It's Official...

I'm Mrs. Joe Christopher!

I married my best friend yesterday. The ceremony was short but sweet. Everyone came, mom & dad, Jen & Brian, Trevor, Evan and all the boys. Kira came and took the pictures, (which I can't wait to see!)

The after party was great. I got to drink champagne and eat salmon and tell everyone how much I love them.

I feel married. I even feel like I look married. I like it.

Prop 8: From The Mind of a Mormon

Sometimes I'm goaded into debating.
It has to be an issue I'm passionate about.
for some reason, I'm especially concerned about Gay Rights.
The following is the opinion of a Mormon man named Kurt Keyser followed by my rebuttal.


Why Proposition 8?
I propose that marriage was not originally intended simply as a legal contract. It has been around longer than law itself, regardless of which culture you take as an example. The reasons we have for wanting to protect it for what it truly was intended as go much deeper than a simple civil rights discussion. Modern ideas and political pressures should not be used to trample under a religious rite, which, to many, represents far more than a method of obtaining civil rights. It is a covenant. A sacred three-way covenant in which only a man, woman and God can enter into. That the state additionally recognizes it and affords benefits to it as a contract between two people was convenient at a point in history but is showing its age in our changing social climate.

Redefining marriage to include discriminated individuals or groups does not eliminate the discrimination. It simply gives it a new name.

What Prop 8 does is open the way to change existing discriminating legislature (laws giving benefits to married couples but not civil unions) without defacing the institution of marriage. You don't change the included list of people in a discriminatory law to include your group; you change the law and the definition of that group stands separately. The laws regarding segregation didn't get changed to say, "Blacks are now White and therefore are given rights." Saying that homosexual couples should be included in the definition of marriage is the same argument.

ProtectMarriage.com:
"...Prop. 8 will not “rob” anyone of anything. Gay couples in domestic partnerships have and will continue to have the same legal rights as married spouses. We’re not here to stop anyone from expressing their commitment or responsibility to another. We’re simply here to protect the definition of marriage ... - a union between a man and a woman."

While I understand that the federal government may currently discriminate, this is a state law, not a federal law we're voting on. People deserve equality from the state on both sides of the issue. Supporters of Prop 8 believe marriage is a religious institution and not just a contract recognized by the state between two consenting adults. As a religious rite, it deserves full protection from the state. The same is true of other religious rites, be they whatever they may be.

Civil Unions and the rights thereof are a totally separate discussion - one which you'd find me and my church on the same side as homosexual couples.

Kurt Keyser


Marriage is not a "sacred three-way covenant" as you would suggest. If this were true, only religious people would be allowed to marry. As you know, anyone (male/female) can get married.

"We’re simply here to protect the definition of marriage"... It would be great if the law said, only a man and woman who love and respect each other can marry. Unfortunately Kurt, the law does not say that. At this current moment in time, Americans are getting married for frivolous unholy reasons... to save someone from deportation, to save money on taxes, because someone got pregnant, for money, out of spite or stupidity.

Just go to Las Vegas, see who's allowed to get married. You'll be horrified at what you see. I can tell that you and you're family are good and honest people. You yearn for a world in which only good and honest people exist. But the sad truth is, the "sanctity of marriage" has been a warped concept for many years. You can't 'protect the definition of marriage' it simply does not exist.

If degenerate drunks can do it in the middle of the night in Las Vegas, or Anna Nicole Smith can do it with an old man for money, what are you trying to protect? Who would want to protect this?

I'm sure the deeper concern is your desire to protect your religious beliefs. I know that the Bible frowns upon Homosexuals. This isn't as much about marriage as it is about Gays, and there's nothing wrong with trying to protect your beliefs. I for instance stand firmly against abortion. I believe it's murder, therefore it should be illegal. Of course I want to see my views expressed as law. I do understand your position, Kurt. However, you're going about it the wrong way. You can't protect something that doesn't exist.

Jeri Beumel

Thanks Anonymous!

Thanks anonymous for this youtube video that explains prop 8. I didn't know that catholic churches in Massachusetts had to close their adoption agencies because gays had the right to adopt.

THAT'S INSANE!!!

Are you daft?! You don't get it!

Q: What do religious people hate more than gays?

A: Abortion!

Follow me...

If gay people get married, they adopt more children. Adopting more children means less abortions. It means more loving families, it means protecting our children. Isn't that what you're trying to protect, the American family? Isn't your slogan, protect our children?

Prop 8 Propaganda

I got a phone call from this guy who said, "Hi is this Jeri? I'm Frank your neighbor on Shasta street."
So, right away I knew this was going to be an unusual phone call.


He says, my wife and I are concerned about an issue and we need your help. We need you to vote yes on prop 8. (What's prop 8? Proposition 8 is an initiative measure on the 2008 California General Election ballot titled Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry.)

He asked, "Have you given this any thought?" I told him yes, I plan to vote in favor of gay rights. He said, "Jeri. I want to inform you voting yes doesn't take away anyone's constitutional rights. It just means we can preserve the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman. This would also make it so they can't teach about gay marriage in schools."

I said, "Teaching gay marriage in school? That's ridiculous, I never remember them teaching 'straight marriage' in school."

He said, "You know, when they tell stories of princes sweeping princesses off their feet, they fall in love and get married? This way they can't tell the story of a prince who marries another prince."

I said, "Are you for real?" When he said yes, I wanted to die laughing. I had to let him know that it's not likely that they will swap out all the old fairy tales in school for homoerotic literature if Gay people have the right to marry. But let's say do... Let's say my son goes to school and reads a story about a boy with two moms or two dads. I said, "If they do teach about that in school; I don't have a problem with it. Why do you?"

He said, "Well I'm not here to argue with you. Good bye"

Adios, Homophobe!

Seriously though, Isn't that ridiculous? Teaching Gay Marriage? I had to look it up. I undoubtedly thought this jerkoff had pulled that story out of his ass, about a prince marrying another prince. But then I discovered a commercial about the same cockamamie bullshit this guy was parroting.



Even better, here's the transcript of this unbelievable garbage:

MEDIA ADVISORY, October 9 – Yes on Proposition 8’s second television ad began statewide airing Wednesday. A Spanish version began airing Tuesday. Copies of the ad are available on the www.ProtectMarriage.com website or by calling the campaign at (916) 446-2956. The text of the ad follows:

Protect Marriage

“It’s Already Happened”

Draft TV Script – FINAL APPROVED FOR PRODUCTION

INT. KITCHEN. A mom is sitting at the kitchen table working on paperwork. Her young daughter, a second-grader, comes into the kitchen and excitedly starts talking.

GIRL

Mom, guess what we learned in school today?

MOM

What, sweetie?

MCU:Girl is fishing something out of her backpack.

GIRL

We learned about a prince who married another prince.

CU: The girl hands her mother a copy of the book, King and King.

GIRL

And I can marry a princess.

CU MOM. She has a look of total disbelief on her face.

EFX: The footage of the kitchen scene freezes. We have a distinguished gentleman in a dark suit walk on screen. (He’s standing before a green screen.)

SUPER: Professor Richard Peterson

Pepperdine University School of Law

PETERSON

Think it can’t happen? It’s already happened.

EFX: Peterson walks off screen. Footage of court scene comes up.

ANNCR

When Massachusetts legalized gay marriage, schools began teaching second graders that boys can marry boys. The courts ruled…

SUPER: No Legal Right to Object

Parker v. Hurley, 414 F.3d 87 (1^st Cir.2008)

ANNCR

Parents had no right to object.

EFX: We see footage of a book that reads California Education Code. A hand opens it to section 51933. Camera moves to a close up and the words are highlighted in yellow: “Instruction and materials shall teach respect for marriage.”

ANNCR

Under California law, public schools instruct kids about marriage. Teaching children about gay marriage WILL happen here,

EFX: We are back in the kitchen. We see the mother holding the book in her hands with a dumbfounded look on her face.

ANNCR

…unless we pass Proposition 8.

SUPER: Protect Our Children. Restore Marriage. Yes on Proposition 8

www.protectmarriage.com

EFX: A red swoosh line comes on screen underlining the text as if from a magic marker.

ANNCR

Yes on 8.

SUPER: Paid for by ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8, a project of California Renewal. Major funding by Knights of Columbus, National Organization for Marriage California Committee and Focus on the Family.

It's been a long time...

Timbaland : ♫
It's been a long time
I shouldn't a left you
Without a dope beat to step to...


Can you believe it's already September? I can't.

Journal update:

Joe Christopher proposed to me this July; I said yes of course; It's a half Karat Tiffany; We're madly in love.

My Sweetie knocked me up on March 8th of this year; It's a boy; His name is Evan Joseph; I hope he looks exactly like Joe; Evan's due date is December 2 2008.

We are moving to Placerville; It's so beautiful up there; I'm truly the luckiest girl in the world; we picked out a great home.

My little Trevor is in 1st grade; He loves to read; he has an impressive imagination and has learned how to put it to good use where he lives as a mountain child, (which I now affectionately refer to him as.)

I have been ready for a long time to build a future with someone. I have the best family and am finally, genuinely happy.