“All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” – Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801.
I could find no better or time-tested way to describe what has happened in the state of California in the wake of Proposition 8 passing. This quote demonstrates how government should be, and how the law should keep everyone equal and protected. But what it doesn’t specify is what should be done when the majority has passed a bill taking away the minorities equal rights? Is the oppression different then? What is to be done then? And what happens when that minority mounts a protest that is one of the largest in our nation’s history? This is exactly the case in California these days. With the November 5 passing of proposition 8 by a 52% to 48% margin, the more “moral” citizens of California effectively said “Just kidding! You aren’t equal to us!” To the homosexual population of the state that fought so hard just to have a right that the heterosexual population everywhere has enjoyed without question. The backlash from this move has been enormous, and for the most part, peaceful. The day the proposition passed, November 5, massive protests in the streets of San Francisco were met by police, although there was barely a need for them. A total of 5 arrests were made. On November 15, protests were organized in all 50 states, and parts of Canada, England, and Australia. There have been a couple of incidents at Mormon Church’s (a chief contributor to the passing of the bill), where some more radical affected individuals have taken to yelling and screaming at the churchgoers. That seems to be the worst of it though, which I find to be almost rational response considering what has been done to them. Singer and lesbian Melissa Ethridge has been very outspoken about propostion 8.
” Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 52% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I will take that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen”
I personally found that she has a more than valid point. And it’s definitely one way to get your point across to lawmakers whose paycheck comes from tax money. Most of the gay community has opted for less radical ways of protesting this injustice. Organizations have begun to collect support from influential individuals such as presidential elect Barrack Obama, California state representative Nancy Pelosi, California’s republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, all ten of the largest newspapers in California, 42 of 80 members of the state assembly, 20 of the 40 state senators and the mayors of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego, and the list continues to grow. That’s one impressive crowd. As for the naysayers, predictably, most of the states churches were thrilled when the it passed, none of them more so than the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints (a.k.a. Mormons) the church highly “encouraged” the members to volunteer and donate money. A letter has been released that the churches officials issued to members, one line of the letter read “Were you to elect not to donate comparably, it would be a clear indication that you are in opposition to traditional marriage. You would leave us no other reasonable assumption.” Sound more like a threat to me than anything, but take it how you will. I personally find it fairly ironic that Mormons have gall to use the words “traditional marriage” when there are sects of them in Utah marrying 13 year old girls off to 50 year old men and men are allowed to have more than one of these pre-pubescent brides. Now THAT is something I think we should all have a problem with.
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