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  1. #1

    First open bisexual congresswoman elected

    http://www.advocate.com/politics/pol...-congresswoman

    http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t3#...gresswoman.cnn
    In the cnn's video, she even dodged the "Do you believe in G-d?" question.

    And she's a congresswoman of Arizona - that's the same state that has been in the news for a while on super conservative stands on illegal immigrants.

    I guess it's not news, as it's over a week old, but surprised me when I saw it just today. At least in that state it's surprising.

  2. #2
    Merely a Setback Sunseeker's Avatar
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    Cool, I guess. The sexuality of a person doesn't really matter to mean unless they're using it as some kind of shield against criticism or a platform against others.
    Human progress isn't measured by industry. It's measured by the value you place on a life.

    Just, be kind.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by smrund View Post
    Cool, I guess. The sexuality of a person doesn't really matter to mean unless they're using it as some kind of shield against criticism or a platform against others.
    Well it is kind of a symptom of another problem if A) We assume that sexuality and race have no bearing on someone's merit (which we do) and B) The people who get elected don't reflect demographics very accurately.

    Plus there is always something to be said for diverse view points and positions in governing bodies.

  4. #4
    Pandaren Monk Willeonge's Avatar
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    Pretty cool, but I don't really care. As long as she represents her district well.
    "Laws should be made of iron, not of pudding."

    “A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.”

    - King Stannis Baratheon

  5. #5
    Merely a Setback Sunseeker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    Well it is kind of a symptom of another problem if A) We assume that sexuality and race have no bearing on someone's merit (which we do) and B) The people who get elected don't reflect demographics very accurately.

    Plus there is always something to be said for diverse view points and positions in governing bodies.
    Politicians are there to represent ideals, not races, genders, or sexual orientations. I really couldn't care less if the entire Congress was made up of black lesbians.

    As long as the ideologies I support are getting a voice, and there is a diversity to ideology, then great.
    Human progress isn't measured by industry. It's measured by the value you place on a life.

    Just, be kind.

  6. #6
    Politicians are there to represent people. Look at it this way. You have a pool of 100,000 blocks. Half of them are blue. A quarter are red and the last quarter are yellow. Now if you select them on their merits for building and assume their color has no basis on said merit wouldn't you expect the 100 you selected to be more or less the same make up as the full pool? Its the same with who we elect. When the people who are in charge don't match up with national demographics to the extent we see now that's a sign there is some serious bias having an effect.

  7. #7
    Scarab Lord Puck's Avatar
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    Lol Wells, your analogies always just leave me being more confused.

  8. #8
    They make more sense to me when I write them. My point was that if if we aren't assuming that skin color has any bearing on someone's merit for office then our elected officials should mirror our national demographics more closely.

  9. #9
    Fluffy Kitten Remilia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The EagleOwl Mage View Post
    Lol Wells, your analogies always just leave me being more confused.
    Doesn't matter which side you choose, it's still a politician.
    Least that's what I got.

  10. #10
    The Normal Kasierith's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The EagleOwl Mage View Post
    Lol Wells, your analogies always just leave me being more confused.
    I actually find them very clarifying.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by The EagleOwl Mage View Post
    Lol Wells, your analogies always just leave me being more confused.
    Look at it this way, you have a bowl of water with ice cubes in it and half the ice cubes are submerged, a quarter of the ice cubes are even more submerged, and the remaining quarter are submerged even below the last quarter or the first half, so what you have is uh, you have... um...

    You know what, what Wells said. It actually did makes sense

  12. #12
    Scarab Lord Puck's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kasierith View Post
    I actually find them very clarifying.
    I guess it's because he words them in a similar way to word problems and I was always terrible at those.

  13. #13
    Void Lord Aeluron Lightsong's Avatar
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    If her ideals are good fine. We should vote for congressmen and woman with good ideals IMO.
    #TeamLegion #UnderEarthofAzerothexpansion plz #Arathor4Alliance #TeamNoBlueHorde

    Warrior-Magi

  14. #14
    I'm with the "what does her sexual preference have to do with anything" crowd. As long as she represents her peeps and doesn't break any laws, good for her.

    To address you directly, Wells, I would actually be very concerned if congressional demographics closely resembled that of the population . . . it would mean that people are voting based on skin color, gender, or sexual preference.

  15. #15
    To address you directly, Wells, I would actually be very concerned if congressional demographics closely resembled that of the population . . . it would mean that people are voting based on skin color, gender, or sexual preference.
    No it wouldn't actually. Its basic statistics. We assume skin color and sexual preference has no basis in someone's merits for office. So why do our national demographics not line up at all with leadership's demographics? If we were selecting leaders purely on merit and not in any way having our leadership pool effected by race or sexuality then statistics dictate that we would be selecting people that would more or less mirror national demographics.

    See my awesome and not in any way confusing block analogy from up thread.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    No it wouldn't actually. Its basic statistics. We assume skin color and sexual preference has no basis in someone's merits for office. So why do our national demographics not line up at all with leadership's demographics? If we were selecting leaders purely on merit and not in any way having our leadership pool effected by race or sexuality then statistics dictate that we would be selecting people that would more or less mirror national demographics.

    See my awesome and not in any way confusing block analogy from up thread.
    I see what you're saying, but that's just not how the numbers work. There is a huge pool of people from whom a tiny pool of elected officials are drawn, assuming purely mathematical random selection the chances of getting anything remotely resembling correlation are very, very small. I'm not going to actually do the math for a forum post, but I'd say the chances of getting 30 expatriated Armenians into congress at the same time is about the same as an 80% correlation in demographics between the population and congress.

  17. #17
    I don't want to ruin the party, but I'll try and play the devil's advocate here for a second.

    I don't know anything about her, her political stance, her career or achievements or qualifications. I'm sure that she is a very capable young woman with a great future ahead of her and I wish her the best in everything.

    But now my questions are the following.

    If she was not a young, atractive single lady declaring herself Bi-sexual but rather if she was an openly Lesbian, would have she still carried all the votes she did right now?

    Let's be honest we all know that very very often heterosexual men (I'm not considering myself better) tend to consider Bisexual women either simply a woman who never had a "real man" or as something they fantasize about. They are more likely to let it slide and even consider it a plus. Now if she was a Lesbian the oposition would have been much greater I'm certain. And if she was an older, less atractive woman she probably have faced EVEN MORE oposition.

    And my final question is...What if it was a single young man declaring himself Bi...Would have he been as accepted as she was.

    I'm sorry to point this out, but the sex issue goes beyond just religious views all the way into the realm of social perceptions. There she had some advantages in this rat race, thanks to her youth and her looks. I'm not saying she had an unfair advantage over her oponent. But rather that I'm not sure other's would have had the same support or acceptance she had.

    I don't think we are there yet. By there I mean where we can all celebrate how far our society has advanced.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by oplawlz View Post
    I see what you're saying, but that's just not how the numbers work. There is a huge pool of people from whom a tiny pool of elected officials are drawn, assuming purely mathematical random selection the chances of getting anything remotely resembling correlation are very, very small. I'm not going to actually do the math for a forum post, but I'd say the chances of getting 30 expatriated Armenians into congress at the same time is about the same as an 80% correlation in demographics between the population and congress.
    There are thousands of elected officials. Even just looking at Congress that's more than a sufficient sample size to expect demographics to roughly mirror. But they don't. They're wildly off. The only logical explanation for leadership demographics is system discrimination downstream.

  19. #19
    Kudos. It's a good thing to have a legislature more reflective of the demographic reality it's supposed to represent.

  20. #20
    I guess I could be missing something but wasn't Tammy Baldwin the first openly gay woman in congress? She is hardly attractive, and did win based on her views and stance rather than sexual orientation.

    That kinda throws out the "Sexy young" argument imho.

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