tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post6470235013695048743..comments2024-03-23T19:16:01.555-07:00Comments on Can it happen here?: Whatever happened with Prop. 8?janinsanfranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07548452260456734928noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-71281484102489959142008-11-10T12:10:00.000-08:002008-11-10T12:10:00.000-08:00I do not believe that "it wasn't our time" is a wa...I do not believe that "it wasn't our time" is a way to speak or rationalize a clear loss of equality. The issue is that no one's civil rights should be subject to the impacts of political or religious bigotry. The instituion of marriage was created to insure property, inheritance rights and lineage. I want my queer partner to have complete and total access to my social security account after I die, life insurance benifits without question,home and other assests when I die. I want to be able have and use the same "rights" that hetrosexual couple have, without question, now. Or is this a "free" country only for some?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-57758076758343675642008-11-09T05:09:00.000-08:002008-11-09T05:09:00.000-08:00As an 83 year old grandmother I was dismayed by th...As an 83 year old grandmother I was dismayed by the narrow and bigoted vote of the elders. I shouldn't have been surprised, I guess because elders seem to be the last to give up their prejudices. I think it should be the other way around. One would think that a person over 65 would have learned something. <BR/><BR/>As an Arizonan, I was disgusted that a "so called" religious bunch of nut cases from my state were responsible for getting Prop. 8 on the ballot in Calif. How can this happen? Unfortunately, the same initiative passed here promoted by the same group of haters. The advertising was intense with beautiful white people extolling the virtues of marriage. These ads made me laugh (in disgust) at the irony of a Church that practiced polygamy at one time denying another group their civil rights.Darlenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18373134676852496647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-6360166665024676072008-11-07T17:07:00.000-08:002008-11-07T17:07:00.000-08:00Jan, thanks for taking the long view on this. I'm...Jan, thanks for taking the long view on this. I'm not sure this was a necessary trade-off. I think we could have had both President-elect Obama and marriage equality in California. The key is to learn what lessons we can from this loss, without devouring our leadership in the process.<BR/><BR/>One learning for me is that the progressive religious community was not proactive or organized enough. There is a need for ecumenical dialogue about this issue - especially with historic African-American churches and Roman Catholics who are otherwise fairly progressive - outside the heat of a political campaign. Creating structures within which that can happen - through solidarity work on other issues - will be important.<BR/><BR/>That said, I'm thrilled about President-elect Obama and the prospects for building a progressive political movement.Fr. Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06647311951078750640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-28877395627259048892008-11-07T10:40:00.000-08:002008-11-07T10:40:00.000-08:00The Supreme Court decision legalizing interracial ...The Supreme Court decision legalizing interracial marriage came in 1967. I was born only fifteen years later and can't imagine a world where blacks and whites could be jailed for having sex. Most people my age don't even know it was ever illegal. I believe that by the time my children are my age, it will accepted without question.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-61421528294482874652008-11-06T21:08:00.000-08:002008-11-06T21:08:00.000-08:00absolutely, an obama win over a no on 8 victory. i...absolutely, an obama win over a no on 8 victory. i can't imagine what it would feel like right now to have mccain as president elect and same-sex marriage won. (i also can't imagine how that combination could have occurred.)<BR/><BR/>i think one of the biggest reasons for prop 8 passing was that the HRC and Equality California really dropped the ball on organizing in/outreach to communities of color. the same problem happened in the Prop 22 campaign. by contrast, Yes on 8 did a good job of reaching out to voters of color, African Americans in particular. perhaps, too, Black voters may have already been getting mobilized to vote through their churches (many relatively more conservative, eg Baptist, therefore likely to independently urge Yes on 8). (It's very interesting that Latino voters were not as strongly Yes on 8.) <BR/><BR/>I had a friend doing No on 8 work through API Equality in LA, and No on 8 kept sending API Equality to more white areas, even though API Equality specifically wanted to reach out to Asian and other voters of color. <BR/><BR/>Generally, I think many more voters of color could have been moved to vote no based on the idea of a "civil rights" issue, AS LONG AS they were convinced that these "civil rights" did not impinge on the independence of their churches. No on 8 didn't really know how to talk about how race and sexuality are different, AS WELL AS related. It's a complicated message to talk through - especially for HRC and NGLTF folks who really don't talk about race much at all.<BR/><BR/>The things that give me hope are<BR/><BR/>1) it was only 52% Yes on 8, not the 61%+ of Prop 22<BR/><BR/>2) the age factor - younger voters voting No on 8 in higher numbers<BR/><BR/>3) the court challenges - hard to imagine this state Supreme Court reversing its own decision<BR/><BR/>4) the energy out on the streets to protest the Prop 8 results<BR/><BR/>The things that keep me still depressed are<BR/><BR/>1) The misguided rhetoric about race and blaming Black voters I've overheard from a number of LGBT people (mostly white, mostly moneyed, mostly men)<BR/><BR/>2) The Arkansas, Arizona and Florida initiatives passing <BR/><BR/>3) The simple fact that I feel personally alienated after getting something I didn't really know I wanted, loved once I had it, and now see taken away.<BR/><BR/>- Emily HobsonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-21971833041256138912008-11-06T13:07:00.000-08:002008-11-06T13:07:00.000-08:00Tuesday evening I had a moment of disbelief -- is ...Tuesday evening I had a moment of disbelief -- is it really true that Obama won the election? (Fortunately, that stunned moment of silence didn't last too long, thanks to the celebratory cheering from neighbors on their porches.)<BR/><BR/>Wednesday and today I am in a different state of disbelief -- an inability to understand what it is about me that scares people so. I know it's not me personally, but yet... The people who voted for Prop. 8 know people like me. And that makes me wonder about the people I share coffee break with, volunteer with, etc. <BR/><BR/>The problem is by the time the majority of the older "yes on Prop. 8" voters die, I'll probably also be dead. Perhaps I'm a bit selfish, but I'd like to be equal before I die.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-66953098570445610272008-11-06T11:37:00.000-08:002008-11-06T11:37:00.000-08:00I agree, my joy over Obama is far greater than my ...I agree, my joy over Obama is far greater than my sorrow over the passing of Prop 8. <BR/><BR/>I'm not sure this is true for most gays though - the grief inside Peets in the Castro (across from the No on 8 HQs) was unbearable yesterday. I saw no evidence of celebration over our new president.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11093162.post-66849477179345594132008-11-06T09:18:00.000-08:002008-11-06T09:18:00.000-08:00Or as I said to my next-door neighbor, it wasn't o...Or as I said to my next-door neighbor, it wasn't our turn this time. So we just have to wait until some people at one end of the age spectrum die, while some at the other end become old enough to vote.<BR/><BR/>I actually think the vote in Arkansas to prohibit adoption by unmarried couples might be worse. That's a real step backwards. But we're in a two-steps-forward-one-step-back dance. <BR/><BR/>And this lesbian agrees with you that I'll trade an Obama victory for a Prop. 8 loss. Just wish we didn't have to make those trades.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com