Victory AND Defeat

Today has been a roller coaster of emotions so far. I was absolutely joyous with the news that Barack Obama will be our 44th President, I even cried I was so happy. I ended the night with uncertainty about the results for Propositions 8 and 4, and found out this morning that Prop 4 thankfully did not pass and Prop 8 unfortunately did. I've been bouncing back and forth all morning between elation about our new, hopeful, competent, and impressive President-Elect and depression over the success of denying rights to a portion of our population through the passing of Prop 8.

How utterly disgusting that we would even be willing to allow a popular vote to choose what rights people are allowed to have. Why haven't we learned yet that just because someone is different, in a minority group, or against the "norm" does not mean that they deserve less than everyone else? How do we not connect the civil rights movement of the black community with the current struggles the LGBTI community faces?

I'm having a difficult time articulating what I think should be said about this issue...I'm realizing as the day goes on how much this means to me and how passionately I feel that everyone should have equal access to name their love, so passionately that I have snapped at people I care about and teared up thinking about what this means. This is painful, it hurts and I don't know how to say what it means as well as this article from the Good Times of Santa Cruz:

"Yes, there is tremendous power in the word “marriage,” and that’s why it should be made available to every person who’s capable of such love that they choose to use it. We have imbued the word with the ultimate and complete amounts of commitment, faithfulness, and sanctity. Sadly, it is a word with such power that many people—of all persuasions and sexualities—sometimes find they are incapable of living up to it. It is a word with such nobility that it perhaps asks more of people than they are truly capable. But that is why we choose to use it. The word ‘marriage’ represents a goal to be the best, most caring, most loving, most amazing person one can be for the sake of another person. There is no other word for that hope. The word must be available to all people."

They have said it better than I could and have perfectly articulated why marriage should be available to all who love, no matter how separate church and state must be. We should all have the right to language and its meaning for us.

With both of these results, we have a lot of work moving forward, but this country is worth it to me.