Politics | NO ON 8
Gay rights are the civil rights issue of this generation. It takes no courage or special enlightenment for someone like me to make this statement. We live in a society rampant with prejudice, violence, bigotry and outright hatred toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people, but without the outspoken support of people like you and me, the dominance of this bias will continue. We live in a nation that has refused the LGBT community equal protection under the law, a nation that uses manufactured religious literalism to deny secular equality to LGBT citizens. It should, of course, come as no suprise that these same arguments were the ones used to justify supposed caucasian superiority during slavery and segregation, and yet, many in our society accept this basic injustice without standing up for the principles upon which our nation was founded. Too often, because of political or social pressure, we dismiss the rights of the minority in order to justify our own comforts and privileges.
There is a line being drawn in the sand this week in California. As Californians head to the voting booth next Tuesday, they are being asked to vote into law a proposition, Proposition 8, that would deny thousands of LGBT people the right to same-sex marriage. Much like the failed attempts at a national Defense of Marriage Act, this would be one of the few times that the government would allow voters to decide whether or not to deny civil rights to citizens in their community. Sadly, this issue is being left to the states; I am exhausted by the strategy of making these decisions "local" instead of applying the Federal protection of the U.S. Constitution to guarantee the rights of all Americans under the law. Had we left the issue of civil rights for people of color to the states, without the Civil Rights Act of 1964, I'm sure segregation would not be as distant a memory as it is today. Under the current Administration, there is obviously no will to enact Federal equality for LGBT citizens and the future doesn't look much better; Both Obama and McCain stand in opposition to equality for gay marriage under the law. And so, it comes down to the voters to once again duke it out at the state level, a sad testament to the limitations of our nation's laws; why is equal protection under the law being left to a vote? Separate but equal didn't work for our other public institutions in the 20th Century, why should we create a separate institution for our queer citizens to have a private relationship in the 21st Century? Certainly these rights are protected under the 14th Ammendment?
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
I write this tonight urging all voters registered in the State of California to vote NO on Proposition 8, to extend the same right to marriage to your LGBT neighbors that you would ask for yourself. Empathy is the only hope we have as a nation, the ability to wish for others the right to live a life unfettered by discrimination. There is hope; I point you in the direction of this pronouncement by Jerry Sanders, the Republican Mayor of San Diego, whose refusal to follow his campaign promise to veto a city council resolution in support of gay marriage is one of the most moving and enlightened pieces of political action I've ever seen. This is the Holywood ending I'm hoping for in California; Will other Californians rise to Mayor Sanders' level of personal integrity? Here's hoping.
September 19, 2007
Please, regardless of your political leanings, remember this Tuesday that our nation was founded not to protect limited access to our social institutions, but to extend them democratically to all citizens. Californians, please Vote NO on 8.
3 Comments
brian | April 4, 2009 11:06 AM
I'm not sure what Karol is talking about. Johnson is a black heterosexual from Uganda who has just been found quilty of first degree murder for deliberately infecting women with the HIV. Two died and a few others will probably die too.
Tom | November 11, 2008 12:35 AM
Wow, Karol, that is one of the most illinformed pieces of analysis I have ever read in my life. The equation of irresponsible spreading of HIV by any person to gay marriage is the stereotypical nonsense that passes for farce in most Jr. High School logic courses, but I am leaving this comment here, despite its pejorative use of the word 'homo' in order to serve as a reminder of the very specific type of ignorance that we as freethinking people face. Thanks for rearing your head.
karol | November 10, 2008 10:14 AM
If I were gay in Canada or US I would be much more concerned about the process of recriminalisation of sodomy currently under way than about Proposition 8 setback for gay marriages in California. Everybody in Canada knows very well that laws in this country are created by the way of judicial fiat (legal precedents). This is how gays have managed to push Same Sex Marriage thru the Canadian court system and eventually thru the House of Commons. This HIV virus scam that Toronto homosexuals came up with almost thirty years ago in order to shake down the government and find “the cure” for what is almost inevitable consequence of practicing sodomy is about to catch up with them. Conservatives are working on legal precedents that will allow them to arrest and incarcerate indefinitely majority of vocal homosexuals in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal in one big swoop and charge them with aggravated sexual assaults and murders. Just take a look at "Murder Trial of Johnson Aziga" that is under way in Hamilton now. If I were a homo I would be packing my bags, looking for a place to live outside of Canada and US and move out fast. Ontario Ministry of Health has tons of records of who infected who and when in Toronto homosexual community with “HIV virus” and all it takes is one directive from PMO office and RCMP steps in and gets hold of all these records. As soon as Johnson Aziga's guilty verdict comes in nobody will be able to stop the arrests in homosexual community and nobody will be able to stop prosecution of homosexuals for spreading “HIV virus”. I find it very ironic that Toronto homosexuals in their efforts to force Harper to pay them the AIDS ransom money would be so stupid as to; find the rope, fashion it into a noose, attach that noose to the gallows, put that noose around their own necks and call the crowds to observe the hanging. This is exactly what is happening now. Clowns at Globe and Mail are working hard to whip up public hysteria over spread of deadly HIV virus, and crowds are already gathering at the public square, so I guess calling off public executions of carriers of that terrible virus is no longer an option. http://article.wn.com/view/2008/10/25/JUSTICE_THE_FIRSTDEGREE_MURDER_TRIAL_OF_JOHNSON_AZIGA_System/