Okay, I'm as angry as everyone else with a soul is over Prop 8, but some of the things I'm hearing are just plain ridiculous. On both sides.
In 2006, I voted against the spiteful and asinine ballot initiative in Wisconsin to change the state constitution to include the statement that, "only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state and that a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state."
I kicked and screamed and fought with my parents and everyone else who sided with this unconscionable piece of shit. And like now, when the travesty actually passed, the bullshit started to fly.
First, to my fellow soldiers fighting against this arbitrary discrimination, be you gay or straight: Please, please, please, for the love of all that is good and pure, stop comparing the struggle of gay people in this country to the struggle of black people in this country. They are not alike. They are not even close.
Yes, of course everyone who isn't delusional gets that like black people, gay people had no choice in being who they are. But there is no gay skin color. Little old ladies don't clutch their purses and cross to the other side of the street when they see gay people. Cops don't pull gay people over and hassle them because their car wasn't "gay" enough. And at no time in our nation's history has one people owned the gay people. Unless you count Ricky Martin. Admit it, straight people: he was dreeeeammyyy.
Yes, there are horrific instances of inexcusable violence and oppression, much like minority ethnic groups have also endured. Yes, there is discrimination. But it is still not the same. The struggle that gay people endure in this country is different from the struggle of any other people in this country; that's a given. And while there are some small similarities between all these struggles, there is nothing to be gained in equating them. In fact, there is much to be lost.
Fight on we must, but I beg of you; stop the comparisons. Trying to put the discrimination against gay people into context by comparing it to that of black people is like saying that the Republican's stealing of the 2000 presidential election was somehow that asshole Ralph Nader's fault. It's untrue, all you will get is eye-rolls, and the cycle will go on.
Which brings me to the other side: Any person or group who has ever felt the sting of discrimination or the weight of oppression has no valid argument for voting to discriminate and oppress another. None. Shut up; no, you don't.
But in particular, marriage and adoption. For the umpteenth time, "marriage" is a contract rooted in wealth and property consolidation that was only made a "sacrament" because the church wanted more control of wealth and property. In that respect, it was no better than the corrupt and immoral Catholic "indulgences." Marriage was a contract between two people and the state. Arguing on the basis of your religious beliefs is invalid and cowardly. First, our country was not founded on religious principles. Yes, many of the Founding Fathers were religious. Yes, similar wording can be found in religious texts. But the simple fact is, our country was founded on the principle of rule of law, and that law was deliberately made secular so that the government could not interfere with religious beliefs, and vice versa. Second (as if a second should be needed), as explained above, "marriage" is not the province of any, some, or all religion(s). Never has been; never will be. No religion or group of religions can lay claim to it. It came from Common Law, and to Common Law it will always belong. You have no "tradition" or "sacrament" that predates Common Law's claim on marriage. You're wrong. Get over it.
As for adoption, that is even less based on religious principles. Thus, those arguments are even more specious and craven.
Call it like it is, so-called defenders of "traditional marriage". You just don't like gay people. There's nothing wrong with that. Nobody is - or will ever - forcing you to like another person. That's your decision to make. And as such, attempts to cloak this dislike by calling on religion is pure and simple cowardice. Anyone who does this is a complete and total pussy. No; fuck you; you're a pussy. A chickenshit who isn't man or woman enough to stand up and say, "I just don't like them, and I don't want them being equal to me."
I know why you don't do it. We all do, even you. It's because you will lose this battle over civil rights if you do. But if you had any guts at all, that's what you would do. So what if gay people could marry and adopt? It doesn't mean you have to like it, or them. In fact, it will have no effect on your life whatsoever. You'll go right on not liking them, and they'll go right on living their lives, not giving a shit about you.
So, stop it. Stop the bullshit, people.
Update: All tags have been removed; my apologies if anyone felt I was speaking about their religion. I was not. I was speaking about the people who hide in those religions.