Frightened homophobes win in California

Yesterday we celebrated an amazing moment together, we shared in an historical achievement, and an overwhelming majority of the world’s population celebrated with us. But, for me the celebrations were soured, tainted by some shocking results a few of which seemed to get swept under the carpet for fear of 'upsetting the mood'.

But, I’ve been left with a pit in my stomach, and it’ll take more than the knowledge Americans elected the best candidate, to dislodge it.

I could’ve dealt with the ‘personality’ results that didn‘t go my way. Of course I was upset that Americans didn’t share my views on some of the crooks and bigots they elected to office, but I could deal with that.

It was hard to understand how Alaskans (what are they drinking up there?) could re-elect a convicted felon, someone who’d been found guilty of abusing his privileged status, and using his elected office for personal gain, but I could live with it.

That an openly bigoted Minnesotan Congresswoman could be returned to office stunned me, but I’d learn to live with it. That the same state could be split down the middle on whether to re-elect another shady dealer as their representative in the US Senate was also shocking, but I’d deal with that too. That we let the most disingenuous crook of all, T. Boon ‘swift boat’ Pickens get his dirty mitts on our clean energy really hurt, hasn‘t that man done enough damage already? But, I guess I’d come to terms with it somehow.

There were a smattering of other obnoxious props put before the electorate by crazed bigots telling us it’s what Jesus would‘ve wanted. Some were as restrictive as they were revolting, but the one that took the fucking biscuit had to be my own state’s Prop 8, and the failure of Californians (of all people!) to firmly shove the proposition back up the asses of the fuckers that conceived it.

C’mon people WTF was that?

Of course the result means that a vast number of democrats, and not just any old democrats, Barack Obama democrats, actually voted to remove rights, that are taken for granted by the rest of us, from fellow citizen’s just because they were different. Perhaps the most painful irony was that the proposition almost certainly would’ve failed had two voting blocks; African Americans and Hispanics not been attracted to the polls in record numbers yesterday.

Here’s what the AP exit polls told us...

California's black and Latino voters, who turned out in droves for Barack Obama, also provided key support in favor of the state's same-sex marriage ban. Seven in 10 black voters backed a successful ballot measure to overturn the California Supreme Court's May decision allowing same-sex marriage, according to exit polls for The Associated Press.


More than half of Latino voters supported Proposition 8, while whites were split. Religious groups led the tightly organized campaign for the measure, and religious voters were decisive in getting it passed. Of the seven in 10 voters who described themselves as Christian, two-thirds backed the initiative. Married voters and voters with children strongly supported Proposition 8. Unmarried voters were heavily opposed.

Prop 8 is a dark stain on what should’ve been a glorious victory of light over darkness, of tolerance over ignorance, of hope over fear, but instead we receive a (timely) reminder that some Americans still have a long way to travel to reach that promised land.

If the rest of the country had displayed the same level of ignorance and intolerance that Californians did yesterday in voting to adopt the hateful Proposition 8, we’d have woken this morning with a one dimensional 72 year old President-elect and an Alaskan with a double digit IQ about to become our next Vice President.

A poster called LJS commented on the LA Times story today...

Of all the communities in the US, one would think that African Americans would not want to discriminate against another community. How wrong is that assumption! It seems suffering over two hundred years of oppression does not teach one tolerance and compassion. It is a bitter and sad day for California's gay and lesbian community. It is also hard to grasp that we voted in our first African American president while carving permanent, legislative discrimination and bigotry into our state constitution.

Frankly, it’s an outrage and an insult. I am ashamed that I live in California today. I look at the faces of my friends and neighbors knowing that just over half of them are frightened homophobes, unable to show the same tolerance so often asked of others.