PROPOSITION 8: CIVIL RIGHTS ARE NOT TO BE UP FOR GRABS

Although civil rights are not meant to be up for grabs at the will and whim of the majority since we are a Democratic Republic, where a tyranny of the majority is to be feared, and feared for good reason, the following excerpt from an article entitled, Prop. 8 opponents unhappy with campaign leaders, is very instructive:

Fifty-one percent of California voters polled said they believed that Prop. 8 was "unfair, unnecessary and wrong"; 44 percent disagreed. Likewise, 50 percent agreed that the measure would "allow discrimination against some groups and individuals," compared with 45 percent who felt the opposite way.

But Prop. 8 still got 52 percent of the vote.

"The influence of the church was a major factor," [San Francisco pollster David Binder for the Equality California Institute] said. "The religious aspect tended to win over concerns about discrimination."

As I have kept hammering home for years, whether one is a Christian or not, the discriminatory messages emanating from most of the institutional Church have dramatically affected the attitudes and behaviors of people so that they really think that their "moral" duty is to discriminate, "Because God says it's OK."

Therefore, most people don't see what they do in depriving a given minority group of full and equal civil rights as being discriminatory, because if the churches say discrimination is OK or, worse, say that discrimination is not at issue since the given minority group are asking for "special rights," it's then viewed by many as being OK to prevent them from realizing those rights.

The reign of the will of the majority is certainly appropriate when it comes to deciding what services they are willing to pay for with their tax money, but the will of the majority is certainly not appropriate when deciding on the civil rights to be accorded to any minority group!

And for discriminatory and sometimes downright hateful clergy and churches to be in the vanguard of shaping public opinion regarding minority rights is nothing short of obscene!

Unfortunately, many people don't have critical intellects and/or the sensitivity necessary to enable them to recognize that we are all equal before the law. And all citizens, Gay and Straight, deserve the same rights and protections accorded the majority under the Constitution of the United States.

To argue and even given the chance to vote otherwise is both discriminatory and hateful!

And for any person posturing as a Christian to advocate discrimination against any of God's children is nothing short of obscene! And any person who takes such professing Christians seriously is dangerously gullible, and is equally culpable in this grave offense against Gay people and against God!

Hear Jesus:"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." (Matthew 23:15)

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