What am I talking about?  I’m talking about a civil rights movement to further the rights of a minority.   You probably think most minorities have their rights in this country with discrimination laws and legal protections.  You are correct, and President Elect Obama shows how far America has come but even this election shows how much further we must go.

In fact over half of the states in the union have laws or amendments that directly limit our rights.  Three additional amendments were voted in on Election Day.  The Fourth which really mattered to us is looking like it will pass.  It was the first time lies, hatred, and deceit had been used to take away something a court looked at and said that for equality to exist we must have Marriage Equality.

We are not like the other civil rights movements, not like some blacks would argue in that we aren’t born the way we are and we are just hijacking the movement.  No, the real difference is that we don’t have equal protection under the law.  In some states it’s legal to fire us or evict us because of who we are.  We have the right to marry in only three states, one of which looks likely to be taken away.

That’s unlike black people, they have all their rights.  They have the opportunity to work hard and achieve something in America.  We have to work around the laws, protect ourselves from those that try to harm us, and look at over 20,000 binational couples that can’t immigrate and are stuck in limbo.  I’m happy that Obama won, but I’m sad that his black supporters voted 70% against us and for discrimination.  Shame on them.  I hope we can reach out to them and show them what discrimination is and what it feels like.  Its hurts, no matter if you’re Jewish, black, or gay.

But even more shame on those that spread the logic of failure, a web of lies and hatred.  They twist their words and won’t be satisfied with anything less that a religious state, but they will take what they can get.

 In fact Election Day was a perfect example.  Proposition 8 in California was written to define marriage as between one man and one woman.  After all the Mormon Church, a huge financer didn’t want to take away rights and protections from gay couples thru civil unions or domestic partnership.   But Florida Amendment 2 will make both gay marriages any similar union such as civil unions illegal.  This perfectly shows how they twist their words and will take what they think they can get and do not believe in justice or liberty for homosexuals.  They do not believe in our human right to determine our destiny.  Last election the Arizona Proposition was worded more like the current Florida Amendment but failed so they weakend it to be like California’s and it passed.  Apparently some of you have qualms about the word Marriage, more on this later.

Further they claim giving us rights will take away their rights.  Nonsense, they are not required to change their religion.  In fact Marriage Equality has never been used against anyone in the six countries that have legalized it.  The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway have all legalized gay marriage, most thru the legislative process.  They were listed in the order they legalized it and are all considered strong allies of The United States.

The United States Constitution couldn’t be clearer about the fact that all human are created equal and that we should have liberty and justice for all.  The separation of church and state is also required.  The logic of failure doesn’t grasp this and no matter what you believe it shouldn’t be used to force others to follow your beliefs.  Many churches including the Metropolitan Community Church and The United Church of Christ believe in and officiate at Gay Marriages.

Furthermore, the majority shouldn’t tell the minority what it believes or what rights exist for them.  Should we have allowed other Civil Rights questions to be sent to the majority, absolutely not.  In fact in California, if the results are confirmed, it seems that 52% will tell 48% what the definition of marriage is.  Doesn’t sound fair does it?

But why is marriage so important, because separate like civil unions are not equal.  It tells me that I’m not worthy of your marriage, something many kids before they realize their identity dream about.  Rosa Parks didn’t sit at the back of the bus regardless of the fact that any seat would take her there at the same time.  Why, because all humans deserve equality.  Vote to protect our freedoms.

So join with me against the logic of failure.  Support marriage equality.  Give us some hope because we aren’t quitting until we are all free!  Support Lambda Legal as they consider lawsuits and other options to further equality, because it really shouldn’t be up to 52% to tell 48% what marriage is and I think the courts will agree.  Also support the Human Rights Campaign.  And support Hope Wall at stophatred.org as I continue to write articles, make videos, and push for equality.

This article written for stophatred.org.

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Comments (1)

• 2009-01-24 06:40:03 | tommy
  politics is one of the most hypocritical "professions" there is today.. and religion is the next in line.. i'm not going to go into anything deep about either one for obvious reasons but to make my point i will give an example to explain why i have this opinion.. POLITICS is supposed to be in place for the peoples best interest yet they realy dont do anything for the people.. its only there to give you the illusion that they care.. for instance the only time you ever hear anybody push the issues of abortion, gun control to any extent is during election times.. and the only reason people have any issues with any of the above is because religion says its wrong to have an abortion and "the right to bare arms" is written on a document.. if there was a genuine concern about abortion they should also worry what the consiquences of making it illigal.. there are just as many reasons that would make it wrong to not abort.. ever take into concideration that it would be better in many cases for the would be child if it was forced into living, whos gonna take the responsability for the child if it never has a "normal" chance at life because the parents cant provide a fair chance at life for what ever reason?? is it moraly right and fair to the child if it was born ONLY because some politician and a bunch people who say what ever they need to say because its the right thing to say in society to get your aproval?? NO.. and will they take on the responsability to give the child a fair chance of a "normal" life after they take that away from you before you even have a brain to create an opinion and maybe even can give them your own thoughts on the situation?? NO.. so there is a double standard.. and the irony in that one issue is that the people who fight for this are also the ones who support war the strongest.. and then we take religion.. first of all it should not have anything to do with politics.. religion contradicts its own preaching. and in this day and age people are only religious when its convenient.. for example, the bible preaches that adam and eve where the first people in the world.. they have two sons, Kane and Able.. you with me still right?? now if this is fact and people do swear on religion and its morals etc. explain to me this.. incest is wrong in every sence of the matter legaly, morraly religiously what ever you will.. tell me how the rest of the world comes from.. mom, dad, two sons does not add up to world population with out contradicting its very own foundation.. if you are capable to think and reason with ANY logic this cookie crumbles before it even comes out of the oven.. another little missconception that confuses people is the use of the word "rights" we dont have "rights" they are more like "privelages" if they where actual rights they would be the same in every country in the world.. i know this is not directly with in the topic of gay marriage but it all goes back to the statement i made about politics in general and the hypocritical ways they work and how the religion causes issues because of ignorance and narrow minded people who usualy have never or will never be in a situation they are trying to stop from happening weather its gay marriage or abortion etc.. no one has given a valid reason as to why gay marriage is wrong.. in fact i think most of the gay people i know actually live better than the people who are bitching about it if you compare the actual structure of a "proper" religious defenition of life when you break it down.. they are clean, well educated, caring friendly people, most with stable carrers and lifestyles.. you can go on and on about right and wrong and there is ALLWAYS a short end of a stick but if you actually stop and think outside the box and stop being so quick to judge we might be happier people in the end..

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