Have we all gone mad?
Ladies and gentlemen.
It has now been almost two weeks since our "history-making" election of now President-Elect Barack Obama to office. It is the first time we have ever elected a black man to the highest office in the land. We have finally made end-roads to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream, yet amidst all of the celebration, there are Americans in this country who find themselves at the forefront of another civil rights movement.
Over the course of the last six months, I've found myself more and more in-tune with the national news of MSNBC, CNN, and even watching Fox News to gain an additional perspective of others in this country who may or may not agree with the same principles that I necessarily support. But I digress; my point is simply that while watching this news, there is hardly a news cycle that runs in the last two weeks, that the vote of Proposition 8 is not brought up. I turn my computer on, and log online, and the first thing I see is news about thousands protesting against the vote in California--and what's worse is that it is escalating. Those protesting the vote in California are beginning to get violent towards those of religious tenants and it is really worrying me.
First a little background information. As I understand it, California passed a law two years ago that said gay people of the same sex could not marry. This law was challenged by whomever, and made its way to the California Supreme Court. Earlier this year, the California Supreme Court ruled that this law was in fact against the state constitution, and that because the state constitution does not "define" that a man and a woman must be the legal parties marrying, no law can prohibit it. So, the law was deemed unconstitutional, and again, gay people were able to marry in California (close to 18,000 in fact). Proposition 8 was an amendment to the Constitution on the ballot for 2008. What Proposition 8 did was amend the constitution of California to "define" that marriage was in fact between two consenting adults--one of the male gender, and one of the female gender. This vote passed with 68% approval, from my understanding. This then therefore rendered the original law, constitutional again.
Now, unlike Keith Olberman of MSNBC, I DO have a vested interest in this--for two reasons. First, I'm gay, duh. Second, I'm a Christian, duh. If you're curious how I can be both, please take a look at my blog on reconciling my views on being gay and being Christian written a few months ago. So with that said, onto my feelings of the original topic at hand, the escalating violent protests happening between the gay community and the religious community, and overall where I stand on the proposition 8 vote.
Let's start with where I stand. Do I feel that gay marriage should not be allowed? Absolutely not...love is love. I want to marry a man some day. And as Keith Olberman put it, why should we deny somebody a little bit of a right that heterosexual people have an option of when this world is so full of hate already? It's not right. Regardless of whether or not science has found "a gene" to truly clarify if people are "born gay" or if it's a lifestyle that is picked up, or a choice, ultimately, it's an issue that we as a society must now work to deal with. I'm confident that scientists will eventually find that gene, and see it is written in our DNA, and as with any other complex issue, such as race, gender, eye color, hair color, age, etc., it will become one other characteristic of who we are. But until we get to that point, other questions now still have to be answered, and gay marriage is one of them.
Was I disappointed to see the vote in California? Yes, it's heartbreaking. I'm disappointed to hear friends and family tell me to my face that marriage should be between a man and a woman--it hurts. It's heartbreaking. But ultimatley, no matter if it is my friend, my family, or a stranger walking down the street, they have a right to that opinion. They have a right to feel however they want to feel. And as an American, when questions come up that require more than one person, or group, or committee to answer, it's put to a vote.
Arguably, the one concrete, finite backbone of this country is our Constitution. And the backbone of every state is its constitution. Laws change with times and ages. But Constitutions are written so they can flex with time and age usually. I don't feel comfortable telling Californians that the vote they cast in a large majority is "illegal." Do I feel it's wrong? Yeah, I do. But it doesn't mean it shouldn't stay, or stick, or be recognized as law. If we travel down the path of looking at every vote passed by a majority through the eyes of a judicial system of 4, 5, 7, or 9 judges--we suddenly have traversed into very dark, murky, and SCARY waters. The Supreme Court of any state, and of this country, ultimately gets to decide what is constitutional or not. The only way to circumvent the court's ruling is to pass an amendment to the constitution, in which it now becomes part of that governing document·
An amendment is not some random law that can be repealed. An amendment is how we govern. If we traverse down the path of second-guessing amendments, suddenly, SUDDENLY, anything is fair game whenever one group, or one person, has reasonable cause to feel upset about something. That's not how this country works. That's not how we were founded. That's not what our framers intended.
Now do I feel that taking the rights away of thousands, millions, of Americans is right? No. But I didn't make that decision. Nor did one person, or one court, or one group, or a body of elected representatves. The voters were allowed to decide what the "rule" of society should be. And they spoke. There is something very important in that. Perhaps they spoke from misinformation, we'll unfortunatley never really know. But, if they did speak from information that they were told, or beliefs that they hold from their religious tenants, then so be it. It's NOT MIXING CHURCH AND STATE together to vote because of your religion. A person may be religious, their vote is not--that is strictly American. And you cannot tell me that a vote should not be allowed because you're not happy with it--that's un-American.
This issue is so mixed for me. Right now my brother has something I'll never have--not only a wife, but somebody who is legally bound with him, whom he shares all legal benefits with. But am I willing to gain the right of marriage at the sacrifice of the will of the people? No. If we take away the will of the people, then we take away America.
I'm all for those protesting the passage of it, and how they want to change it. Ultimately that change should come in the form of another vote, as peoples' views and opinions change. It's up to us as gay people to show others why this is important and put it in perspective. To those protesting violently against religious churches, stop. Please, STOP. The violence solves nothing.
My stomach churns at the fact that at the moment we live in a no-win situation. But that doesn't mean there isn't hope. I look at the younger generations coming up, and the acceptance of homosexuality is more prevalent than 10, 20, and definitely 30 years ago. These younger generations will vote soon, and eventually the majority of the people in this country may see things differently. That's the moment I'm waiting for. I don't need a supreme court to rule one way or the other--because that's not victory. Victory is when those in this country can look to two gay men holding hands in the street with a family at Target, and see a loving couple with two kids, and not cringe and say under their breath "that's weird." Much like America saw a man with a vision for our future, and didn't see the color of his skin as a preface to what he'd do for us. That's my victory, and if it means I have to wait fifty years, then I have to wait fifty years.
Dr. King's dream took forty years to realize, and even then, we still have a long way to go. But don't be so zealous to turn on the way this country does its business because you're not happy with the outcome it produced. Because just as quickly as the wind blows in your favor, it can turn against you. Once you've opened the door to the instability of a changing judicial system, there's no shutting it.
Comments welcome.
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