Gay Marriage

It's been a few weeks now since California voters decided to take away the civil rights of a group of citizens in our state. In the time since, I have been to a protest, I have donated money to the cause of overturning Proposition 8, and I have engaged in several discussions with people both for and against gay marriage. In that time, my resolve for the equal rights of all citizens has only grown stronger. In the many people I've talked to, and many arguments I've heard, I have not heard one logical point to support the banning of gay marriage. Every claim that is made in support of banning gay marriage is either religiously based, or is a lie. If you ask people to take their religion completely out of the equation (which they should be doing anyway when it comes to state legal issues), they cannot come up with one logical reason why homosexuals should not have the same legal rights that everyone else does. I have not been able to find anybody against gay marriage who is not religious.

My wife's cousin had a simple yet, I believe, accurate way of looking at it. People who are against gay marriage are really against gay people period. This is the way I have always felt, particularly in the last few months with all the lying advertisements in favor of Proposition 8. I think the people who are against gay marriage would really prefer it if there were no gay people at all, but they will take what they can get at this point. Take gay adoption, for example. One of the claims I heard about Proposition 8 was that if it failed, certain adoption agencies would be forced to allow same-sex couples to adopt. But of course, this point is irrelevant because gay marriage and adoption are two separate issues. Homosexual couples are already afforded the right to adopt children of their own. But what I find interesting is that the anti-gay marriage crowd uses examples like this, that the best home environment for a child is one with one mother and one father. But at the same time, they claim that Proposotion 8 will still allow gay couples the same rights as married couples (which obviously includes the right to adopt). My point is that, besides their arguemnts being completely flawed and irrelevant, they will say whatever they can to scare people into shying away from gay marriage, even when they use points that have no bearing on the issue. When it all comes down to it, they turn to religion to solidify their argument.

I'm still unhappy that Proposition 8 passed, but it doesn't bother me as much as it used to. The 60 + age group had the highest percentage of yes votes, and as the years go on and they die off, and the younger generation begins voting, it will be overturn. I am very confident in that. It only passed by 52 to 48 percent this time, which is a much smaller margin than in 2000. My demographic is overwhelmingly in favor of gay marriage, and as new voters start registering over the next ten years, those votes will begin to shift in favor of gay marriage also.

It's unfortunate that gay marriage only lasted for six months, but like all major steps in our country's history, it will take time. But we will get there.

Election Day

I voted for Obama this morning. Today may turn out to be the most important day in America's history in terms of what it could mean for it's future. I believe that Obama will win, but nothing is set until all the ballots are counted. If Obama wins, we have a real chance to turn this country around from the terrible road it has been going down the last eight years. If McCain somehow manages to steal the election, America is in real trouble. The course of America's future is at stake today. There are two dramatic directions this country can take, and I just pray that it goes the right way.

Obama/Biden 2008