This is a repost of a blog I wrote in late October ('08)

The Prop. That 8 Equal Rights

It's been in the media so much lately, that it's difficult not to at the very least have noticed the battle being waged, and at most have actually become personally involved in it. I've recently perused message boards where people try to make sense of it all, but somehow always hit a dead end. In my naiveté, it's difficult for me to understand people—human beings—getting together to keep down another group of people. Obviously, this speaks volumes to my heretofore-unseen Pollyanna-like innocence, since that is exactly what people have been doing to each other since the beginning of time (whenever you happen to believe that was).

After all, this country itself was founded on the idea of overpowering others. So, why would I be surprised at this desire to take (and keep) something away from a group of people based on the fact that…wait, what justification are we giving here? The fact that there is a group of people who don't meet another group's standards? Wouldn't that be discrimination, something our country prides itself on being against?

It's funny that in a conversation about this, the first words I got in reply to my enthusiastic support for defeating Proposition 8, were about how lucky we are to live in this country where we are free to express our opinions.

Except that this is not about expressing opinions. It's actually about taking an entire group of people and treating them as "second class citizens," someone who doesn't deserve the same rights and freedoms as the rest of us.

Oh land of the free, what a hypocrite you can be. (Yes, the rhyme was intentional. I'm obviously quite a poet.)

You'd think this country would learn from all of its past mistakes, try to live up to the ideal it tries to make everyone believe, and actually let up on the prejudiced thinking a little bit.

But I guess that can only come with time. After all, it's only been 143 years since slavery was abolished, 138 years since skin color no longer prohibited one's ability to vote, and 88 years since women have had the right to vote.

Interestingly enough, the United States Supreme Court overturned a Virgina statute prohibiting interracial marriages…in 1967. In Virginia's defense, they were only carrying out the law set by the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which forbade interracial marriages.

I suppose we should just be grateful there is any progress made at all, thank our lucky stars that we live here and not in some other country where people are looked down on simply because they're different. Hmm…

Ok, that was sneaky of me, to put that in there. After all, our "founding fathers" were white, Christian slave-owners who wanted nothing but the best for…other…white…men…hmm. Wait. This really isn't an attack on this wonderful country that has welcomed my family with open arms (we're white, and straight). I really just wanted to point out that in order to be this idealized place with the "poor…yearning to be free…" (yes, I know France actually stuck us with that send-all-your-riff-raff-here crap), we need to actually be united. Don't keep rights or freedoms or whatever you want to call them from other fellow citizens, other fellow human beings. You want to talk about a "slippery slope," how about taking a second look at history. Shall we establish a "Warsaw Ghetto" for gay people now or wait until we manage to take more rights away?

And if we can actually just decide on a whim that certain people don't deserve certain rights, why the heck do members of the Ku Klux Klan get to marry and procreate? But scarier still, who decides which groups get which rights? (Rhetorical question, obviously the ones with the most money.)

This is NOT about personal opinions; this is about all people being treated like human beings. I'm sorry if one of my friends offends your god; pray that he smites her, but don't take away her freedom to do what you have the freedom to do.

We're here for such a short amount of time. And instead of enjoying it as much as possible and being good to each other, some people expend so much energy on trying to prevent others from enjoying their life. Why? What good comes to you from preventing someone else from having something?

And while I'm at it, I have a challenge to all the Prop. 8 proponents. What atrocities have befallen you since same-sex marriage has been legal? Or women having the right to vote? Or interracial marriage for that matter?