Welcome to the tyranny of the majority

Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.

In the aftermath of the passage of California's Proposition 8, I've found myself thinking a lot about why and how religion- specifically, Christianity- has come to stand for hatred and discrimination. If you listen to Keith Olbermann's special comment, you'll hear him articulate feelings similar to my own, albeit in a manner far more eloquent than anything I could come up with. For both of us, it comes down to the same thing: if you voted for Prop 8, what is it that gives you the right to deny the opportunity for happiness to another human being? Since when does being part of a majority confer upon you the right to determine what rights and benefits may or may not accrue to another human being? In your demented quest to justify your hatred and bigotry based on your religious beliefs, did you ever consider another very simple concept- the Golden Rule?

How would you hope to be treated if your lifestyle or your beliefs happened to place you in the minority? Would you want to be subject to the ignorance, hatred, and prejudices of the majority to secure your right to enjoy the benefits that accrue to the majority as a matter of course? This is not merely a matter of religious belief, of what Scripture says. This is at it's core a matter of simple civil and human rights. When the majority is free to impose their prejudices upon a minority and thus confer upon them second-class status, we as a society have effectively lost much of our claim on our humanity.

There's a very simple solution available to those of y'all who happen not to believe in same-sex marriage: don't have one. For those who happen to think, live, and love differently than you might, there's only one truth in play here: they're not looking for "special" rights or "special" treatment. No, all these folks want are the same rights available to the majority: the right to marry, the right to pursue happiness, the right to commit their life and their love to another human being and have that relationship and the commitment legally recognized. No one's asking to go to the head of the line or to avoid responsibilities or taxes or anything else that being a full member of civil society entails. All anyone is asking for is equality...and yet so many see this desire for equality as a hidden and sinister campaign for "special" rights.

California is not the first state to outlaw same-sex marriage, nor is it likely to be the last. California is, however, a disturbing bellwether, in that the state, which went so overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, also voted to give hatred, bigotry, and discrimination the force of law. California voted to elect a President committed to change, and yet some of the same people who voted for Barack Obama also voted for Prop 8 (yes, we're talking about you, African-Americans). Frankly, those people should be ashamed of themselves. Then again, it's the easiest thing in the world to vote against a lifestyle you neither understand nor condone, and against people who are little more than abstract concepts to you. Hatred is a disturbingly easy thing to perpetuate. When even the Republican Governor of California disagrees with the decision of the people of California, you have to know that those who voted for Prop 8 are on the wrong side of history.

Of course, if you're going to create a secondary, lesser class of citizens, do those citizens still owe the same allegiance and financial responsibility to the state? Some prominent California homosexuals are arguing that the state simply can't have it both ways. Frankly, I'm not certain that they don't have a point. If you're going to deny a class of citizens certain legal rights, then you cannot argue that these citizens have an equal responsibility to fully support the same state that proposes to discriminate against them and regard them as second-class citizens. The State of California may not see it their way, of course, but if people like Melissa Etheridge pursue a tax protest, they have both motive and the means to significantly embarrassment both the state and the bigots who make up the 51% majority that voted for Prop 8.

Not so very long ago- 1967, as a matter of fact- 19 states had laws that prevented interracial marriage. That was every bit the civil rights issue that same-sex marriage is today. No, we don't have "straight" and "gay" water fountains or rest rooms, but we do have the sort of short-sighted, ignorant hatred that perpetuated the conviction that negroes were second-class citizens. Bigotry and discrimination is every bit as reprehensible now as it was in the '60s.

Californians should be ashamed of themselves, as should every other state that has voted similar legislation into law. Until we as a society can get past our collective desire to oppress those whose lifestyles we disagree with and disapprove of, we will never be a truly free society. Until we can get over collective willingness to deny an entire class their chance at the same happiness that the majority (read: heterosexual) population dreams of, we have forfeited our right to define America as a beacon of freedom and opportunity. What we are is a nation of hypocrites and intolerant hyper-religious bigots.

WE DESERVE BETTER...and Lord knows same-sex couples certainly deserve better.