Proposition 8 in California

Oh my. I forgot for a moment that last night was not just about a new president for our nation. Not just about the house & senate and does the republican party still have the numbers for a filibuster. Not just about local elections or the IL proposition to recall our gov.

Last night was also about love an autonomy and civil rights. Although Gregg and I got married in a church, married by my father, a minister, we didn't have to. We could have gone to city hall, or like my sister, Vegas. In the United States today, 50% of all "hetero" marriages end in divorce. Gregg and I didn't get married because we wanted a piece of paper, or to announced "to death do us part" to our friends and family, or because we thought the institution was somehow sacred because I have breasts and he doesn't. No, we got married because we want to raise a family and knew that marriage would guarentee certain legal rights for each other and our children. I don't love Gregg more because we are married. He doesn't love me more because we are married. I love Gregg more each day I know him because of 1 thing: the extraordinary man that he is. That's all. End of story. If someone said that Gregg and I couldn't have the legal rights of marriage because I have green eyes or a "bum" reproductive system, I don't know what I would do.

But in California last night, the majority of voters said just that. No matter how much you love your partner, no matter how long you've been together, committed to each other, no matter whether or not you have raised children together, if you are not of the opposite gender, then you cannot enjoy the same legal rights of marriage that hetero couples can. This angers me to the core and saddens me to no end. With Vegas-style drive-thru marriage, and a staggering divorce rate, Americans have proven over the last 50 years that there is nothing inherently sacred about hetero marriage. It is messy and hard and often fails. But it fails 50% of the time not because of ones gender, or ability to conceive children, or anything else that "defines" one as heterosexual, it fails because we are human and will fail, inevitably, at many relationships we have. There is nothing magical that says hetero relationships last and others are not as strong.

People are scared of the unknown, of the different. For hundreds of years in America that has resulted in racism. I feel we are finally turning the tide on that painful subject.

Why should it matter if Mary love Johnny or Mary loves Jenny? You know what? IT DOESN'T. I greive for all loving couples who are directly effected by Prop 8. I will pray for healing and understanding and a new proposition and/or court action overturning Prop 8 in the very near future. Just as I don't want my children to live in a nation where racism is alive and well, I don't want my children to live in a nation where they are judged, and prohibited from legal rights, based upon who they love.

YES WE DID

Dear Sam, last night was one of the most important, defining moments of your soon-to-be life. Last night, Americans came together, across political parties, across economic lines, across racial divides and TOGETHER with ONE VOICE elected Pres. Barack Obama.

Pres. Obama's father was from Kenya, in Africa, and his mother was living in Hawaii, going to college, when they met. She was white, he was black. They had little in common, other than a love of learning, and a love for one another. Pres. Obama went on to live in Hawaii as well as Indonesia, and mainland America. He has family in the United States as well as African. He is a man filled with hope, for our nation, for our children, for the earth, sky & water, and for the world. He is a man who will fill his cabinet with the best and brightest to ensure the best policies are put into law for this nation and the world.

Pres. Obama is black. While that wasn't a particularly important factor for many of us voting, while we voted for him based upon his personality, education, abilities, and the direction he will take this great nation, it is important now. Pres. Obama is the first black president of America. Your dad and I are white. We can read every book, talk to every person, and we will never know what it's like to be black in America. We can never truly relate to you on that level. America has been and undoubtedly will continue to be a racist nation. That is not to say that all citizen or even a majority of citizens are racist. Rather, that is to say that some are, and those some often make it difficult for others. However, with a black man as the leader of this nation, I do believe things will start to change. And I will be able to tell you, will unwaivering confidence, that you can grow up to be anything you set your mind to, that the color of your skin will not be a barrier to your career. I will be able to say that, because of Pres. Obama.