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Man Pops Question During Gay Marriage Hearing

See, Kanye, this is an interruption the crowd actually liked

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 6, 2009 2:15 PM CST

(Newser) – A stuffy DC city council hearing might not be most people’s idea of a romantic place to get engaged, but maybe the chance to be a YouTube celebrity made it all worth it for Andy Hertzberg and Andy Rollman. That, or they were hoping to drum up sympathy for the cause of gay marriage, which both were there to give public testimony about. Either way, it worked.

Mediaite compares Hertzberg to Kanye West, but it actually was his turn to speak. Most people who saw the stunt seemed to approve, including most of the council. But a few, naturally, were outraged. “I have never!” sputtered one gay marriage opponent. “For something like this to happen in the council chamber… there’s no respect!”

A man proposes during a city council hearing in this YouTube screenshot.
A man proposes during a city council hearing in this YouTube screenshot.
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
A report on the proposal.   (youtube.com)
The couple's full testimony.   (MetroWeekly)

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 39 comments
Snarfeh
Nov 9, 2009 6:28 AM CST
@Net - First of all & off topic, there's an update for you on the religion thing in case you hadn't checked. Net, I know you have nothing against gays other than on a deep personal level as you described. And I have nothing against hets or their lifestyle choices.....as long as I have the same freedoms, rights, privileges and benefits. I must admit, however, that I don't understand your aggressive feelings for effeminate men, though, but if that's how you feel, that's how you feel. Peace out...
Snarfeh
Nov 9, 2009 6:15 AM CST
@nixon - Wtf? Me conservative? lol! You just either completely missed my point or completely ignored it. You wrote a demeaning comment that implied it was somehow disrespectful for one guy to propose to another in that setting. I simply pointed out that disrespect for marriage is engaged in every day by hets, therefore that proposal was no more nor any less disrespectful. I simply think reality shows like "The Bachelor" and "Who wants to marry a millionaire" refute the point that marriage is too sacred for homosexuals to be allowed to marry, but I don't care that those tv shows exist. I don't give a damn that people have open marriages. I don't see anything wrong with the divorce rate. I don't care whether other couples' marriages are open for sex outside of the marriage or not. My point is that het marriage in and of itself is NOT a great example of why queers can't get married. And for the record, het is simply a shortened version of heterosexual to save typing space. If you don't like being called het, I'd be glad to call you homo or queer. Just make up your mind and let me know.
Netstorm2k10
Nov 8, 2009 7:52 AM CST
@Snarfeh, I've said it before, but it's important to me to be understood in this, so I'll repeat. I have nothing against gay people. I have the same respect for the individual that I do in every other circumstance. You know that I'm a Libertarian, so I consider the individual's freedom to choose their own lifestyle to be paramount in a free society. So I'm for gay rights. If some individuals want that lifestyle, since I'm not forced to live it, I have no right to tell them no. But that doesn't mean I consider it acceptable. Now as regards sin, I am as guilty in the eyes of God as every other person, so for me to call gays sinners is hypocritical. We're all sinners, so what's the point? So I don't hate gays; they're just individuals who hurt and help me individually, like everyone else. I just consider the behavior to be genetically aberrant at worst, and an undesirable choice at best. That, and feminine men make me angry, physically aggressive and violent. It's a biological response to such behavior in my immediate environment. I don't know why, but I assume it's genetics again. Go figure.

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