About a week ago a team of hate mongers came through our neighborhood exhorting people to vote for proposition 8 which seeks to take away the right of gay people to get married.  This is a right we already have in California and a few other states (if you count domestic partner laws I guess).  These people don't live here so they don't care if the tone of the neighborhood slides a few degrees toward intolerance.  Anger, bigotry, hatred, these are easy paths to take.  They don't require you to grow one bit.  However inclusiveness and tolerance are the real work of civilization.  The world gets smaller every day.  The population goes up and up as our success at breeding pushes other species into extinction.  We have to get along.

With the work of civilization before me, I decided to inform my neighbors that those signs hurt my feelings.  My partner, Jimmy and I have been together for almost six years now.  We are productive members of our community.  I'm an ER nurse and often visit my neighbors when they are sick.  Jimmy is a full time student, paying cash for his education while he works full time.  I keep my lawn mowed, pay my taxes, save electricity, use my turn signals, and shop at Wall Mart.  How can our marriage do anything but add to the fabric of society?  It's time for a gentle push back.

Wikipedia:
"The California Supreme Court held that "marriage is ... something more than a civil contract subject to regulation by the state; it is a fundamental right of free men ... Legislation infringing such rights must be based upon more than prejudice and must be free from oppressive discrimination to comply with the constitutional requirements of due process and equal protection of the laws" (Perez v. Sharp (1948) 32 Cal.2d 711, 714-715). The California Supreme Court explained that "the right to marry is the right to join in marriage with the person of one's choice" (Id., at p. 715).^[7]

The measure was originally submitted for the ballot by petitioners with the title "California Marriage Protection Act."^[4] The title and summary were revised by Attorney General Jerry Brown to more "accurately reflect the measure."^[5] The Superior Court of California ruled in favor of these changes, stating, "The title and summary is not false or misleading because it states that Proposition 8 would 'eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry' in California. The California Supreme Court unequivocally held that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry under the California Constitution." ^[6]"

From the beginning, they have used lies and bullying to push their message of intollerance on others.  Their commercials are full of lies and the California Superintendant of Schools as said so.  All the major newspapers in California are against the ammendment.  I wonder what they have against gay people.  Could it be that they are closeted homosexuals as some of the most vehement anti-gay protagonists in history have been?  Recently Larry Craig comes to mind.  He voted for every anti-gay law that came his way while he solicited sex with men in restrooms.  J Edgar Hoover, Roy Cohn, there are many of them throughout history who's lives of lies and self loathing would be meaningless if gay people could live a normal life, free from descrimination.



Instead of doing the real work of their lives, fighting homophobia, they join the enemy.  Their unhappy marriages and false fronts would burn like fire if gay people could walk the streets, hand in hand without the fear of stones thrown from the safety of anonynimity.

Using the "Yes on 8" signs as a template, I designed a much nicer sign.  I channeled the powers of the Village People to bring humor and inclusivity to my sign.  I hope they paid a lot of money to have theirs designed because I'm copying it!  Fair use doctrine, baby.