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I'm not seeing a lot of protection going on from Prop 8. Threatening, invalidating, cheapening, limiting, preventing, those things Prop 8 has accomplished. But not protection. Not by a long shot.

You sicken me. Seriously.

The Prop 8 campaign pulled out some of the dirtiest, most bald-faced lies I have ever seen, and you just took it as truth. Did you bother to read the Supreme Court decision that stated, specifically, that churches would not be penalized for refusing to perform gay marriages? Did you bother to see how strong an opt-out law we have in California, that states that you have every right to pull your child out of a class that teaches something that is against your religion? I’m sure you saw the “Yes on Prop 8” ad that included footage of children at their teacher’s lesbian wedding; did you bother to see the response given by the parents of those children, the one that said that they had been notified and given the choice to opt out of the field trip? That other families had chosen to opt out? Did you notice that in the time this year that gay marriage has been perfectly legal, nothing bad has happened? Don’t you think that, if the schools were going to teach gay marriage to your kids, they would’ve started this fall since it was already legal? Don’t you think that, if the churches were going to get fucked with, it would’ve already happened?

No. That’s too much work, isn’t it? It’s easier to sit back and join in the fear and the hate propagated by that campaign. It’s easier to hide behind what your religion tells you to do than to respect the faiths of others and promote equality.

I can hardly believe that 61% of voters in this state made a clear choice for positive social change in voting for Obama, and then 52% turned around and voted to include discrimination in our state constitution. Out of fear, and hate, and belief that somehow, someday gay marriage was going to have a negative effect on everybody, even though it’s had plenty of opportunities so far.

We had a chance to tell the rest of the country that separate is not equal, that discrimination does not belong in the constitution, that fear and hate cannot win over what is fair and right. The presidential election gave us hope; you Prop 8 supporters have soured that hope, and those of you who joined in have dashed it completely.

You people are cowards. You have chosen to remove the rights of millions of people. Not just deny, remove. You have chosen to give rights to chickens, pigs, and calves, and remove them from human beings. I am deeply, truly ashamed of you, and ashamed of my state. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

I celebrated Obama’s victory last night. Today, I mourn for the gay and lesbian people in California and across the nation. The passage of Prop 8 is a horrible, costly mistake, one we will pay for with a loss of equality in this once-fair state.

No love,
Leslie

Edit: Apparently, there are a whole fuck of a lot of absentee ballots that have yet to be counted, so the tally may change in the next few days. Even so, the above sentiments still apply to the staggering number of people who voted "yes" on 8.

Edit #2: the SF Chronicle has called Prop 8 as having passed. It's a sad day for equality.

Because the proponents of Proposition 8 don't have a real argument to use against their opponents, they've begun a campaign full of half-truths and outright lies to shift favor back their way.

This is the first tv ad in favor of Prop 8:



*takes a breath* Wow, the lies.

First: "Four judges ignored 4 million voters and imposed same-sex marriage on California." Prop 22 was not ignored. It was found unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court. That's the goddamn job of the Supreme Court. STFU.

Second: "Acceptance of gay marriage is now mandatory." Fuck you, lady, no it isn't. No churches are required to join gay people in matrimony if it's against their beliefs, that's specifically stated in the Supreme Court ruling. Also, it's im-fucking-possible to legislate belief, so y'all can not accept gay marriage in your own lives as much as you like. What has changed is that the law - not belief, law - is now equal for everybody, regardless of sexual orientation.

Third: "People sued over personal beliefs." Discrimination based on sexual orientation is already illegal, and was illegal before gays could marry. The lawsuits referred to had to do with discrimination, not the right to marry.

Fourth: "Churches could lose their tax exemption." Sweet Jesus, what a bald-faced lie. Churches could lose their exemption if they use the church to get involved in political campaigns, which is a protection of the separation of church and state. This has nothing to do with whether or not gays can marry.

Fifth: "Gay marriage taught in public schools." Only if the school board, the parents, AND the Education Code want it to be taught. The article used in the commercial refers to a court case Massachusetts, not California. There is no state requirement for any school to teach about gay marriage.

Since that ad and its pack of lies hit the networks, support for Prop 8 has grown. Voters are taking this shit as truth and getting scared that the gays marrying will affect them personally, even though the gays have been getting married since June and nobody's noticed a goddamn thing. Unless you're in San Francisco, in which case you might've noticed some really happy old ladies holding hands and grinning at each other.

California people, don't be taken in by lies. Get the truth out. There is no reason for the state to make a distinction between gay and straight couples in terminology or benefits, and absolutely no reason to make a constitutional amendment promoting inequality based on sexual orientation. The arguments in support of Prop 8 are a mix of lies, total balderdash, religious bias, and being squicked out by the thought of men holding hands. Bitch, please.

Even Republicans think this is full of shit:


For more information against Prop 8, check out No on Prop 8, Equality California, Let California Ring, the Human Rights Campaign, and the hilarious (well, to me) Mormons for Marriage.

For info on what the supporters are saying, there's the insanely named Protect Marriage, What is Prop 8? which propagates the lies from the tv ad, another insanely named National Organization for Marriage, the evil Focus on Your Own Fucking Family the Family, and because it seems that the Mormons can't decide what stand they want to take, Mormons for 8.

I've been writing in this journal since October of 2002. There are a lot of memories in here, from about half of my undergraduate career, a semester spent in Ireland, several explosive breakups, and the whole graduate school experience. Probably more, since I've gotten in the habit of journaling and it's a hard habit to break, even if I wanted to.

Due to paranoia about possible future employers and/or students stumbling across this journal and finding some random, odd, incriminating thing, this journal has gone friends only. If you'd like access, leave a comment.