On Prop 8: a rant.
[Disclaimer: I am not religious and am not promoting religion with this statement.
Okay, it is 3 in the morning on November 5th. I've been watching the polls all evening, including the polls on Prop 8 (which I am fervently against)and feel like I need to get this all out before I can sleep.
I'm very upset at the propect that Prop 8 will probably pass. Although it is very close, the end result, should it pass, will be a loss of rights to a very significant part of the population, some of whom happen to be close friends of mine.
The religious right has been very clever about how they advertize "Yes on Prop 8", harping on about "preserving the family," or whatever it is. There seems to be a belief that allowing gay people to mary will disrupt straight people's ability to raise their own families. This is a falsehood. The ability of straight people to mary is not going anywhere, nor is their freedom to breed and have a nice little nuclear family.
The fear is also that allowing gays to marry will somehow indoctrinate children into being gay. Being gay is not a cult. It is not something that can easily be socialized into a person. A teacher telling a little girl that she can marry a princess is not going to turn her into lesbian. People have sexual urges when they reach puberty and those urges vary greatly. Merely discussing homosexuality is not going to make them gay.
When I was a child, I had a friend named Joseph, who had two dads. I visited Joseph frequently, and realized after a brief period that his family, though it looked different from mine, was perfectly funtional and healthy. Though I was confused at first, I quickly realized that this was a safe and welcoming household. Coming from a divorced family, having lived with my Mom and Grandma and sister, a home with two men as parents instead of a man and woman was not that far of a stretch.
The thing is that people wanting to ban gay marriage are taking things at face value, and failing to understand that just because a family, or a couple may look different from the norm, that doesn't mean that they are wrong or sinful. This is descrimination, pure and simple. Pro-8 voters get angry when accused of this, but to call it anything else would be innacurate. It is discrimination based on fear of things that are different.
The other thing about this family, the one I visited frequently was this: being in their house, and being around them did not "turn me gay". I am a heterosexual, and have always been. The type of sexuality I have is a part of me, something I was born with, and merely the sight of gay men did not change that.
What bothers me the most, is that Pro-8 supporters are as mixed up as to think that gay people are intolerant of them, and taking away their rights. This is absurd. It's kind of like being white during the time of segregation, and being mad when a black person suggests that you share a bathroom with her. You like your bathroom all to yourself. You like having all the nice, new equipment and having people clean it regularly, while the blacks have filthy run down facilities. How dare they suggest equality?
Prop 8 supporters probably are going to hate that analogy, because the last thing a conservative (and most likely religious) person wants to hear is that they are participating in something that God disagrees with. But the truth is that this is the latest example of descrimination. It wasn't that long ago that black people were considered animalistic and inhuman, and undeserving of the same rights as whites (same with other minorities). Now, gay people are in that seat, asking for equality, and people who support prop 8 are telling them, "no, you can't have it. Get back in your place."
To paraphrase something Thomas Jefferson once said: if God is watching us, and judging us, wanting us to treat everyone how we would like to be treated--then we are in a whole heap of trouble. For we have failed. We, as a society, as a political entity, as citizens and children of God's plan--have failed.
So as much as the Religious right is quick to say this proposition protects 'religious freedom,' the truly pious thing would be to allow gay people the same rights, protections and liberties as anyone else.
If prop 8 passes, then all I have to say is shame on us. Shame on California, shame on everyone who tried to push away the things they fear and not truly allow love reign over their thoughts and their actions, as God would have us do.
Okay, it is 3 in the morning on November 5th. I've been watching the polls all evening, including the polls on Prop 8 (which I am fervently against)and feel like I need to get this all out before I can sleep.
I'm very upset at the propect that Prop 8 will probably pass. Although it is very close, the end result, should it pass, will be a loss of rights to a very significant part of the population, some of whom happen to be close friends of mine.
The religious right has been very clever about how they advertize "Yes on Prop 8", harping on about "preserving the family," or whatever it is. There seems to be a belief that allowing gay people to mary will disrupt straight people's ability to raise their own families. This is a falsehood. The ability of straight people to mary is not going anywhere, nor is their freedom to breed and have a nice little nuclear family.
The fear is also that allowing gays to marry will somehow indoctrinate children into being gay. Being gay is not a cult. It is not something that can easily be socialized into a person. A teacher telling a little girl that she can marry a princess is not going to turn her into lesbian. People have sexual urges when they reach puberty and those urges vary greatly. Merely discussing homosexuality is not going to make them gay.
When I was a child, I had a friend named Joseph, who had two dads. I visited Joseph frequently, and realized after a brief period that his family, though it looked different from mine, was perfectly funtional and healthy. Though I was confused at first, I quickly realized that this was a safe and welcoming household. Coming from a divorced family, having lived with my Mom and Grandma and sister, a home with two men as parents instead of a man and woman was not that far of a stretch.
The thing is that people wanting to ban gay marriage are taking things at face value, and failing to understand that just because a family, or a couple may look different from the norm, that doesn't mean that they are wrong or sinful. This is descrimination, pure and simple. Pro-8 voters get angry when accused of this, but to call it anything else would be innacurate. It is discrimination based on fear of things that are different.
The other thing about this family, the one I visited frequently was this: being in their house, and being around them did not "turn me gay". I am a heterosexual, and have always been. The type of sexuality I have is a part of me, something I was born with, and merely the sight of gay men did not change that.
What bothers me the most, is that Pro-8 supporters are as mixed up as to think that gay people are intolerant of them, and taking away their rights. This is absurd. It's kind of like being white during the time of segregation, and being mad when a black person suggests that you share a bathroom with her. You like your bathroom all to yourself. You like having all the nice, new equipment and having people clean it regularly, while the blacks have filthy run down facilities. How dare they suggest equality?
Prop 8 supporters probably are going to hate that analogy, because the last thing a conservative (and most likely religious) person wants to hear is that they are participating in something that God disagrees with. But the truth is that this is the latest example of descrimination. It wasn't that long ago that black people were considered animalistic and inhuman, and undeserving of the same rights as whites (same with other minorities). Now, gay people are in that seat, asking for equality, and people who support prop 8 are telling them, "no, you can't have it. Get back in your place."
To paraphrase something Thomas Jefferson once said: if God is watching us, and judging us, wanting us to treat everyone how we would like to be treated--then we are in a whole heap of trouble. For we have failed. We, as a society, as a political entity, as citizens and children of God's plan--have failed.
So as much as the Religious right is quick to say this proposition protects 'religious freedom,' the truly pious thing would be to allow gay people the same rights, protections and liberties as anyone else.
If prop 8 passes, then all I have to say is shame on us. Shame on California, shame on everyone who tried to push away the things they fear and not truly allow love reign over their thoughts and their actions, as God would have us do.