No on Proposition 8! I believe in equality for all.

As I've been perusing some blogs and listening to the radio today, it has occurred to me that I should write a post exclusively about California's Proposition 8, just in case some random person finds it and reads it. Since I am not voting in California (or possibly anywhere), although I almost wish I was just so I could vote NO on Prop 8, I thought I should tell others who are voting in California to vote NO on Prop 8! (I'm hoping that by voting in New Mexico where my vote for President might actually count in an important way, maybe someday the whole country can move forward towards equality for all.)

Proposition 8 is a gay marriage ban. I realize that sometimes propositions are confusing, because although you know what your position on an issue is, you may not realize how the proposition is worded, and thus whether you should vote yes or no. Since Prop 8 proposes to ban gay marriage, if you support gay marriage, you need to vote NO.

This proposition has nothing to do with religion or schools. It would simply treat some people differently under the law. Marriage outside of a church is a legal contract, and everybody, gay, straight, or anything in between, should have the right to be able to marry whomever they want (except, you know, minors).

Even if you belong to a Church that will not marry two men or two women, that is not the same as taking away somebody's legal right to marry. Taking away a legal right for one group of people is simply discrimination by the government. The churches across the country (not just California!) have pumped large amounts of money into the campaign say yes to 8, and this is overwhelming individual citizens and other groups saying NO to 8. It looks like the marriage ban may actually pass, and will in a way be decided by people who do not even live in California. So if you live in California, please vote NO on 8.

I have commented in previous blogs that I felt a bit guilty about getting married myself since not everyone is allowed to in most states. I thought it was fantastic when the California Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. In fact, our neighbor went to California to get married to his girlfriend in a joint ceremony with his sister and her girlfriend. While I originally and still do think that was awesome, as my neighbor pointed out, it's still not fair that his sister had to travel to California to get married instead of doing it at home in New Mexico. And now some people are trying to take away even that opportunity!

As a radio DJ said this morning, 15 or 20 years from now, we will look back upon this time as another stupid thing we did, like discriminating against black people. Voting NO on proposition 8 is an opportunity to end one form of discrimination in our country! Equal rights for all people. We all need to keep working to make this true. Vote NO on 8!