prop 8?

what the fuck, people?
okay really, i'm happy about Obama. yes i am.
and maybe i feel a little guilty about being outraged about something the day after so many things went right for "our" side.

but i couldnt find an outlet for this particular sentiment, because i live with and respect people who unfortunately take an opposing stance on this issue. and whenever i write some very polarized rant on facebook, i feel like i'm yelling at the christians i'm friends with.

but really, that's the truth. I am yelling at them. and I'm yelling at my fucking cousin. and my mother. and really anyone who takes this sanctimonious "preservation of marriage" argument seriously.

cliched talking point first:
preserving marriage? really. have straight people been doing such a good job at preserving marriage? have they? that's what i thought.


you believe god set up marriage as between a man and woman? great. great. keep that to yourself and whatever church you get married in. I'm pretty damn certain the faggots and the dykes won't be strolling in there to get hitched any time soon. this is a legal matter. a state matter. not a religious matter. two people who love each other --yes, just the same as you love your hetero mate-- wish to be able to display their mutual dedication to the world, and to be afforded the same rights in making that union as people who have opposite and not matching genitalia.

i've heard this argument that it's not the gays whose equal rights are being violated. no, its the rights of people who believe in the "sanctity of marriage" whose rights are being violated. their freedom of religion? someone explain that to me. no one is taking anything from you. oh but they are? what, you have some vested stake in the definition of a word? and that is supposed to be more important than the effects discriminatory policy-making has on individual lives?


i get really wrapped up in things and it becomes hard for me to hold an image of the other side's feelings and thoughts in my head. but i'm sorry; all i see from prop 8er's is ignorance. lack of personal connection, maybe? not even hatred or bigotry necessarily. perhaps just standard human recoil to things they're not accustomed to. perhaps indoctrination or inculcation of what is sinful and what's not. but i keep getting the picture in my head that prop 8 proponents have just never had a gay friend. i guess it's the same as people who think all muslims are terrorists or something. maybe they just can't envision gays as actual people. I don't know what the fucking deal is.

the gays and lesbians that i am blessed enough to have as friends are wonderful human beings and in no way any less deserving of love and respect than any of the straight people i know, and in some cases are far wiser and more interesting of individuals. and in many ways prop 8 supporters, they are just like you. they like the same bands. they dig the same foods. they like bowling and a good beer. they like judd apatow movies. when they fall, it hurts. when they're broken-hearted, they cry. and when you treat them as less than human, how do you think it feels? you can lie to yourself and say gay rights is nothing like womens rights or civil rights for non-whites. but you're wrong.

go ahead. tell them that their love is sinful. That their love is evil. That their love is lesser. That they are lesser, and thus deserve to be treated as such.

does it make you feel good? does it make you feel morally superior? i hope so. because everyone else thinks you're an asshole.







p.s. maybe we should redefine marriage as strictly a religious term, and not something the state can give out. there would be no legal benefits in marriage whatsoever. it would only be something to be recognized by G-d. the state could only give out civil unions, and there would be no difference between whether a couple was gay or straight. there. the state wouldn't be sanctioning "gay marriage". or "straight marriage" for that matter.

and then gays could go to gay friendly churches and the God Who Doesn't Hate Fags would smile down on them as well. and the homophobic Christians could comfort themselves by making it a theological issue, and saying those churches aren't real Christians. everyone's happy. or something.