sorry mmafan if I put this out there and you didn't want me to - but I think you've highlighted a wonderful point. Americans DON'T have to put up with this rubbish! They have a choice, a freedom to move and a freedom to VOTE!
There are enough rednecks in America (and other countries) that would love to see the vote through - but, if you can start by getting the right people on the right side, there's no way on EARTH Prick Erry will get in to power!
"On 19 September 1893 the governor, Lord Glasgow, signed a new Electoral Act into law. As a result of this landmark legislation, New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections."
It's not much different to that. And again, does NZ really have to lead the way with everything?
"Civil union has been legal in New Zealand since 26 April 2005. The Civil Union Act to establish the institution of civil union for same-sex and opposite-sex couples was passed by the Parliament on 9 December 2004."
Not to mention anti-nuclear stance etc etc... but that's off track.
Now before everyone goes bashing up Christians because of their anti-gay stances - check again, it's a minority in some cases. In NZ, again, some of the biggest debate FOR civil unions came from Christian groups - now, this isn't my side of things (of course) but when you see that there is a majority of people out there, although slender as it is, any vote for is a good vote!
So - it is possible to get the voter to vote the right way... It's a matter of getting out there to make it HAPPEN!
By the way - here's how NZ parties voted for Civil Unions:
Party Voted For Voted Against
Labour Party 45 6
National Party 3 24
New Zealand First 1 12
ACT 5 4
Green Party 9 0
United Future 0 8
Progressive Party 2 0
Maori Party 0 1
Totals 65 55
Spot the Christian party....
Sorry - the formatting didn't work here - if you want to see the page
Civil union in New Zealand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Labour was in power - so National would naturally vote against.