Proposition 8: Between Anger and Hope

I wish I still felt like this gay couple did after hearing that Obama had won. But twenty-four hours later the party feeling has worn off.

After what happened here.

And WHY.

California's black and Latino voters, who turned out in droves for Barack Obama, provided key support for a state ban on same-sex marriage.

Exit poll data showed seven in 10 black voters and more than half of Latino voters backed the ballot initiative, while whites and Asians were split.

I expect that a lot of old white bigots would vote against gay marriage. They are prisoners of their past.

What I can't accept is that people who have suffered the pain of discrimination, like black people have, should vote to inflict it on others. That's not just wrong. It's OBSCENE.

And although I understand where it comes from:

Religious voters also were decisive in getting Proposition 8 passed. Of the seven in 10 voters who described themselves as Christian, two-thirds backed the initiative.

It can't be excused or denied anymore. Which leaves me, and many others, somewhere between ANGER.

I’m not sure what to do with this. I’m thrilled that we’ve just elected our first African-American president. I wept last night. I wept reading the papers this morning. But I can’t help but feeling hurt that the love and support aren’t mutual.

I do know this, though: I’m done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there—and they’re out there, and I think they’re scum—are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color.

And HOPE.

It cannot be denied that this feels like a punch in the gut. It is. I'm not going to pretend that the wound isn't deep and personal, like an attack on my own family. It was meant to be.

In this battle we have already had far more defeats than victories. But each time, we have come closer to our goal. And in the hearts and minds and souls of so many, we have changed consciousness for ever.

As for the Mormon Church that bankrolled most of The Discrimination Crusade.....even though they too are another group that should know better.

They now seem to want gay people to forgive and forget.

Huh?

Good luck.

BTW have the rest of you had a chance to catch this little horror show yet?


Because for 18-thousand married couples in California, and thousands of others who were hoping to tie the knot one day, that's what it FEELS like today.

Forgive? Forget? After hurting all those people. And ruining my Obama party.

Don't make me laugh...