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dbskylerFirst: on behalf of the people of California (because I still consider myself one of them, even if I can't vote there anymore), to the LGBT community:
I am so, so sorry.
When I went to bed on the night of Tuesday Nov. 4, CNN was projecting that prop 8 would get defeated. As we all know now, that didn't happen.
I have spent the past few days feeling angered, sickened, frustrated and helpless in the face of bigotry. But I refuse to feel that way anymore.
The fight is on. And there is hope:
-- San Francisco, Santa Clara and Los Angeles counties are petitioning the California State Supreme Court to invalidate prop 8 on the grounds that "the California Constitution does not allow a bare majority of voters to divest a minority group of rights conferred by the equal protection clause." There is also a lawsuit initiated by the ACLU, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. And by the way, as someone who is very familiar with the whole California proposition thing, let me tell you that this would not be the first time a proposition gets invalidated because it's not actually legal.
-- there has been more discussion about same-sex marriage rights in the national media in the past few days than I saw over the course of the entire election. And for the most part, that discussion has been very positive.
-- I was guilty of complacency. I really thought that prop 8 didn't stand a chance of passing. Then I started hearing from friends and family in CA that it might pass, and I did what I could to oppose it. But as crushing as it is to know that what I did wasn't enough, I have to say that I am no longer complacent. And I think a lot of other people are no longer complacent either.
This really is a turning point. This is the new civil rights movement. It's about giving fundamental human rights to 10% of the people in the country. It's about strengthening marriage, and strengthening families, by allowing couples who love each other to publicly proclaim that love and bring up children within the protecting bonds of a loving marriage. It's about finally severing the illegal link between church and state, and declaring to religious bigots that their religious beliefs should not and can not be allowed to eliminate civil rights for others.
This will happen. There will be marriage equality in this country. Yes we can.
I am so, so sorry.
When I went to bed on the night of Tuesday Nov. 4, CNN was projecting that prop 8 would get defeated. As we all know now, that didn't happen.
I have spent the past few days feeling angered, sickened, frustrated and helpless in the face of bigotry. But I refuse to feel that way anymore.
The fight is on. And there is hope:
-- San Francisco, Santa Clara and Los Angeles counties are petitioning the California State Supreme Court to invalidate prop 8 on the grounds that "the California Constitution does not allow a bare majority of voters to divest a minority group of rights conferred by the equal protection clause." There is also a lawsuit initiated by the ACLU, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. And by the way, as someone who is very familiar with the whole California proposition thing, let me tell you that this would not be the first time a proposition gets invalidated because it's not actually legal.
-- there has been more discussion about same-sex marriage rights in the national media in the past few days than I saw over the course of the entire election. And for the most part, that discussion has been very positive.
-- I was guilty of complacency. I really thought that prop 8 didn't stand a chance of passing. Then I started hearing from friends and family in CA that it might pass, and I did what I could to oppose it. But as crushing as it is to know that what I did wasn't enough, I have to say that I am no longer complacent. And I think a lot of other people are no longer complacent either.
This really is a turning point. This is the new civil rights movement. It's about giving fundamental human rights to 10% of the people in the country. It's about strengthening marriage, and strengthening families, by allowing couples who love each other to publicly proclaim that love and bring up children within the protecting bonds of a loving marriage. It's about finally severing the illegal link between church and state, and declaring to religious bigots that their religious beliefs should not and can not be allowed to eliminate civil rights for others.
This will happen. There will be marriage equality in this country. Yes we can.