Mixed Bag and Madness

As you have likely heard, read, seen or all three... the California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition Eight; thus signaling that it is OK to put civil rights up for a popular vote, especially if you are not the one with anything to lose. The upside of this decision is that at least the court understood the ridiculousness of suggesting that the 18,000 same-sex couples married in California before November 5th should be divorced. That would have taken an already mean-spirited mandate and made it beyond punitive.

Naturally, I am extremely disappointed with this ruling. It is wrong to allow the majority to write discrimination against a minority into a state constitution. This is no small matter. We are talking about allowing people who have access to the rights (r-i-g-h-t-s) of marriage to say, "I've got mine, and screw you!" Votes, such as Proposition 8 in California or Amendment Two in Florida... or even 102 in Arizona, that exclude LGBT couples from the r-i-g-h-t of survivor's benefits, or the r-i-g-h-t to make medical decisions on their partner's behalf in cases of emergency, or the r-i-g-h-t to simply live and let live are WRONG!

There are plans to protest in cities across the United States this ruling today. But I am at a place of being tired of standing on street corners, or in front of the state Capitol Building, screaming at motorists to pay attention, and having some redneck holler homophobic hatred at me. I am fed up with constantly having my life, and my love, trotted out for somebody else's political agenda because something deep within them makes them fear me (or some warped vision of me). I am finished with being a victim of the Exclusionary agenda that not only doesn't want to see me as a child of God, they don't want to see me as human at all (Mad Priest found a real dandy example of this). We've got to stop the insanity of this fear of the "other". We've got to stop waiting for the kindness of straight people to see the light, and we have to start coming out of our closets, and taking charge. We need straight allies, for sure. But we can't have allies if we hide.

I do believe that change is coming. And it's ironic that Iowa is now more progressive on LGBT rights than California. Today, we are hurting. But the next step is to channel this hurt into action to start standing up for ourselves in ways we have not done before. I am ready. How 'bout you?