Elation
“John,” I shouted, as my partner, lover, and husband of 18 years came through the door around 7:45 p.m. (PST) the evening of November 4. “You’re gonna wanna see this!”
It was less than 15 minutes until the polls were to close here, in Oregon, and in Washington State. The local NBC news affiliate was just wrapping up a story about the record California voter turnout before throwing election night news coverage back to NBC News in New York.
John joined me in front of the television. We each held an empty champagne flute, a chilled bottle of California champagne sitting on the bookcase beside us.
At precisely 8:00 p.m. PST, 11:00 p.m. in the Eastern United States—with thousands of Californians still in line waiting to vote—a large picture of Barack Obama with an image of the Great Seal of the Presidency behind him and the words “Barack Obama Elected 44th President of the United States” came up on screen.
“Eleven p.m. on the east coast…and we have news,” came the voice of NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. “There will be young children in the White House for the first time since the Kennedy generation. An African American has broken the barrier as old as the Republic. An astonishing candidate, an astonishing campaign. A seismic shift in American politics.”
John and I began to cry. We poured the champagne, toasted the nation, one another, embraced as firmly and passionately as we’ve ever done and kissed.
I can say in all sincerity that was one of the single most joyous moments of my life. I have never been prouder of my country or to be an American.
And, as a nearly 30-year resident of the state of California, I was even prouder still that it was my adopted home state that had put Senator Obama over the top and made him the next President of the United States.
Eight Hours Later
The morning of November 5 was not as joyous. I awoke to find that the record voter turnout in California had also helped to pass Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that amends the California state constitution to deny the right to marry to Californians of the same sex.
I was now a second-class citizen.
Why?
Because the state of California has become the first constitutional governmental body in our nation to codify into its constitution the state’s right to treat some of its tax paying citizens differently than others.
In other words, 52.7% of California voters have given the state the right to say one group of citizens is more deserving and, therefore, preferred over another.
Despite what a nearly $40 million ad campaign would have everyone believe, Prop 8 didn’t protect anything.
NOTHING IN THE STATE WAS THREATENED!
Here’s what appeared on the ballot,
8 ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY.
INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Changes California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. Provides that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.
It couldn’t be much clearer: “ELIMINATES RIGHT.”
Life’s Little Ironies
By now, you’ve probably heard that Prop 8 passed because, despite a huge voter turnout by Democrats—often presumed to be among the most liberal voters in the state—a combination of whites over 45, Latinos, Asians, African Americans, Catholics, and Mormons were able to put it over the top.
Five of those six subsets of voters have historically all faced the discriminatory tyranny of the majority in California, and elsewhere, themselves.
Mormons, Catholics, Latinos, Asians, and Blacks have all had, at one time or another, their right to marry impinged upon by the state in the name of preserving “traditional marriage.” And, just as historically, the once oppressed have now become oppressors themselves.
It was, in fact, the California courts—in the middle of the last century—ruling that the state’s miscegenation laws, barring Latinos and Blacks from marrying whites, were unconstitutional under the Equal Protection clause of the California State Constitution. That decision was the foundation for the ruling that allowed same-sex couples to marry.
All Californians are entitled to equal protection under, and from, the law, at least according to the state’s constitution and courts.
With So Little to be Sure Of
Backers and opponents alike of Prop 8 seem to agree on one thing. The Yes on 8 campaign was far better organized and did a much better job of getting its message out than the No on 8 campaign.
And therein lies the rub.
Think about this. Do you really want to subject any of your rights to the whims of a majority of the electorate that’s been subjected to months of paid propaganda?
The Yes on 8 campaign built its case for eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry around the highly emotional and, ultimately, false premise that allowing same-sex couples to marry would force schools to teach children about every aspect of gay marriage, whether or not parents agreed to it.
Eschewing Matthew 7:12,
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
And with an assist from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, The Mormons, and the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal Catholic men’s organization, the Yes on 8 folks reached out to culturally conservative Latino and Black voters by enlisting the states churches and ministers in its campaign to “Save Traditional Marriage.”
What this means is the state’s right to now discriminate against a portion of its population was decided by a narrow majority of voters falsely frightened into believing their kids would be taught things they didn’t want them to learn, and that those closer to the grave were risking eternal damnation unless they did unto their lesbian and gay brothers and sisters what had been done unto them in the past.
Is that any way to run a democracy?
I, too, Have a Dream
Lord Wessex: How is this to end?
Queen Elizabeth: As stories must when love's denied: with tears and a journey.—Shakespeare In Love
The tears have been shed and the journey’s begun. Rallies and marches against the wholesale denial of equal protection under the law began almost immediately after the final vote tally.
For five straight—excuse me—consecutive days following the elections, tens of thousands of Californians took to the streets to protest this giant step backwards in the struggle for human rights. The demonstrations have now spread beyond California, and the protesters will not be silenced, at least until there is nothing left to protest.
For you see, this is how the journey will end.
Throughout history, voices raised in the pursuit of truth and justice have always prevailed. It may take a long time, and many lives are often damaged or ruined along the way, but in the end equality and justice have prevailed.
In 1961, sixteen states had laws on their books that forbade blacks and whites from marrying. That means that the mother and father of the man who was just elected to be the 44th President of these United States could have been jailed just for committing the crime of being married!
We’ve been here before. Anita Bryant, Jerry Falwell, Pacific Bell…hell, even Disneyland have all, within my lifetime, tried to bar lesbians and gays from jobs, housing, even dancing together in public. Ultimately they all failed.
Even though the forces of bigotry and hatred have scored a small victory, I can still tell you how this journey will end.
With tears, laughter, joy, and justice for all!
C’ya real soon!
