Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Prop Hate Will Do Itself In

Did the camel's back just break?

It stuck out like a gangrenous, blistered, sore thumb. On an election day in which progressives struck the political scene with an earth-shaking thunderclap, one vote in normally liberal California remained the sound nails on a chalkboard. And now, with our vision cleared, we the people are finally pissed.

I can't think of any time I've seen so many people so angry and so horrified about the gay marriage issue since Proposition 8 was approved in California. I can't think of any time there has been so much awareness that not allowing gays to marry is the new "separate but equal" - and, as true now as it was at the time that phrase was the norm, the two concepts are irreconcilable.

There's already talk of a rematch if the proposition survives the court system. There's serious talk of boycotting the Mormon Church for sticking its nose where it did not belong. There's talk of forming a pro-gay-marriage political machine, to put together a ground game similar to the one that elected a man to the presidency in a manner that shattered all cynical presupposition.

People are angry. And that's good. Angry people get things done.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The best tactic that Californians can use is to put the reverse of Prop 8 on the ballot next year so that the issue can get the attention it deserves rather than being almost hidden in the dust of a major presidential race. We have to go on the offensive with these issues rather than letting the Right determine the scene and timing of the fights.

charvakan said...

Anger is an appropriate response to this calculated blow to gays and the movement that seeks to include them in American society on an equal basis. But is it an effective tactic? We're not in Stonewall times ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots for you youngsters). The issues are out there and the direction is clear. Same sex marriage will be legalized. Hastening that day is a worthy goal, but I think outreach would work better than confrontation. I'm not suggesting that outreach isn't being done, or that we can't do outreach and outrage at the same time. I just think that we'll get where we want to go quicker, and with less nastiness in the aftermath, if the mix includes more argument from experience and less culture clash.

Anonymous said...

One easy referendum would be for a state such as California to pass a simple law that any couple legally married in any other state would be seen as legally married in California. If gay couples were still getting married legally, but doing it in other states and coming back home legally wed, it wouldn't take California long to reverse the anti-gay language it just passed. Imagine the dolars that would be lost to others states and gays would still be getting married legally.