DEAR "YES ON PROP 8"
To all you folks who voted Yes on Prop 8...
Fuck you. Yes, I'm talking to you. I'm done being polite about this, about pleading my case with civility and discourse.
Fuck your arguments about children, education, or "activist judges", because it's about none of those things, and you know it. You hide your bigotry behind lies and political rhetoric.
Fuck your argument that the only good family unit contains a mother and a father. I was raised by a single, awesome dad, and I turned out pretty fucking great. Fuck you for marginalizing my childhood.
Fuck your arguments about the sanctity of marriage, my partner and I have been together fourteen years, what makes your marriage more worthy of state recognition? Spare me the lecture. Or, make divorce and quickie weddings illegal, too.
Fuck your arguments about the history of marriage, learn its *real* history, which is hardly confined to the last few centuries of Christian belief. If the church didn't want this day to come, they should not have let the government take over marriage. But since they did, and since government should treat everyone equally, we are here now. We're not the concept of marriage as it stood three hundred years ago, we are here, right now. Act like it.
Fuck your argument that it's about freedom of religion, which only proves that it's a clear violation of the separation of church and state. How would you like it if I voted on your religious rights, too?
Fuck your arguments about the "slippery slope" it would create, in either marriage or democracy. Give society some fucking credit for having a modicum of common sense. A sudden wave of marrying dogs and widespread polygamy won't happen, and you know it.
Fuck you when you say that civil unions should be enough, because separate but equal isn't equal, and you know it.
Fuck your excuses about the will of the people, because sometimes all that amounts to is mob rule, especially when that mob is created through fear and lies, religious dogma, and massive out-of-state funding.
Fuck you for saying "oh, please understand that *my* personal decision isn't driven by religious beliefs or moral propriety," because underneath it all, it most certainly is... and if you're dancing around that issue to justify your vote some other way, you're in denial.
Fuck you for saying "some of my friends are gay" and still voting yes, because it doesn't hide your bigotry. Your actions are your words.
Fuck you for making me a second-class citizen.
Thankfully we have a President now who acknowledged my existence as a Gay American in the first few minutes of his acceptance speech. Maybe, in time, his efforts at unifying this country will be successful for all of us, gay and straight. I don't always agree with Andrew Sullivan, but he had a great post tonight that said "We must never let popular votes affect our own internal sense of our worth, our equality, our dignity as human beings. Our marriages are real; all that is at issue is whether a majority will recognize them in law. The next generation already does."
Fuck you. Yes, I'm talking to you. I'm done being polite about this, about pleading my case with civility and discourse.
Fuck your arguments about children, education, or "activist judges", because it's about none of those things, and you know it. You hide your bigotry behind lies and political rhetoric.
Fuck your argument that the only good family unit contains a mother and a father. I was raised by a single, awesome dad, and I turned out pretty fucking great. Fuck you for marginalizing my childhood.
Fuck your arguments about the sanctity of marriage, my partner and I have been together fourteen years, what makes your marriage more worthy of state recognition? Spare me the lecture. Or, make divorce and quickie weddings illegal, too.
Fuck your arguments about the history of marriage, learn its *real* history, which is hardly confined to the last few centuries of Christian belief. If the church didn't want this day to come, they should not have let the government take over marriage. But since they did, and since government should treat everyone equally, we are here now. We're not the concept of marriage as it stood three hundred years ago, we are here, right now. Act like it.
Fuck your argument that it's about freedom of religion, which only proves that it's a clear violation of the separation of church and state. How would you like it if I voted on your religious rights, too?
Fuck your arguments about the "slippery slope" it would create, in either marriage or democracy. Give society some fucking credit for having a modicum of common sense. A sudden wave of marrying dogs and widespread polygamy won't happen, and you know it.
Fuck you when you say that civil unions should be enough, because separate but equal isn't equal, and you know it.
Fuck your excuses about the will of the people, because sometimes all that amounts to is mob rule, especially when that mob is created through fear and lies, religious dogma, and massive out-of-state funding.
Fuck you for saying "oh, please understand that *my* personal decision isn't driven by religious beliefs or moral propriety," because underneath it all, it most certainly is... and if you're dancing around that issue to justify your vote some other way, you're in denial.
Fuck you for saying "some of my friends are gay" and still voting yes, because it doesn't hide your bigotry. Your actions are your words.
Fuck you for making me a second-class citizen.
Thankfully we have a President now who acknowledged my existence as a Gay American in the first few minutes of his acceptance speech. Maybe, in time, his efforts at unifying this country will be successful for all of us, gay and straight. I don't always agree with Andrew Sullivan, but he had a great post tonight that said "We must never let popular votes affect our own internal sense of our worth, our equality, our dignity as human beings. Our marriages are real; all that is at issue is whether a majority will recognize them in law. The next generation already does."