There's a proposal on the California ballot that would rewrite the state Constitution to ban gay marriage, because after solving a $20 billion debt and discovering it is still another $4 billion in the red, the state apparently doesn't have more important shit to deal with. But anyway, that's where we are right now in California. In the land of the Hollywood elite and us crazy liberals with our "San Francisco values," we might yet rewrite a document that begins with the right of "pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness" to restrict that very happiness for a select few.
Why?
For the children, of course.
That's actually on the anti-gay marriage campaign -- save marriage and protect the children. I've seen a few of the anti-gay marriage commercials now, and the one that really irks me is about a girl who comes home from school to tell her mom about what she learned: "That a prince can marry a prince, and I can marry a princess!" The mom's eyes go wide, and a homely, balding guy comes on the screen to intone: "Think it can't happen? Think again!"
Well, think it doesn't happen already? Think again.
What the hell kind of lesson are we teaching our children by not teaching them about a large and valued segment of society? It's almost as if the line of thinking is that by denying someone basic rights, like marriage, they're going to go away altogether and oh sweet jesus the easter pig, thank god we don't have to talk about gay people anymore!
Please.
Look, if you're going to make this campaign about protecting children, let's at the very least protect them from ignorance. Are we afraid of talking in school about what goes on down the block? In the end, this isn't a proposition about what we teach in school -- it's a proposition that restricts rights for some people while granting them to others. But if you insist on making it about education, fat homely man, imagine what school books will look like in 30 years when your grandchildren flip to the chapter on gay rights and ask which side of history you were on?
But I digress from what I really wanted to do with this post, which was to share a great essay from my friend Danny Evans, author of Dad Gone Mad and former SD cohort. He really nailed the opposition to the "for the children" aspect of this hideous anti-gay crusade.
"An editorial I read the other day said Prop. 8 must be passed for the sake of the children – a precious, impressionable lot who will suffer immeasurably by having parents of the same gender. I scoffed at that. Where is the outrage about the children who suffer as a result of divorce, infidelity, abuse, and other “crimes” perpetrated by heterosexual couples? Are we to believe that even those kids are better off than those who would be raised by two loving parents who happen to have the same plumbing? Seriously, California. Give me a fucking break."
Indeed.
Please, go check it out. And if you live in California, please -- vote Ellen.
[Photo: slapupsidethehead.com]
