This says it all:
"'It's very unfortunate and embarrassing that the (Christian religion) is in large part responsible for this act of bigotry,' the Rev. Ed Bacon said after his sermon. iReport.com: Share your thoughts on same-sex marriage
"In Sacramento, a protest at the state Capitol was boisterous but peaceful as speakers led the crowd in noisy chants. Protesters waved rainbow flags, a symbol of the gay rights movement, and 'No on 8' signs as police watched from the side.
"Speaking on CNN's 'Late Edition' Sunday, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expressed disappointment at Proposition 8's passage.
"'It is unfortunate,' Schwarzenegger said. 'But it is not the end because I think this will go back into the courts. ... It's the same as in the 1948 case when blacks and whites were not allowed to marry. This falls into the same category.'"
[For the full article, see here.]
There are a lot of reasons that Proposition 8 passed in California! However, it seems to me that the major reason is the entrenched homophobia and enmeshment with the most reactionary forces within society of most of the institutional Church.
Largely, Prop. 8 and all other discriminatory acts visited upon LGBT people has been done with the active initiation and complicity of most of the institutional Church, and this issue, like all civil rights issues, will eventually be resolved by the courts. The issue isn't "if" same-sex marriage will become legalized but "when" it will become legalized.
We can only hope that the next generation of people will not have to suffer through the indignities and discrimination that the current and previous generations of Gay people have had to suffer, and that Christians who are Christians in fact will never affiliate with any church or denomination that in any way initiates or advocates discrimination against anyone or any group of people.
The damage the passing of Proposition 8 has done to Gay people is enormous; the damage of the success in spewing hate and lies from the pulpit by wolves in sheep's clothing concerning Gay people, and the silence of most professing Christians to this outrage, has done enormous injustice and harm to Christianity and to Christians.
I'm cautiously optimistic that the California Supreme Court will nullify the passage of Prop. 8; if not, it will be nullified in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The most important thing to do now, after the understandable public expression of rage at this injustice, is to support Lambda Legal and all other attempts to win full civil rights for LGBT people in the courts. [See Here.]
8 comments:
I am curious to know how the proposition was presented to those who were deciding how to vote. Don't know how muc canvassing was done in various ethnic neighborhoods but that may have played a role in not enough folks beng informed.
THe way I see it now, folks will need to assess what went wrong and correct them. The work needs to continue.
Hi Genevieve: In my opinion, it all came down to lies and money! So many lies were repeated from the pulpits of churches telling people, Christian and non-Christian alike, that failure of Prop. 8 to pass would result on all sorts of harm coming to children, churches, etc., and so much money was pumped into their campaign, that its passage occurred. Moreover, the campaign against Prop. 8 was relatively lukewarm, and couldn't gain the traction necessary to counteract the lies and money that made possible its passage. It is a matter of educating the public, but I really think that the courts will lead the way in gaining full equality, and then the churches and other institutions will follow suit, so that the haters will have to find another constructed "enemy" upon which to fill its coffers.
Jerry, I wish more people would see the scary truth on the Pro Prop 8 side. Its not about defending traditional marriage but rather keeping gay relationships from being recognized as being anything other than "sinful". If gays are allowed to get married then it would be, in their eyes, nothing more than approving sin by legislation. That is why Florida's Amendment 2 has the no recognition of civil unions or domestic partnerships because they don't want gays to have any recognition for their relationships. And they are going to use the same wording with other states that don't have any anti-gay/civil union laws.
People really need to wake up to this reality. They are not satisfied by defending traditional marriage. They do not want gay relationships whether legal or not recognized as anything but immoral and sinful.
Thanks, Ken R., and you're absolutely right! I was thinking yesterday that the passage of Prop. 8 might have been a good thing to advance Gay rights, in that its passage finally showed us, without any mystification, and of hiding behind sanctimonious rhetoric, or seeking to sanitize their hatred in any way, that those who were behind Prop. 8, and who funded it, really hate Gay people, and want to prevent in any way possible their acquiring full and equal civil rights.
Hence, the gloves are off, and it's a wake-up call for LGBT people and allies to forget the frivolity, any public displays of hedonism, any use of hateful epithets used as self-identifiers, and finally realize that we must finally get serious, speak out strongly and regularly against this hate, this attempt to deny basic civil rights to Gay people, and spend a great deal of effort and money to take this particular case to court.
As Malcolm X once said, in reference to the African American civil rights struggle: "You don't take your case to the criminal. You take your case to court."
As I wrote in my post, I can't see that the courts will allow a tyranny of the majority to overturn civil rights that a Supreme Court said was constitutional; hence, consigning to the people the right to decide who and who is not entitled to Constitutional protections.
The passage of Prop. 8 provides the perfect opportunity to argue the basic unconstitutionality of the denial of constitutionally protected rights by the will of the majority, which has implications not only for California, but for every other state of the union.
Jerry, I thought you might like to read this article.
From TIME
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1857980-2,00.html
"On the Evangelical side, Mohler told TIME that religious conservatives see the threat from the gay rights' agenda as much broader than just an affront to traditional notions of marriage. "Full normalization of homosexuality would eventually mean the end to all morals legislation of any kind," he says, echoing the line of reasoning made famous by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in his dissent in the high court's 2003 decision striking down state laws that made gay sex a crime."
More fear and lies from the Right. It amazes me that anyone believes anything that Mohler and the Religious Right says. Its the gays that will cause the fall of society! We cannot allow them to have the same rights as us that would be supporting sin!
The Right is nothing more than the Chicken Little the Sky is Falling mentality.
Sad. And you know what's worse Jerry? Other people have been drinking that same Kool-Aid and believe it.
Thanks so much for this, Ken R. It's the same old saw of seeing Gay people as inherently immoral, and the "religious" right have been making money off of that lie for decades.
Marriage rights for same-sex couples is essential for there to be full and equal civil rights as, I truly believe, that will make possible the acquisition of all other civil rights for Gay people.
Once it's seen that same-sex love is just as legitimate and normal as is heterosexual love, and that Gay people are just as normal as are Straight people, institutional discrimination against Gay people will be as anachronistic as is institutional racism. And, as you know, institutional racism was deemed unconstitutional by what was then also considered an "activist court."
Therefore, it would be a great mistake to back off on the marriage issue, to say nothing of all the protections that marriage affords same-sex couples and their families.
I'm optimistic that the courts will resolve this issue in favor of same-sex marriage rights in California, upholding the fact that constitutionality is determined by the Judiciary and not by majority vote; simply because the California Supreme Court has already ruled that to deny same-sex couples the right of marriage was unconstitutional, and that same-sex couples should have always had the right to marry.
I can't believe that the California State Supreme Court will now defer to a tyranny of the majority to rescind the Court's ruling in this matter, and override the Constitutional protections afforded all citizens, Gay people included, according to its ruling last May.
To do otherwise would allow all civil rights to be held hostage to the whim of the voters, and all civil rights for all minority (and other) groups would be up for grabs.
Moreover, for the Supreme Court to allow this vote to stand would consign the Supreme Court to mere irrelevance, as the voters could always override its decisions regarding what is and what is not Constitutional, something that I don't see as being very likely.
Perhaps I'm being overly optimistic, but I don't think so. Best wishes, Jerry.
please see this Orthodox (Greek?) gay blog at http://jn1034.blogspot.com
it's my sanity in my Church
Your blog is GREAT!
Anonymous: Thank you very much. Best wishes, Jerry.
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