The fight is underway in New Hampshire to repeal the marriage equality law. You may remember that I posted how the New Hampshire House Judiciary Committee voted to repeal the law back in October.

Well, according to ThinkProgress, conservatives who favor the repeal of the law have begun their advertising campaign in ernest. A website has been set up that displays banners depicting homosexuals as “trashing” traditional values.

As you can see from the banner I’ve shared, stereotypes of gay men as hedonistic, scantily clad, dress wearing degenerates are juxtaposed next to a picture-perfect heterosexual family.

I won’t deny the evidence in those pictures. There are some gay men who are indeed hedonistic, who enjoy showing lots of skin, and who dress in drag, but does that make all gay men trashy?

Let’s take a look at a different juxtaposition of pictures, and you tell me.

A picture perfect gay male couple with 2 children

Heterosexual couple promoting "traditional" values?

Scantily clad (AKA naked) future heterosexual moms

Traditional grandma and grandpa with granddaughter ready for church?

As these pictures no doubt prove, gay men aren’t the only segment of society capable of hedonism, exhibitionism, or skirting “traditional” family values. The proof is in the pudding, New Hampshire conservatives (and elsewhere). As a human race, we are all capable of letting our hair down and having fun, but that doesn’t negate our basic civil rights to live our lives with the partner of our choosing.

So, those who think gays are trashy, get off your soapbox and take a look at what heterosexuals are capable of. We aren’t perfect, and neither are you.

The Ninth US District Court of Appeals is currently hearing arguments by Proposition 8 proponents in California. They claim that retired US District Judge Vaughn Walker, who helped strike down California’s Proposition 8, should have recused himself since he is a homosexual.

ThinkProgress reports that “Proponents of the measure [seek] to convince the rather skeptical three-judge panel that Walker was ‘in the same kind of relationship as the plaintiffs’ and was unfit to rule on the question of whether gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry because he himself may one day wish to wed his partner.”

Apparently, the three judges hearing the case are not buying the argument. One judge, R. Randy Smith, asked Charles Cooper, counsel for the proponents of Prop 8, whether or not “a married judge could ever be allowed to hear a case about divorce?”

Political analyst Ian Millhiser had this to say about the argument being used by the legal counsel in favor of Prop 8:

“if a court were to accept the anti-gay group’s arguments, it would also follow that no judge who is presently in a committed opposite-sex relationship would be allowed to hear this case either. The name of the organization defending Prop 8 is ‘Protect Marriage,’ a name that derives from their bizarre belief that same-sex marriages are destructive to opposite-sex marriages. But if this were true, than straight judges would have a personal stake in ensuring that their own marriages are not undermined by a decision striking down Prop 8 — and thus would also be required to recuse.”

This would mean than only single judges who had no interest in marriage whatsoever would be allowed to hear this case. Obviously, this line of thinking is absurd and hopefully shows that these judges will hand down a decision in favor of Judge Walker’s previous ruling.

Pullen Baptist Church, located in Raliegh, NC, has decided to protest the state’s proposed constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage by not performing any weddings until full marriage equality is guaranteed for all, as reported by ThinkProgress.

This decision was made by a unanimous vote of the congregation, which is comprised of approximately 650 members. When asked, “The congregants said in a formal statement that current North Carolina law – and the language proposed for a vote next year on an amendment to the state Constitution – discriminates against same-sex couples ‘by denying them the rights and privileges enjoyed by heterosexual married couples.'”

Nancy Petty, Pastor of the Pullen Baptist Church, is a lesbian and began having “a burden of conscience” while signing marriage certificates for heterosexual couples and not for homosexual couples. When she expressed her concerns to her congregation, they supported her 100% and began the process of banning all marriage in their church until full marriage equality was realized.

Stories such as these give me hope in this uncertain political climate. While the Republican presidential candidates attempt to out posture each other by proving they are best suited to support “traditional” family and beat back the oppressively sinful homosexuals and while Obama continues to waffle  on gay issues, it’s nice to see American citizens taking a stand against discrimination. These people are making their voices heard. They are telling their elected officials that they are tired of discriminatory legislation, and they won’t stand for it anymore.

One day (hopefully soon), voices against discrimination will echo throughout the 50 state capitals and The White House, and like the congregation at Pullen Baptist Church, everyone might come to believe that “As people of faith, affirming the Christian teaching that before God all people are equal, we will no longer participate in this discrimination.”