Proposition Eight in California will take away the right of homosexual copies to marry. It is designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to make one class of citizens permanently second class. It is about fear and bigotry and nothing else. The proponents of this rights destroying proposition really offer only two arguments: it is against God's will and traditional marriage must be saved. Neither stands up to scrutiny.
The first argument is the most ludicrous. Lots of things are against someone'e conception of Gods will. We don't ban lobster dinners even though shellfish are called an abomination right along with homosexuality (and, please, spare me the story of Peter's dream. If you really think that passage refers only to the prohibition on shellfish, then you really, really need to go back and read your Bible again.) We don't forgive debts every seven years or force anyone to obey any of the Jubilee Laws. We don't forbid marriage to the divorced. We don't do hardly anything to impose religious beliefs on any class of citizen that does not wish to partake of them. And almost none of the groups involved in Prop 8 publicly argue for those kinds of impositions-- except when it comes to homosexuals.
The traditional marriage argument is just as weak. For most of western history, marriage was traditionally defined as the union of one woman and one man chosen for that women by her father or other legal guardian. For much of the history of capitalism, marriage was traditionally defined as the union of one woman and one man of the same socio-economic class. Until forty years ago, marriage was traditionally defined as the union of one man and one woman of the same race. Somehow, the institution of marriage survived those changes and you find no except the worst bigots -- and certainly none of the groups publicly advocating for Prop 8 -- agitating for a return to those states of affairs. Western culture has traditionally been fine with changing the traditional definition of marriage, and the institution has rolled happily along. To believe that gay marriage will somehow change that is to ignore the evidence of history and of places like Massachusetts and Canada, where the institution of marriage has quite easily survived being opened to gays. No, the only real reason to be opposed to Prop 8 is that gays freak you out a bit..
And, really, so what? Lots of things freak you out a bit. The weird girl in college who wanted to be tied up before sex; those weirdo hippies who name their kids things like Sunbeam and Moonsickle; the overly uptight parents at the PTA meeting who refuse to let their kid call them Mom or Dad, just Ma'am or Sir; the, umm, enthusiasts, that dress in full Star Wars regalia and get married on a sound stage in Vegas; the couple that dresses their twin daughters in matching outfits ever single freaking day. There are a lot of weird people out there, and they do a lot of weird things. But we don't take their rights away. Only homosexuals, apparently, are weird enough for that level of discrimination.
Marriages that the state recognizes are about two people who love each other and are willing to make a public commitment to use that love to help build a family. That is a hard thing to do, so the state provides a bit of help here and there for those willing to take up that effort. The race, relative class, or sexual orientation don't matter a damn in that equation. Only the love and the commitment do.
If you live in California, please vote NO on Prop 8. It is wrong and it is unfair.