Wednesday, November 05, 2008

The Back of the Bus













I'm an avid reader of AmericaBlog. I'm addicted to it. I read it several times a day. Today, John Aravosis writes on the loss of civil rights for gays and lesbians.

http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/its-official-nearly-20000-marriages-of.html


I had great hopes for people in California seeing beyond the hate and voting to support gay and lesbian marriages. I mean, California is a big, blue state. And I'm disappointed that churches would dump hundreds of thousands of dollars in another state to control who gets to celebrate their love with whom. The Mormon church should be ashamed of themselves.

http://www.amomsrant.blogspot.com/2008/11/prop-hate-has-passed.html


This is a new blog I found and I cannot agree more with the writer. How would these folks who voted against gay marriage and gay adoption/foster feel if the rest of us decided they were worthy of our hate? What if tomorrow, when the votes were counted, all of their marriages were declared void and their children declared illegitimate?

I think they would rise up in anger, claiming that the majority had no right to take away their lives. What would they do without access to their loved ones in hospitals? What would happen if they all lost their spousal survivor benefits and found themselves without recourse to keep what they worked, with their spouses, so hard to maintain? What would happen if the state came in and took their children because they were no longer able to adopt or foster?

All hell would break loose. And you know it would! So why are we sitting back and allowing bigots to control our country. Although President-elect Obama doesn't agree with using the term "marriage" to describe our relationships, I hope and pray he will look beyond his own fears and issues to grant us an equal place at the table.

And to our gay and lesbian friends, I say, don't walk to the back of that bus! Don't turn away from that place at the lunch counter! Don't allow bigotry to stand. Stand up. Be counted. Continue the fight.

On this day, civil rights have been hilighted as we've elected our first black president. Let today be the day the civil rights of gay and lesbian citizens are hilighted as we stand against the new acceptable bigotry: hatred of us and our desire to be full citizens of this country we love.

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