Having been totally bummed all day about Prop. 8 passing here in California, this e-mail from a friend gave me a laugh and some hope. She and her husband, Bill, are dear friends and live in Southern California:
Today was street-sweeping day, and as often happens, some of our neighbors forget to move their cars to the other side the night before, so on our morning walk, we always ring their doorbells to get them up so that they won’t get a ticket.
Well, when we got to a new neighbor’s house at the far end of our street, Bill was struggling to get through their locked gate when I noticed a “Yes on 8″ sign in their window and pointed it out to him. He immediately stopped struggling with the lock, and we walked on home.
Later, when Bill heard the street-sweeper, he looked out the front door and was pleased to see the homophobe getting a ticket. I know that is no consolation to you, but I thought I’d pass it along just to let you know how upset we are about that poisonous Prop. 8.
on Nov 6th, 2008 at 9:51 am
My hope is that the strong response to this that we’re already starting to see continues, and that more people will become aware of the injustice of allowing a majority to take away the existing civil rights of a minority.
When a ballot measure like this came up in Massachusetts, I believe it was after the courts ruled in favor of same-sex marriage but before any had taken place, so at least it wouldn’t have been explicitly removing current, active rights from a minority group. Still, I always wanted to hear the question asked of legislative leaders (who had to approve the measure for the ballot first) and the secretary of state whether issues of civil rights should be up for popular vote.
Only a small amount of thought needs to be expended on the question before realizing that no, they should not. Luckily, it never came to that in Massachusetts, and now, once the seas didn’t boil and the sky didn’t fall from all those evil, straight-marriage-threatening gay marriages, no such ballot measure would ever pass, much less get on the ballot.
It’s a shame that Californians chose to buy into the hate and fear stirred up by a small group of people so terrified of others not living within their tiny, narrow worldview. This does set back the quest for equality by quite a lot, perhaps decades. But maybe, the current passionate response channeled properly through legal and activist channels can do more good, exposing the hypocrisy and irrationality at the heart of the Yes on 8 campaign and catapulting California and the rest of the country into a more rational, more compassionate, more human place.
on Nov 6th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
The Mormon “church” should have its tax-exempt status revoked by the IRS, stat.
on Nov 6th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
As I read this, I am watching Anderson Cooper interview Hilary Rosen, among others, about Prop. 8. Neither of them acknowledges that they are gay, even though she has been out for years, unlike him. This sort of thing is one of many factors that helps to explain why a Third Reich measure like this can still command a majority, however slight, in California in the twenty-first century. And, of course, the statements of the President-elect don’t help.
on Nov 7th, 2008 at 7:38 am
The Mormons can choose to be political OR religious, but not both.
http://www.mormonsstoleourrights.com/