I am, of course, deeply saddened by the probable defeat of marriage equality in California. Not only am I personally affected by this because my daughter was married in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, but also for all GLBT people who have married or wish to marry.
The fact that the religious community, predominantly the Catholic and Mormon Churches saw fit to pump so much cash into an effort to take away the civil rights of others only makes me more certain how bigoted and anti-humanity they really are.
These are the same people who want to take away our reproductive rights and re-write the science curricula in our schools to exclude evolution as well as deny our young people the information and resources they need to make decisions about their sexuality.
But Equality California is not ready to concede defeat:
“Roughly 400,000 votes separate yes from no on Prop 8 – out of 10 million votes tallied.Based on turnout estimates reported yesterday, we expect that there are more than 3 million and possibly as many as 4 million absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted.Given that fundamental rights are at stake, we must wait to hear from the Secretary of State tomorrow about how many votes are yet to be counted as well as where they are from.It is clearly a very close election and we monitored the results all evening and this morning.As of this point, the election is too close to call.Because Prop 8 involves the sensitive matter of individual rights, we believe it is important to wait until we receive further information about the outcome.”
Further, there is a lawsuit in the works:
Legal Groups File Lawsuit Challenging Proposition 8, Should It Pass
I'm still holding out hope that Prop 8 will be defeated once all the votes are counted but it's doubful. I'd also love to hope that the lawsuit described in the article link above results in fairness for the GLBT community but the massive amounts of money put into the Prop 8 effort will likely also be pumped into contesting any lawsuit that comes along as well.
We're terribly dispondent in the Pagan Sphinx family right now. While we celebrate the monumental victory of Barack Obama, there is also this sadness which reflects our awareness of just far we have to go before all people are treated equally and given the same civil rights.
William Wyld
1 week ago
Please know that I feel exactly the same way and am so disturbed to see radical religious groups both proposing and supporting such legislation. We took a big step forward in electing Obama, but we still have a very long way to go to truly achieve equality for ALL people.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad, Gina. I read CR's post yesterday. So, so sorry. But we have to keep on fighting.
ReplyDeleteSylvia and Bobbie: thank you for your compassion and kindness. Were it not for the blog community, I would feel that outside my immediate family, there is no support.
ReplyDeleteThank you again and again.
this just truly a shame.
ReplyDeletea shame on our nation and a shame done in the name of "god"
there is a true evil in that.
How terrible this is for you and for everyone. Human rights are human rights, what is so hard to understand about that?
ReplyDeleteBut we are moving forward, slowly. Inch by inch. I see many more people who are accepting of gays than even 10 years ago so progress is being made. Don't lose heart.
Lib is that you? For a minute I thought "who's that young chick with the baby?" - well, damn - that's the baby's grandma! Looking good, Lady!:-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words, Lib. I really appreciate it.
I hope the absentee votes come in and restore gay marriage in California. It's just not right to deny any of our people the right to marry!
ReplyDeleteI'm so sick and tired of these wretched theocrats.
ReplyDeleteDcup: I know, huh? Every way you turn, they're trying to rob us of any number of things; including the realities of science, for cryin' out loud.
ReplyDeleteShudder.