Friday, November 7, 2008

H8


As we are all aware, Proposition 8 in California has been voted on and the outcome was not what the gay community was looking for. The majority voted that gays should not have the right to marry. Discrimination is still alive and well even though we elected an African American President this week.

San Francisco is known for it's rich history in gay politics and Proposition 8 will go down as one of those historic events. It's an interesting time to be living in San Francisco and going through this whole fight. It's interesting to be a part of the fight - I strongly feel that gays are being wrongfully discriminating against and we should not be quiet about it. And we are not...

Above: iPhone photo of the protest march, more below.

There was a huge march in the city tonight with thousands of people gay AND straight. Paul, Zach and I stood on the side of the march and watched people march - we all stood holding hands - one family - and many people were waving and smiling at us. It was another powerful moment in an emotional week of highs and lows.


On an ironic note - a car tried to run though the people walking in the march and the police had to restrain the vehicle - guess what...the driver of the black truck was an African American man. Sigh.... I am not prejudice towards any group of people especially African Americans, hell I even dated a black man for a short period of time. Everyone knows the history of African Americans how wrongfully they've been treated through the years and how they were made to feel inhuman and the lowest of class. Things have changed drastically for their race and Barack Obama becoming President breaks down even more walls. I do feel that SOME (and I stress some) African Americans feel the need to be superior over another group - and that group is homosexuals. It's a bold statement but it's true.

I have had some heated debates about this with a few people and many African Americans feel that the kind of discrimination that gays are going through is not the same as what the African Americans have gone through and are still going through. Huh? Really? In my eyes discrimination IS discrimination. Period.


EVERYONE needs to come together right now - CHANGE needs to happen for EVERYONE not just one race.

Here’s the breakdown on how different races voted on Prop 8:

Whites voted 51 to 49 for no
Asians voted 51 to 49 for no
Latins voted 53 to 47 for yes
Blacks 70 to 30 for yes

3 comments:

Patrick Lentz Photography said...

There was a lawyer on CNN earlier tonight who said that California law requires two thirds of your legislature to vote yes on this proposition to be able to change the state constitution. It sounds very similar to how it was in Massachusetts...other than the fact that our legislature refused to vote on it in the end which kept it legal here.

So, I think in the end it will work out, though it is still important to keep up the protests while all this is being decided by lawyers, judges, etc.

While many African-Americans are very religious and still condemn homosexuality and gay marriage, there were still far more white people who voted for Prop. 8 than blacks, though a larger percentage of the black voters voted for it. They don't see this as a civil rights issue but more a religious/morality one.

In some regard, there are benefits of Prop 8 being passed. In the USA there has never been a vote by a majority to take away given rights from a minority. If Prop 8 stands, there will be tons of lawsuits that will eventually go to the US Supreme Court where a decision on Gay Marriage will ultimately be decided by them. Obama is sure to appoint a few more liberal judges in his reign, so that works in our favor. Prop 8 going to the US Supreme Court could make same sex marriage legal in every state because of what Prop 8 did in California. In Massachusetts, gay marriage was never over-turned so there wasn't anyone to file suit claiming that a right that was given to them was taken away. So, this had to happen eventually so that every state that has banned same sex marriage in their state constitutions will have that overturned by the Federal Supreme Court.

While I love Obama and am overjoyed he was elected, we also have to remember that Obama is against gay marriage himself, or so he claims. I hope that he only took that position because an endorsement of gay marriage would have prevented him from being elected as it had Kerry in 2004. The end justifies the means in this case, or so I hope.

Anyway, I'm glad to see you becoming a gay rights activist!

Menky said...

I am also hoping Obama only said he was against gay marriage because it would have hurt his campaign if he were to say he was fighting for gays in any way. I am hoping he supports gay people...I know he was on our side on the Prop 8 ballot - so that's a positive thing.

It would be great if this was a start of over turning bans on gay marriages across the country - I guess the battle had to seriously starts somewhere.

Anonymous said...

I still don't understand when proponents of Prop 8 says that marriage is a privlege and not a right. Therefore, it cannot be related to the Civil Rights Movement. They then say that because it is a privlege, the majority can rule over it. It is just absurd.

I am glad Zach got to see the demonstrations. He may or may not remember later on, but i'ts the one American right they won't take from us and it's great that he gets to see the real spirit of America in action.

This is especially true, since Prop 8 also infringes upon the equal rights of Zach and all other children of same sex couples. The tide of inequality touches beyond just the actual couples. It reaches to the children, friends and families of gays. Children of same sex couples deserve to have the same right to grow up in a house with a married couple, whether or not their parents decide to take it. Parents of gays deserve the right to see their gay children get married, just like their straight children.

It's like what MLK Jr said, "Injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

African Americans may not all see the correlation between our struggle now and their struggle then, but they soon will. We must reach them through compassion, not frustration or anger at what they have done.