Last night was like the end of a marathon. The elation and ecstatic reaction after Obama finally won the Presidency was surreal, like crossing the finish line first when you barely thought you had a chance.
And then, watching Prop 8 pass was like having someone walk up to that same theoretical marathoner and punching them in the face.
Really, California? One of the most liberal states in America can have idiot right-wingers get you so pants-pissingly scared that Teh Gayz r after ur Childrens! that we fucking passed a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT to ban gay marriage?
I am still very, very happy about Obama. What I told people at work last night when 8 was looking iffy still stands: We had one chance, and one chance only, to elect Obama, and in terms of the good of the overall nation, that was more important.
It keeps the Supreme Court from going completely to the batshit crazies, it makes the world hate us less, and it gives people some fucking hope that for once, they have voted for a candidate who’s not simply the lesser of two evils.
That 8 passed sucks, there’s no dobut. But we, and by we I mean the Gays and everyone who thinks people deserve equal rights, are going re-fight this discriminatory horseshit at every fucking turn until it is OUT of the CA constitution.
Until then, I’m going to the gym to go take out my anger on an elliptical machine instead of the drywall in my apartment which I sorely, sorely want to put my fist through.
Ellen, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be a Californian and still have that anger hanging over you while by all other accounts today should be one of celebration (I’m angry too, but probably no where near as affected as those more directly affected must be). Hopefully the opportunity to actually achieve equal rights for all is a little bit brighter today, but there’s still so much work to do.
It’s a frightening thought, really, that one of our most progressive states could still be so backward in its thinking. If California can’t move past its closed-minded populace, it doesn’t lend much hope for those open-minded people in more closed-minded regions.
I will say that I’ve been incredibly frustrated, and honestly not myself all day over this. However, I’m reaching a point now where the moping phase is over and I refuse to allow my anger to get the best of me. I will not give the homophobic proponents of this abomination that satisfaction.
This will turn around. I don’t care if it’s in the next election or if it takes another 30 years. This will turn around. I’m very heartened by the fact that among voters under 30, the proposition was soundly defeated. Soon enough, the number of people born since 1978 will number almost the whole of California, and this bullshit is going DOWN.