Yes, I know it's late. The election is over and Prop 8 passed. There are reasons why I didn't post about this awful hate-filled prop. (If you voted yes on Prop 8 - get the fuck off my web-site. You make baby Jesus cry.)
I'm one of the people who stood on corners with NO on PROP 8 signs, NO on PROP 8 bumper stickers all over my car, called voters to discuss the prop and try to persuade them to vote no, went to rallies and marched when we lost. I saw people cry and hug their partner. I witnessed people who married in the "allowed time-frame" look with such sadness at the people who did not and know that for now, they will not have the same equal rights. I saw friends on both sides of religion become distant and drift apart because of that one prop. That proposition did more than just discriminate against a group of people, it divided a state.
I honestly did not think this prop would pass. I honestly believed that legalized discrimination was wrong and clearly people could see that. I had no idea the amount of ignorance out there and how people could use the bible to justify their hate.
There was another group who held the bible up while justifying their hideous crimes. The Salem Witch trials. Looking back now we can't imagine the horror of burning people at the stake because they were a "witch" all while holding a bible. Apparently, we have learned nothing. Now we point fingers at somebody who is different than us and say you can't have the same rights as me, all while holding the bible.
Imagine I started a new religion. It's called the religion of Motherofthemonth. (This is my web-site so I can call it whatever I want. Pfffffbbbbbbttttt) This religion really takes off. I even have a book! It's called the "mible". In the mible, it states that marriage can only be between a man and a man. A marriage between a man and a woman is blasphemy. Now, hypothetically speaking, I am a woman of great means. I have more money than Bill Gates. (This is reeeeeally hypothetical.) So I decide to buy legislation and put a prop on the ballot with confusing literature and "opposite day" mentality. If you vote yes on the prop, you are legalizing discrimination. Everyone would look at me like I had lost my fucking mind. And yet here we are.
Now if my memory serves me right, from the little amount of history class I managed to not sleep through, one of the reasons our ancestors came to this great nation was to avoid religious persecution. Freedom of Religion. We loved it so much we even wrote it into the Bill of Rights. Yet, if somebody does not believe in the majority of the population that subscribes to a certain way of thought, they're being pushed down. Over-ruled and persecuted. Exactly what we were originally trying to escape.
All during the campaign we were told to be nice. Talk and don't shout. Don't give them another reason to hate us. I did that. I was polite when so called "christians" yelled "SINNER!" while flipping me the finger. (It just drips with irony, doesn't it?) I saw bible-thumpers glare, yell, gesture all while I tried to take the higher road and not stoop to that level. I probably bit my tongue more during that period than I have my entire life.
Well, the election is over and I'm pissed. No more Ms Nice Girl. To all you haters out there who feel it is your duty to dictate how others can live their life, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU. How the hell does someone else's happiness affect your life? Are you so miserable in your own life that you don't want anyone else to be happy? Have gays come and fucked each other in the ass in front of you and now you're scarred for life? Since when is, what you believe, your version of religion the only religion allowed and should be written into law? In other words, where the fuck do you get off?!
I had a conversation with someone who said they didn't believe in gay marriage. That's fine. We're not asking you to change your beliefs. I don't care if you believe in unicorns either but don't write into law how everyone has to think the way you do. If you don't believe in gay marriage, I suggest you don't marry someone of the same sex. But Brent and Eric who live down the street have just as much right to share their lives together as you do. As my ex once said, "they should have the same right to be as miserable as the rest of us". I didn't know quite how to respond to that but bravo.
This is a civil issue, plain and simple. Dictionary.com defines discrimination as follows:
| 1. | an act or instance of discriminating. |
| 2. | treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination. |
| 3. | the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment: She chose the colors with great discrimination. |
| 4. | Archaic. something that serves to differentiate. |
One group of people have a set group of rights while another does not. The treatment of a class of people based on religious intolerance. Prop 8 is legalized discrimination and nobody can argue against that without sounding like an idiot.
I know one day we'll look back at this time in history and think, what do you mean homosexuals couldn't marry? Just like we now say, what do you mean women didn't have the right to vote? What do you mean blacks were considered 2/3 a person? What do you mean blacks and whites couldn't marry? Same shit, different decade.
I won't even get into the whole separation of church and state because to me, that is such a no-brainer. Or how the economy will be boosted with weddings, anniversaries and sad but true, divorces. I guess California has enough money already so we shouldn't be thinking about ways to bring in additional revenue since apparently we're rolling in the dough. Isn't that right Arnold?
I could write so much more about this subject but this post is long enough and personally, I feel spent. Writing this has brought up emotions and feelings I felt before that were not positive but made me feel rather ill and incredibly sad. I know like a bad burrito, this too shall pass. We'll look back one day and think how far we've come. I should feel excited being on the forefront of the "movement" but I don't. I feel sick that we allowed this to happen. We said yes to pushing a class of people down to settle our own insecurities. We said yes to hurting other people who affect us in no way, shape or form. We said yes to hate.
I have often said there are times when I'm ashamed to be part of this species. This species that has an incredible capacity for love. I have seen this species do things that are absolutely touching and beyond comprehension. The wherewith all to know right from wrong. Or so I thought.
