Today is an historic and bittersweet day for democracy.
One civil rights battle has sustained a wonderful victory.
Another civil rights battle took a stunning defeat.
Barack Hussein Obama will be our 44th President with an overwhelming electoral win.
Proposition 8 was passed, Amending the California Constitution to eliminate the civil rights of gays and lesbians.
It's an ironic day.
When 70% of the nation's LGBT voted for an African-American President.
Yet, 70% of Californian African-Americans voted in favor of discrimination against LGBT.
"African-Americans, who voted overwhelmingly against extending to gay people the civil rights once denied them."
When 88% of the nations liberals and 60% of the nation's moderates vote for an African-American President.
Yet, California, the most liberal of states in the nation, votes against equality for all.
I was moved to tears when Obama spoke about the promise of our Founding Fathers coming true - All Men Are Created Equal. To have this insight and this ideal some 200-years-ago is truly marvelous. And yet, 200-years-later, it remains just an ideal.
Though Obama has won, there is still a civil rights battle in this country. When will the minority groups learn that apart, they are minorities, but together, they are majorities?
Prop 8 is a setback, but not the end of the war. Who will pick up the torch? Where are the gay civil rights leaders, marching, and demonstrating, and boycotting? Who will step forward and show the country that gay people have a voice? Where is the gay MLK, Ghandi, Obama?
We shall overcome. Yes, we can.
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5 comments:
Amen, honey! Amen! We will keep fighting!
Congrats on BO's big win....
It was as tough night for the GOP last night...but hopefully this will make them focus their message for 2010 and 2012.
Also, when can I get that $20 you owe me uncle moneybags ;)
Tim,
Our bet was that the law wouldn't be on the books a year from when we spoke - which I believe was June.
This is far from over.
Isn't that what happened last night? A vote for a constitutional ammendment making the law illegal?
The law was determined by the supreme court of California to be unconstitutional. Prop 8 is a voter-lead initiative to amend the constitution to write discrimination of a minority group into the constitution - an act that undermines one of the main purposes of the constitution (to protect the people from discrimination) and is therefore unconstitutional.
Thus, the lawsuits.....begin.
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