They came for my neighbor, and I said nothing...
Like modestyrabnott, I have also been mulling a post in regards to the passage of Proposition 8 in the State of California.
This is a difficult post for me because unlike the presidential campaign, this campaign and the result of the election genuinely made me angry. My sister called me the following day to ask me how I felt about the election overall. She expected me to be happy as we are all Democrats in my family, and I had been a Barrack Obama supporter since the primaries. She instead found me rather disheartened, because Prop 8 had passed. My thoughts on the subject are below the cut. Warning, this is a very angry and ranty capslock!rage post. Be forewarned.
I am a cynic on the subject of marriage to an extent, being a single man and seeing very few, what I would consider "happy" marriages. So I really gag when I hear this issue described as being about love. Although, in the video modestyrabnott posted, Keith Olberman makes a rather compelling case for the cause of love. For anyone who hasn't seen it, it's embedded below:
For me, this is not about love. This is about The Law.
I absolutely can not fucking believe that this Proposition was allowed on the ballot. I can not fucking believe the arguments I heard for it. I can not fucking believe the things I heard coming from the mouth of people who said they supported it. I can not fucking believe this. Can not.
I refuse to be calm and collected about the passage of it. I know I have made pleas on this very journal for people to be open minded about people with opposing views on subjects, but after hearing the things that have been said in the campaign for this proposition, and the justifications I have heard for votes, I am throwing aside all sense of calm, rationale, understanding and civility and I'm giving in to anger.
HOW THE FUCK DID THIS PIECE OF SHIT LAW GET PASSED?
Again, this issue for me, is about the law. First and foremost, defining marriage to be between a man and a woman. Okay, WHAT. THE. FUCK? I DEMAND an explaination for why this should be in the constitution. Marriage only being sacred in the eyes of God between a man and a woman? Sure, I believe that. It's implied in the Bible. That's good enough for me. I don't need it in my constitution. Because, you know what, the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the United States define the Laws of Man, NOT the Laws of God.
We don't put much importance on marriage. You don't need to be married to be pregnant, to adopt, to buy a house, really, to do anything. Marriage is a legal entity in our society. It confers certain benefits. Benefits that have NOTHING to do with sexual orientation.
Is "traditional" marriage or whatever somehow important or unique? Only a man and a woman can produce a child. So, sure, there's some reason to think that "marriage" is special. But, you know what, the law does not state that only married men and women can adopt. The law does not state that only married men and women can conceive. The law does not state that only married men and women can purchase a house. So, you know what.
SHENANIGANS! FUCKING FUCKITY FUCKING SHENANIGANS!!! ABSOLUTE HORSESHIT PISS-SMELLING SHENANIGANS!!!
This law does not defend marriage. Nor do the myriad of other "Defense of Marriage" shams that have been passed around the country. They do not ensure that child-rearing is only done by married couples. They do not eliminate divorce. They do not do ANYTHING but deny a legal benefit to a minority group. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Nowhere. No-how.
So, other than the fact that the law is discriminatory, and other than the fact that it terrifies the crap out of me that an issue like this can simply go to the voters, who are, by far, the LEAST educated branch of government, what else stinks about this law?
"Why do they have to ask for marriage? Why can't they just take civil unions?"
SEPERATE BUT EQUAL IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL! DID WE NOT ALL HAVE HIGH SCHOOL CIVICS? DID WE SLEEP THROUGH IT?
Again, there are no laws that state you must be married to have children. So really, there isn't any legal difference between a marriage and a Civil Union. We do not maintain seperate institutions in this country for the same thing. If we did, I'd be on ImmigrantLiveJournal while most of my f-list would be on regular LiveJournal, and the contents of this rather ranty post would be forbidden for basically everyone I know online to read.
But let's pretend for the moment that we were okay with Seperate But Equal. I would like to ask the authors of Proposition 8 where they left the provisions for Civil Unions? The answer is, they did nothing. They took away the right to marry, and left nothing. Now, I know that the authors of Proposition 8 probably didn't give a good gorram about that fact. I think, in fact, it was their intent, to leave nothing.
But what about the voters? I would like to ask those who voted for Proposition 8, or really anyone anywhere who ever voted for a Defense of Marriage Act: How could you vote for something that takes away rights and leaves no recompense? I know that there are fundamentalists out there who think that homosexuals seeking any kind of legal standing should receive none. I'm not talking to them. I'm talking to those people who think Civil Unions are an acceptable compromise. If you say you don't care what people do but that they shouldn't call it marriage and they should be happy with something else, something called something else...
HOW THE FUCK COULD YOU VOTE TO TAKE AWAY THEIR RIGHTS AND LEAVE THEM NO LEGAL LEGS TO STAND ON? I WANT, NO, I FUCKING DEMAND AN EXPLANATION AS TO HOW YOU COULD MAKE THAT VOTE AND CONSIDER IT TO BE RIGHT OR RIGHTEOUS!
But wait, I haven't even gotten to the best part. My absofucking favorite part of this vote.
The Children.
That's right, we passed Proposition 8 to Save The Children (Save The Children is a registered trademark of the bad ideas and even worse lawmaking movement).
With all due respect to all the parents on my f-list...
FUCK THE CHILDREN.
I have lived in California my whole life. Suburban California to be specific. Suburban California is full of people who drive SUVs in flat cities and literally have to protect their children from all the terrible things that are lurking around every street corner, like violent video games, and skateboards and thinking for themselves.
We passed Proposition 8 because we have to Save The Children. The imfamous first grade class being taken to the marriage of their teacher to her partner. Oh the rallying cry rang out. INDOCTRINATION!!! PH33R THE QU33R INDOCTRINATION!!!
Okay, I'll admit, a part of me was also a bit squicked by this incident. Not telling parents where you are taking their kids is a bit sketchy. Okay, a lot sketchy. Okay, it's downright wrong.
But seriously, THIS IS WHY YOU VOTED TO ELIMINATE RIGHTS???
I have heard from seemingly reasonable people that they passed Prop 8 to protect innocent children from being taught about Gay Marriage.
Again, with all due respect to the parents on my f-list. There are no such thing as innocent children. There are just children. No one in this world is innocent. And that's a good thing. It means we can love everyone and everything equally. It's better that way.
But really, you think we don't need to have something said about Gay Marriages in schools?
I'd like to take you all back to a time long ago. It was a Winter day, not unlike today. A young man was abducted, tortured and left for dead on a fence in the middle of nowhere. 2 men murdered this young man. They murdered him because he was a fag. And god hates fags, so it was okay to murder him.
Okay, so this time long ago was just over 10 years ago. This did not happen in Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia or Apartheid South Africa or Communist Cambodia.
This happened in Laramie, Wyoming. WYOMING. 10 YEARS AGO.
You think we don't need to talk about gay marriage in schools? You think your kids need to be protected from being taught about gay marriage?
I wish Matthew Shepherd was the last man to be murdered because he was gay. I somehow doubt that is true.
So if you voted for a DOMA because you think gay marriage has no place in schools, I want you to tell me so. Better yet, go to Dennis and Judy Shepherd and tell them that innocent children need to be spared.
I've heard we need to eliminate gay marriage because it's unnatural. I lied, this actually might be my favorite argument. "Unnatural." I especially love it when I hear it from secular folks. You know, the ones who mock "Bible Thumpers." I mean, I'm a Bible Thumper myself. These same people will look down on me because I have the gall to believe a man died for my sins and rose from the dead because love conquers all. Radical notion, I know, I must be fucking nuts. But then these same folk will tell me that gay marriage is "unnatural."
UNNATURAL COMPARED TO WHAT?
Do you really want to go down this road with me? Because I do believe in God, and I do believe in Angels and Demons, and I do believe in Right and Wrong.
What've you got? It's unnatural because you like boobs and not pecs? Well that's horseshit. Especially as a CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDEMENT YOU NARROW-MINDED FUCKWITS!!! Unnatural? CIVILIZATION IS UNNATURAL!
You want natural? I'll give you natural. You have shit I want. I kill you. I take your shit. The NATURAL ORDER at fucking work.
Civilization is unnatural. So are taxes, and speeding tickets and LAWS AGAINST RAPE AND MURDER.
I especially love when I hear minorities talk about filthy homosexuality and that being why they vote against it. I love minorities saying that they are traditionalists about marriage.
Being a Hindu Traditionalist implies you believe in arranged marriages which are about dowry and politics. This frequently means marrying 13 year old girls to 40+ year old men.
ALL HAIL THE TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE.
By the by, they used to do shit like this in England and other parts of Europe too. It's not just us savage third-worlders who do this.
ALL HAIL THE TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE.
I respect people who voted for John McCain. He had a vision for the country. It's not a bad vision. But it wasn't my vision. So I voted for the other guy. I respect people who voted for Republicans in other races. They have a vision for the country. It's not a horrible vision. It's not mine. So I vote for the other guys.
I voted against Proposition 8 because it's bad, wrong lawmaking. The American People, myself included, are stupid. They are not to be trusted when it comes to writing laws because they are stupid. Why we would turn THE FUCKING CONSTITUTION OF THE COUNTRY OR THE STATE OVER TO THEM is beyond me.
We are a Republic. We believe that we should send educated men and women to interpret and defend our laws because they are so rich and complex and deserve a more measured and considered approach than the mob can give. I wonder why we fear "activist judges." 8 years of Bush have taught us to fear activist judges who have the gall to suggest that Seperate is not Equal and that we must break the forces of institutional discrimination with all deliberate speed. I wonder why we don't trust basically the smartest people in the world to make our laws, and think that we'll get a better result by going to the masses who can be coerced into voting from fear.
That being said, it's time for Politicians to grow a pair. I HATE all this couching about being in favor of traditional marriage and all the other code words both sides are using. You know what? Voters are FUCKING STUPID. And I want politicians to tell voters when they are being stupid. Right now, we hear from politicians that they believe in traditional marriage but will abide by decisions of the court.
You know what, you're a lawmaker, not a preacher. Homosexuality may be a sin, but you need to decide if it is a crime or not. If it is not a crime, and you don't think it's a crime, DON'T PANDER. TELL THE PEOPLE THEY ARE FUCKING STUPID!!! If people are on the wrong side of this, they need to know. We're amending the constitution, and we're doing it wrong. YOU DON'T PANDER TO THAT TO WIN VOTES. YOU TELL THE PEOPLE HOW IT IS!!! YOU GOVERN!!!
I know I said that I would be considerate of alternate viewpoints at some point. But on this issue, no, absolutely not. I can not distinguish anyone who agonized over their vote and still voted yes from anyone who just voted for this because they hate fags. I can not and will not see it any other way because I do not see my savior in that decision. And that kills me.
I am an evangelical, and that means that I am covenant-bound to share the Gospel with everyone I meet. My family does not agree with my views. And when we are around the dinner table, I have to listen to them berate the Christian Conspiracy that gets crap like this on the ballot. I have been told I am brainwashed to call myself one of them.
I die a little inside any time I hear my friends of family say that this is a Christian issue. Religion has become a closed issue between my and my immediate family. And every time they see someone say they vote against minority rights because God tells them to, the Devil claims a small portion of my mother and sisters' heart from me. A little piece of them becomes closed to my story. The years are piling up and I'm running out of time with them.
These votes absolutely cut my feet from under me with them. These votes cut my feet from being able to share my story with friends who are open hearted to the world but closed hearted to God.
I'm not gay. I don't know anyone who is. I'm probably not ever going to be married. So this really has nothing to do with me. But it has everything to do with me. People took their neighbors' rights to a vote and took them away because they DID NOT LOVE THEM.
If you voted for Prop 8 or a DOMA in your state, I have to ask, where was your heart? I really must know. I also believe homosexuality is a sin. That doesn't exactly do a whole lot for me as I believe masturbation and ogling and lust are sins. You want laws against lust? Why stop at amending the Constitution in regards to marriage? Why not put pornographers to the sword? Why not gouge out the eyes of oglers? What they do is unnatural. What they do should be spared from children.
This is bad lawmaking. The only good that can come out of this is that it's going to the courts. I trust the court before I trust voters. Voters gave us 8 years of Bush and DOMAs in basically 90% of the Union.
I am genuinely serious. If the courts uphold Proposition 8, I'm going to find a job in Canada. If the courts uphold Proposition 8, it means that they believe the majority can take minority rights away by a popular vote. It means that minority rights can be taken away because the politics of fear win the day. It means that Church and State are not separate. It means that the America I was promised is dead and gone and never coming back. It means the brave men and women whom we honor tomorrow are dying for far more lies than the ones Bush and Co. told. It means that I give up, and I want nothing more to do with the place that birthed and raised me, because it has nothing left to offer me. It means that tomorrow, my rights are next on the chopping block.
This is a difficult post for me because unlike the presidential campaign, this campaign and the result of the election genuinely made me angry. My sister called me the following day to ask me how I felt about the election overall. She expected me to be happy as we are all Democrats in my family, and I had been a Barrack Obama supporter since the primaries. She instead found me rather disheartened, because Prop 8 had passed. My thoughts on the subject are below the cut. Warning, this is a very angry and ranty capslock!rage post. Be forewarned.
I am a cynic on the subject of marriage to an extent, being a single man and seeing very few, what I would consider "happy" marriages. So I really gag when I hear this issue described as being about love. Although, in the video modestyrabnott posted, Keith Olberman makes a rather compelling case for the cause of love. For anyone who hasn't seen it, it's embedded below:
Click to viewFor me, this is not about love. This is about The Law.
I absolutely can not fucking believe that this Proposition was allowed on the ballot. I can not fucking believe the arguments I heard for it. I can not fucking believe the things I heard coming from the mouth of people who said they supported it. I can not fucking believe this. Can not.
I refuse to be calm and collected about the passage of it. I know I have made pleas on this very journal for people to be open minded about people with opposing views on subjects, but after hearing the things that have been said in the campaign for this proposition, and the justifications I have heard for votes, I am throwing aside all sense of calm, rationale, understanding and civility and I'm giving in to anger.
HOW THE FUCK DID THIS PIECE OF SHIT LAW GET PASSED?
Again, this issue for me, is about the law. First and foremost, defining marriage to be between a man and a woman. Okay, WHAT. THE. FUCK? I DEMAND an explaination for why this should be in the constitution. Marriage only being sacred in the eyes of God between a man and a woman? Sure, I believe that. It's implied in the Bible. That's good enough for me. I don't need it in my constitution. Because, you know what, the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the United States define the Laws of Man, NOT the Laws of God.
We don't put much importance on marriage. You don't need to be married to be pregnant, to adopt, to buy a house, really, to do anything. Marriage is a legal entity in our society. It confers certain benefits. Benefits that have NOTHING to do with sexual orientation.
Is "traditional" marriage or whatever somehow important or unique? Only a man and a woman can produce a child. So, sure, there's some reason to think that "marriage" is special. But, you know what, the law does not state that only married men and women can adopt. The law does not state that only married men and women can conceive. The law does not state that only married men and women can purchase a house. So, you know what.
SHENANIGANS! FUCKING FUCKITY FUCKING SHENANIGANS!!! ABSOLUTE HORSESHIT PISS-SMELLING SHENANIGANS!!!
This law does not defend marriage. Nor do the myriad of other "Defense of Marriage" shams that have been passed around the country. They do not ensure that child-rearing is only done by married couples. They do not eliminate divorce. They do not do ANYTHING but deny a legal benefit to a minority group. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Nowhere. No-how.
So, other than the fact that the law is discriminatory, and other than the fact that it terrifies the crap out of me that an issue like this can simply go to the voters, who are, by far, the LEAST educated branch of government, what else stinks about this law?
"Why do they have to ask for marriage? Why can't they just take civil unions?"
SEPERATE BUT EQUAL IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL! DID WE NOT ALL HAVE HIGH SCHOOL CIVICS? DID WE SLEEP THROUGH IT?
Again, there are no laws that state you must be married to have children. So really, there isn't any legal difference between a marriage and a Civil Union. We do not maintain seperate institutions in this country for the same thing. If we did, I'd be on ImmigrantLiveJournal while most of my f-list would be on regular LiveJournal, and the contents of this rather ranty post would be forbidden for basically everyone I know online to read.
But let's pretend for the moment that we were okay with Seperate But Equal. I would like to ask the authors of Proposition 8 where they left the provisions for Civil Unions? The answer is, they did nothing. They took away the right to marry, and left nothing. Now, I know that the authors of Proposition 8 probably didn't give a good gorram about that fact. I think, in fact, it was their intent, to leave nothing.
But what about the voters? I would like to ask those who voted for Proposition 8, or really anyone anywhere who ever voted for a Defense of Marriage Act: How could you vote for something that takes away rights and leaves no recompense? I know that there are fundamentalists out there who think that homosexuals seeking any kind of legal standing should receive none. I'm not talking to them. I'm talking to those people who think Civil Unions are an acceptable compromise. If you say you don't care what people do but that they shouldn't call it marriage and they should be happy with something else, something called something else...
HOW THE FUCK COULD YOU VOTE TO TAKE AWAY THEIR RIGHTS AND LEAVE THEM NO LEGAL LEGS TO STAND ON? I WANT, NO, I FUCKING DEMAND AN EXPLANATION AS TO HOW YOU COULD MAKE THAT VOTE AND CONSIDER IT TO BE RIGHT OR RIGHTEOUS!
But wait, I haven't even gotten to the best part. My absofucking favorite part of this vote.
The Children.
That's right, we passed Proposition 8 to Save The Children (Save The Children is a registered trademark of the bad ideas and even worse lawmaking movement).
With all due respect to all the parents on my f-list...
FUCK THE CHILDREN.
I have lived in California my whole life. Suburban California to be specific. Suburban California is full of people who drive SUVs in flat cities and literally have to protect their children from all the terrible things that are lurking around every street corner, like violent video games, and skateboards and thinking for themselves.
We passed Proposition 8 because we have to Save The Children. The imfamous first grade class being taken to the marriage of their teacher to her partner. Oh the rallying cry rang out. INDOCTRINATION!!! PH33R THE QU33R INDOCTRINATION!!!
Okay, I'll admit, a part of me was also a bit squicked by this incident. Not telling parents where you are taking their kids is a bit sketchy. Okay, a lot sketchy. Okay, it's downright wrong.
But seriously, THIS IS WHY YOU VOTED TO ELIMINATE RIGHTS???
I have heard from seemingly reasonable people that they passed Prop 8 to protect innocent children from being taught about Gay Marriage.
Again, with all due respect to the parents on my f-list. There are no such thing as innocent children. There are just children. No one in this world is innocent. And that's a good thing. It means we can love everyone and everything equally. It's better that way.
But really, you think we don't need to have something said about Gay Marriages in schools?
I'd like to take you all back to a time long ago. It was a Winter day, not unlike today. A young man was abducted, tortured and left for dead on a fence in the middle of nowhere. 2 men murdered this young man. They murdered him because he was a fag. And god hates fags, so it was okay to murder him.
Okay, so this time long ago was just over 10 years ago. This did not happen in Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia or Apartheid South Africa or Communist Cambodia.
This happened in Laramie, Wyoming. WYOMING. 10 YEARS AGO.
You think we don't need to talk about gay marriage in schools? You think your kids need to be protected from being taught about gay marriage?
I wish Matthew Shepherd was the last man to be murdered because he was gay. I somehow doubt that is true.
So if you voted for a DOMA because you think gay marriage has no place in schools, I want you to tell me so. Better yet, go to Dennis and Judy Shepherd and tell them that innocent children need to be spared.
I've heard we need to eliminate gay marriage because it's unnatural. I lied, this actually might be my favorite argument. "Unnatural." I especially love it when I hear it from secular folks. You know, the ones who mock "Bible Thumpers." I mean, I'm a Bible Thumper myself. These same people will look down on me because I have the gall to believe a man died for my sins and rose from the dead because love conquers all. Radical notion, I know, I must be fucking nuts. But then these same folk will tell me that gay marriage is "unnatural."
UNNATURAL COMPARED TO WHAT?
Do you really want to go down this road with me? Because I do believe in God, and I do believe in Angels and Demons, and I do believe in Right and Wrong.
What've you got? It's unnatural because you like boobs and not pecs? Well that's horseshit. Especially as a CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDEMENT YOU NARROW-MINDED FUCKWITS!!! Unnatural? CIVILIZATION IS UNNATURAL!
You want natural? I'll give you natural. You have shit I want. I kill you. I take your shit. The NATURAL ORDER at fucking work.
Civilization is unnatural. So are taxes, and speeding tickets and LAWS AGAINST RAPE AND MURDER.
I especially love when I hear minorities talk about filthy homosexuality and that being why they vote against it. I love minorities saying that they are traditionalists about marriage.
Being a Hindu Traditionalist implies you believe in arranged marriages which are about dowry and politics. This frequently means marrying 13 year old girls to 40+ year old men.
ALL HAIL THE TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE.
By the by, they used to do shit like this in England and other parts of Europe too. It's not just us savage third-worlders who do this.
ALL HAIL THE TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE.
I respect people who voted for John McCain. He had a vision for the country. It's not a bad vision. But it wasn't my vision. So I voted for the other guy. I respect people who voted for Republicans in other races. They have a vision for the country. It's not a horrible vision. It's not mine. So I vote for the other guys.
I voted against Proposition 8 because it's bad, wrong lawmaking. The American People, myself included, are stupid. They are not to be trusted when it comes to writing laws because they are stupid. Why we would turn THE FUCKING CONSTITUTION OF THE COUNTRY OR THE STATE OVER TO THEM is beyond me.
We are a Republic. We believe that we should send educated men and women to interpret and defend our laws because they are so rich and complex and deserve a more measured and considered approach than the mob can give. I wonder why we fear "activist judges." 8 years of Bush have taught us to fear activist judges who have the gall to suggest that Seperate is not Equal and that we must break the forces of institutional discrimination with all deliberate speed. I wonder why we don't trust basically the smartest people in the world to make our laws, and think that we'll get a better result by going to the masses who can be coerced into voting from fear.
That being said, it's time for Politicians to grow a pair. I HATE all this couching about being in favor of traditional marriage and all the other code words both sides are using. You know what? Voters are FUCKING STUPID. And I want politicians to tell voters when they are being stupid. Right now, we hear from politicians that they believe in traditional marriage but will abide by decisions of the court.
You know what, you're a lawmaker, not a preacher. Homosexuality may be a sin, but you need to decide if it is a crime or not. If it is not a crime, and you don't think it's a crime, DON'T PANDER. TELL THE PEOPLE THEY ARE FUCKING STUPID!!! If people are on the wrong side of this, they need to know. We're amending the constitution, and we're doing it wrong. YOU DON'T PANDER TO THAT TO WIN VOTES. YOU TELL THE PEOPLE HOW IT IS!!! YOU GOVERN!!!
I know I said that I would be considerate of alternate viewpoints at some point. But on this issue, no, absolutely not. I can not distinguish anyone who agonized over their vote and still voted yes from anyone who just voted for this because they hate fags. I can not and will not see it any other way because I do not see my savior in that decision. And that kills me.
I am an evangelical, and that means that I am covenant-bound to share the Gospel with everyone I meet. My family does not agree with my views. And when we are around the dinner table, I have to listen to them berate the Christian Conspiracy that gets crap like this on the ballot. I have been told I am brainwashed to call myself one of them.
I die a little inside any time I hear my friends of family say that this is a Christian issue. Religion has become a closed issue between my and my immediate family. And every time they see someone say they vote against minority rights because God tells them to, the Devil claims a small portion of my mother and sisters' heart from me. A little piece of them becomes closed to my story. The years are piling up and I'm running out of time with them.
These votes absolutely cut my feet from under me with them. These votes cut my feet from being able to share my story with friends who are open hearted to the world but closed hearted to God.
I'm not gay. I don't know anyone who is. I'm probably not ever going to be married. So this really has nothing to do with me. But it has everything to do with me. People took their neighbors' rights to a vote and took them away because they DID NOT LOVE THEM.
If you voted for Prop 8 or a DOMA in your state, I have to ask, where was your heart? I really must know. I also believe homosexuality is a sin. That doesn't exactly do a whole lot for me as I believe masturbation and ogling and lust are sins. You want laws against lust? Why stop at amending the Constitution in regards to marriage? Why not put pornographers to the sword? Why not gouge out the eyes of oglers? What they do is unnatural. What they do should be spared from children.
This is bad lawmaking. The only good that can come out of this is that it's going to the courts. I trust the court before I trust voters. Voters gave us 8 years of Bush and DOMAs in basically 90% of the Union.
I am genuinely serious. If the courts uphold Proposition 8, I'm going to find a job in Canada. If the courts uphold Proposition 8, it means that they believe the majority can take minority rights away by a popular vote. It means that minority rights can be taken away because the politics of fear win the day. It means that Church and State are not separate. It means that the America I was promised is dead and gone and never coming back. It means the brave men and women whom we honor tomorrow are dying for far more lies than the ones Bush and Co. told. It means that I give up, and I want nothing more to do with the place that birthed and raised me, because it has nothing left to offer me. It means that tomorrow, my rights are next on the chopping block.