Day 3

So yes, it is day three since the election that took rights away, and no, I’m not over it. I was listening to The Stephanie Miller show this morning, and they were ganging up on Chris for pointing out the irony that more people voted for the humane treatment of animals than voted to protect the rights of human homosexuals. It is only that irony that this queer man finds fascinating. Of course many of those who supported proposition 8 were lied to and believed that it somehow had something to do with teaching children or forcing churches to marry couples that they don’t want to marry, but people the title of the proposition on the ballot was “To take away the rights of same sex couples to marry”, it doesn’t get a whole lot clearer than that; thank you Jerry Brown for trying.

Then there is the gay community that is in the full mode of eating the No on 8 campaign for all the mistakes they made, well we were there making the mistakes with them. It’s very easy to say that we didn’t take the “right” path, thanks New York Times. But let’s just think about what a legislative path might have meant. What would have stopped the very same amendment being offered? What is to stop the very same religious fundamentalists from now offering an amendment to prohibit Jews from marrying, or Muslims or as the bible prescribes, prohibiting interracial marriage? Once we start down the path of taking people’s rights away through Constitutional amendment, when do we stop? Does anyone really think that abortion rights won’t be next?

I would simply ask one thing. Would one person that believes that people of the same sex getting married, threatens heterosexual marriage, please explain to me in terms of secular law, how that is possible? How does me marrying a man I love and subsequently receiving the tax, property and inheritance rights and divorce protections, hurt a heterosexual couple? You can’t I don’t believe without invoking faith, and the faith argument has no place before the law. When will or politicians be able to have clear positions on queer rights, and not have to parse their words like President Elect Obama, “I don’t support gay marriage, but I oppose proposition 8”? How does anyone reconcile that?

And there is one even more hideous statute that was approved. In Arkansas, you can now only adopt if you are married. How many children must suffer to further the misguided notion that homosexuals are not good parents because of who we love? Wow.

This is a great week for our nation in so many ways, but let us not loose sight of how that greatness is tainted by continued hate of the only minority group that it is cool to hate, the queer community.