Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Down With Prop 8!!

I don't usually write about political issues. In fact, I kind of go out of my way to not write about political issues, mostly because I don't feel that I am generally well-versed enough on political issues to put forth an informed commentary.

That said, have you heard the news? California's ban on same-sex marriage - better known as Prop 8 - has been found unconstitutional and overturned by a federal judge, who apparently said that moral opposition to same-sex marriage is not a sufficient basis to deny people's rights.

Can I hear an Amen?!

Seriously, folks, this whole Prop 8 thing? That's all it is, a moral opposition to homosexuality that has evolved into a whole freaking law that strips certain people of a basic right that everyone else gets to take for granted. I'm going to restrain myself and not go all postal on the religious right here, but there's certainly no denying that the Christian conservatives are behind not only the subject moral opposition, but the law born out of that moral opposition.

I just can't wrap my head around this propensity of certain sectors of people believing it to be their right - their duty! - to poke their noses into other people's intimate lives, and to pass judgment. And to work so very hard to strip away other people's rights. I don't get it. How does any of that make this a better world?

There was a time, not so long ago, when mixed-race couples were denied the right to marry. That seems crazy now, doesn't it? At the time, it was considered immoral - immoral! - for a black person to marry a white person. There was a time, also not so long ago, when people with certain disabilities were involuntarily sterilized - forcibly stripped of their right to bear children. Seems barbaric now, doesn't it? But again, it was a question of morality, and certain sectors of people not wanting the feebleminded to produce feebleminded offspring - god forbid, the world might be overrun by imbeciles and mulattos! This denying gays the right to marry - it's the same damn thing. It's not right.

They say that same-sex marriage threatens the very foundation of the sacred institution of marriage. I honestly just can't help but laugh my ass off over this logic. As if we heteros have done such a bang-up job of upholding the sacred institution of marriage, with our divorce rates, and our adultery statistics, and our domestic violence - even among, dare I say, the Christian conservatives themselves! So I'd just really like to know exactly what it is they think they're preserving by trying to keep gays out of the marriage club.

So down with Prop 8 already. How about all of you who are so against same-sex marriage just worry about your own life and the state of your own marriage?

2 comments:

Anna Alexandrova said...

Amen! I just hope this decision survives SCOTUS. My favorite line:
"Fundamental rights may not be submitted to a vote; they depend on the outcome of NO election".

diane rene said...

I am SO excited over this decision and yet hesitant for the backlash that is already rolling.

one of the things I find great happiness in is not only that prop H8 is overturned, but in this long battle I have helped a friend see what this fight is really about. a very conservative, bible thumping (in a loving way, really) friend who was all for prop H8 to begin with, is now celebrating the news with us.
she gets it. marriage is not about religion, it's about the heart and we all know how battles with the heart go, right?
she even laughs at people, right along with me, who try to play the animal card (you know, "what if people decide they want to marry their dogs?" puh-leeze)