im going to rant. seems strange to rant on a day that i believe brings the country so much joy - the day after the country voted Barack Obama into office. im relieved this actually happened and excited to see what the next steps will bring. i think this is an amazing new direction for our country to take, and i look forward to the changes.
however, someone's thrown a wrench in my totterin'. amongst all of this joy, im upset with the negative changes that are happening today across america. it looks like proposition 8 is going to pass in california. in june, same sex couples were granted the right to begin marrying in CA, to make their relationship official and to enjoy the rights of any two people in love who want to spend the rest of their lives together. although i dont live in CA, it gave us all so much hope that one day we too could enjoy the same. straight americans have no idea how powerful that is. all of the progress in CA is about to be erased, and i feel incredibly sad about that. anti-LGBT measures were also passed in florida, arkansas, and arizona. although i am overjoyed with Obama's victory, i am still disappointed on his stance as well. he's taking the safe road, which probably helped him get elected, but i hope in the future he chooses the higher road, which is equal rights in all areas. i can understand his opinion that marriage is a religious institution - if that is true though, why do we allow marriages to be performed in a courtroom instead of a church? why are so many rights tied to a marriage license and not a civil union? why can any man and woman apply for a marriage license even if they have never stepped foot in a church or synagogue? as p says, marriage has long been synonymously used as a contract between two people entering a life together. the logic is all very fuzzy and underattended. i think i just made that word up. thats what happens when you are fussy.
on a somewhat related note, ABC decided to fire actress Brooke Smith (Dr. Erica Hahn) from Grey's Anatomy because they didnt like where her lesbian storyline (which they wrote) was going with Dr. Callie Torrez. *slapping hand to forehead*. the only thing that was unfortunate about the storyline is that they chose to have Dr. Torrez getting explicit sex advice from a man (Dr. Eric Sloane), and having her cheat on Dr. Hahn to prove her sexuality one way or another. on a positive note, Grey's had done an incredibly realistic job of showing a variety of reactions, from "I'm so gay" to "I'm not sure where I fall on the spectrum", and how that plays out into a budding relationship that is ultimately about loving a specific person. if ABC was so uncomfortable, why couldnt they change their romantic storylines as they have done a million times with their heterosexual counterparts? or marginalize the importance of their relationship like they have done with all of the other minority characters on the show? oy vay people. dumb dumb dumb.
sometimes i feel like we could all learn a lesson from kids. kids who havent yet been filled with hate, but who are truly just getting to know the world and experience it as honestly as possible. there is so much potential, hope, and openness through those eyes, and i envy it.
lets hope over the next few years we see progress, even if in baby steps. obama has alot on his plate, and im ready to get started.
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yay - you finally blogged again! and well said sister. i was heartened though by obama's quote (in your link) that he is open to finding his stance against gay marriage is misguided. i think that's a miracle to have a president who is actually open minided and can say so. i want to think that in his heart he knows gay marriage is a fundamental civil rights issue, and one day will do the right thing. we may have to wait until he's not up for reelection, or the voting public shifts - which i believe it will. and when is the supreme court going to step in and shoot down all these damn discriminatory state constitutional amendments? one day, we shall overcome.
ReplyDeletei am so sorry about my fellow californians. from the looks in our neighborhoods (papered in "NO for Prop 8" signs), we thought for sure it would be defeated by a landslide. Then we drove out to the country, where little kids were lined up on the streets, holding misleading signs linking anti-gay hatred somehow to family and Christianity. There was a terrible campaign suggesting that these evil gay people would then influence our kids because then they'd teach at school that two boys could marry or someone could have two mommies. It was disgusting. Now there is a whole investigation to the role of the Mormon Church in the Yes on 8 campaign. I can't understand it. Anyway, sorry, Teet. I thought we Californians were more enlightened.
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