prop-tection

Proposition 8 was up for a vote in a few different states the other day, California being one of them. I take a special interest in this because California is where I matriculated most of my life and also because I have several gay friends whose lives will potentially be affected by the outcome.

There are still a few million absentee ballots to go. At present however, it is so tight a margin, that many are calling it as a passed measure; something which disappoints me greatly. It is, in my eyes, totally unlawful to use god as a reason to keep good people from enjoying the same civil liberties as everyone else. It is discriminatory and wrong.

The signs and proclamations of joy that I have seen in celebration of it's potential passing have involved phrases like "we have god to thank" and "we have saved the families". Saved them from what?

We don't have god to thank for that. The poor, discriminatory souls who voted for that proposition have lots of other unfortunate people just like them to thank for that. No families have been saved and no "winning" was done.

What did these people think was going to happen if it was defeated? Did they think that they would have to shutter their windows and crouch under the dining room table at night, lest some loving, gay couple who wants to start a family should come bursting through their doors and snatch up their little ones, to carry them off to the land of gay-dom?

Or maybe that if gay couples are afforded the same legal rights and obligations when joining together, that the marriage rate would go up? Scary.

Perhaps they think that if gay couples are able to adopt and start families with greater ease, that they will infect the children they love and care for with their gay-ness, thereby spawning a generation of brainwashed youth, wandering around out there in the world being open-minded and tolerant of other people. Can you imagine such a thing?

Marriage is a religious acknowledgement. Union is a legal acknowledgement. The fact that "marriage" as a word is now used as a means to represent a legal union, muddies the waters a bit. If your religion doesn't want to acknowledge people as married, fine. The judicial system however, is ever swayed by what a bunch of self-righteous keeper-outers have to say about other people's lives and it makes me cringe. If two people want to join themselves legally and deal with all of the paperwork and commitment involved in binding themselves, their fortunes and misfortunes, in order to enjoy the tax break and visiting hours they get because of it, I see no reason not to let them do that.

All that will happen by the passage of this measure, is that we will take a step backwards and continue to stunt the freedom of many of our citizens who contribute to our society in a variety of ways. We rob good people of the chance to fulfill their lives the way they want and we steal away from children, the opportunity to be parented by loving and capable men and women.

Those who voted yes, should be ashamed of themselves.