California=LOVE

So. Almost two years ago, I wrote a note on Facebook (which some of you read) saying how disappointed I was that a law like Prop 8 (a law that bans gay marriage in California, after a law had been passed saying they could) passed. I was enraged (and still am) that people could be so narrow minded to think that their own personal views could dictate the civil rights of millions of people, and was saddened to think that our country yet again is letting bigoted people ruin the lives of so many loving couples.

But then today I heard the good news: Prop 8 has been overturned in California courts, and will most likely be making its way to the Supreme Court soon as a federal decision. Words cannot express how happy I was to hear this. People think I am nuts sometimes for caring so much about an issue that probably will never affect me personally. I am not gay, and don’t think I ever will be. No one can step in and tell me that I can’t marry someone I love, and nobody can threaten my civil rights based on my sexual orientation.

But I have so many friends and people I care about and love that are affected by this issue. Whether they have been in my life for years, or people that I have just met recently, I want to make the things they worry and care about things that I can worry and care about too. Maybe the law won’t ever affect me, but why should we leave that door of discrimination open?

There is a quote that I often say, and it is one of my favorites. “They came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up.” The quote, said by Martin Niemoller about the failure of German intellectuals to speak up and defend those being carted away by Nazis during ww2, plays well into everything this issue is about. No, it can’t hurt me personally. No, I lose nothing by failing to support it. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not something I should fight for. The more and more we compromise and look the other way in regards to things that hurt the people around us, the more and more it is going to come back and bite us.

If my gay uncle and his partner get married in California, how will that hurt the marriage of two loving straight people? If my friend marries her girlfriend, how will that hurt the values of having children after marriage? How will any of the prejudices and hatred towards gay and lesbian couples come true, if a simple piece of paper declares someone as married?

I’ve seen so many hateful remarks and message boards and from people who are truly bigoted and full of hatred about this issue. Yes, I do support the idea that people have their own opinions on things, and should have the right to express them, even if I don’t agree. But some of the things I have seen have been the most hurtful things I have ever seen in my entire life, which I am not going to repeat here. Those things make me depressed in the state of this country and its people, even after such a great occasional as Prop 8 being overturned. The moral views and codes of someone should not dictate the rights of anybody else, which is what the ban has come down to. All it should come down to is this: Two people love each other, care about each other, and want to spend the rest of their lives together. Beyond that, what matters?

So to sum it all up, I am very excited that Prop 8 has been overturned. 🙂 From here on out, I will do whatever I can to help gay marriage be legalized in the entire United States. I am one person, but I don’t doubt that any help I can give will do some good in the world.