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Are we through patting ourselves on the back for being so broad-minded as to elect an African-American president? Self-congratulation aside, how broad-minded are we when three states on that same night voted to ban gay marriage. Et tu California, or is it Californication?
If you like irony, I’ve got some for you. The gay community supported the election of Barack Obama and the thanks it got was the prohibition of gay marriage in three states where it was on the ballot. It turns out about 70 percent of African-Americans who went to the polls in California voted to overturn gay marriage in that state. Blacks, who historically are the most discriminated against race in America, overwhelmingly supported discrimination against gays. Am I being too indelicate to mention the African-American community needs tend its own fences when it comes to the sanctity of marriage without worrying about gays marrying? When does civil rights disappear as an issue? Apparently, when it’s not your own.
What really hurts is the report anti-gay marriage forces used robocalls with Obama’s voice proclaiming his belief marriage is between a man and a woman. The Obama people knew about the calls. They knew Obama was being used to gain support to overturn gay marriage in California, but they wimped out. The state’s electoral votes were too important to rock the boat. In effect, the rights of gays were sold out in the pursuit of votes, something that has become a time-honored tradition in this country where Democrats pay lip service to gay rights and then enact don’t ask, don’t tell.
Reports out of California also indicate Mormons from Utah poured money into the state in support of Proposition 8 to overturn the legality of gay marriage. Mormons? Wasn’t that the religion that once dabbled in polygamy? Pardon me, but just because Mormons finally outlawed their own polygamous instincts doesn’t make them worthy to sit in judgment on the institution of marriage for gay people.
Tell me, how would you like your rights to be put to vote by the yahoos out there? A good portion of our Bill of Rights (or what’s left of it after the Bush years) would vanish if put on a ballot. How is it fair for the majority to say whether the minority has rights? You think if that principle had been followed in the South African-Americans would have the right to vote even today? You want your precious states rights? Suppose civil rights were left up to the states and the federal government had never stepped in? There would be no Barack Obama today.
I hold Democrats responsible. We don’t expect Republicans to be sensitive to the rights of gay people, unless they themselves get caught misbehaving in a men’s room, but Democrats who like to talk the talk had better start walking the walk. It’s not enough to say they support civil partnership laws, but not the right to marry. It makes no rational sense. It is nothing short of a hypocritical sop to church groups.
Frankly, I don’t understand the support of much organized religion to deny gays the basic right the rest of us have. No one is forcing a particular religion to marry gays. It’s your church, do what you want. Just don’t mess with our secular institutions. When you force government to discriminate against gays, you are meddling in affairs that are none of your business. Take your tax exemption and please bug off. If government believes, as it should, the extension of marriage to the gay community is a necessary step to full citizenship, then it is not the business of the churches. During the civil rights movement, churches played a major role in outlawing discrimination. Shamefully, today the reverse is true. Right now in California, there are gay couples who are not sure whether their marriages are in legal jeopardy as a result of Prop 8. That is outrageous.
You might ask why should a straight person care about this setback. The rights of minorities never can be won by minorities alone without the support of the rest of us. Gays are not aliens from another planet. Gays are family members and dear friends. We are all diminished when any of us is discriminated against.
As much as I applaud the election of Barack Obama, that joy is tempered by what happened in California and two other states.
