NO on Proposition HATE

Below: pro-Prop 8 commercials spin fear and confusion.

California's Proposition 8 would amend the California constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. Proponents of Prop 8--including, La Linguetta is ashamed to say, the Knights of Columbus (an Italian masonic order)--have unleashed a fury of commercials claiming that voting no on Proposition 8 means children would be "taught" gay marriage, and that "traditional marriage" would effectively be shat on. One reader of The Daily Doo reports viewing a commercial aimed at Chinese-Americans in which an old woman considers a wedding cake with a figure of a man and a woman on top, then grows horrified as the man and woman are replaced with two men, and the two men are replaced with a man and a dog.

Are you offended?

What is "traditional marriage"?? And do we really want to listen to this guy?

Here's the bottom line. Voting NO on Proposition 8 does not mean schools can "teach" gay marriage. Voting NO on Proposition 8 does not mean gay marriage will be written into the constitution (though that would be nice). Voting NO on Proposition 8 means we will leave the California constitution as it is: open and inclusive of all Californians, regardless of sexual orientation.

When you vote today in California, think about other times when Americans suffered discrimination based on religion, race, heritage, and ideology. Think about laws that made interracial marriage illegal -- laws that, if allowed to stand, would have prevented many of us from ever being born. Think about Japanese-Americans sent to internment camps during World War II because "they might sympathize with the enemy." Think about how your ancestors were treated when they first came to this country; were they embraced, welcomed, accepted for their difference? Or were they ridiculed for their halting English, or the smell of other spices on their skin; for the shawls on their heads, and the icons in their windows?

We don't always get it right in the beginning -- but we get it right eventually, and that's why we're awesome. If you don't agree with homosexuality, remember that others might not agree with how you live your life, and recognize that we have the right to be different. If you don't see what the big deal is about gay marriage because "civil unions are the same thing", remember that separate is not equal. If you don't believe in marriage yourself, recognize that you still have the choice -- and the freedom to change your mind. If you are religious, ask yourself, in the words of Rufus Wainwright, "do you really think you'll go to hell for having loved?" If you don't care about gay marriage at all, consider how you feel about amending the constitution so as to limit fundamental rights -- a disfavored act since this country's inception.

Today, we have the opportunity to stand up for a minority group that has long been a target of discrimination. We have the opportunity to support equality in the face of prejudice; reason over fear. We have the opportunity to live the principles we purport to stand for. We have the opportunity to vote NO on Proposition 8.

Comments

[Jav]

GJ, La Linguetta. No on 8-ski.

[ns]

very well said, La Ling. i have missed your longer posts!

if i lived in CA, I would vote NO on 8 too! believe you me.