It really gets me how hypocritical many of these extremely conservative bigots can be. In their eyes, God defines marriage as between a man and a woman and they often refer to homosexuals as deviants, yet their own morality is not only far from perfect, but downright dishonest.

For those who are unaware, Proposition 8 has removed my rights as a gay man to marry Brian, a meber of the same-sex.  The proposition has passed by fewer than 500,000 votes out of over 10 million votes counted (less than 2.5% win).

A twitter user I follow (@digitalkitty) posted this “cbs is reporting that prop 8 was swung by the raise in african american voters, 70 percent of whom voted yes.”  I responded with “it’s always been disappointing to me that African American citizens don’t draw parallels to the discrimination against gays.”

An African-American twitter user (@sistory) responded directly to me

“that a big can of worms you open right there.  why must there be a comparison to the discrimination of gays and african americans”

I responded to her:

“It doesn’t have to be.  We can disucss the differences AND the similarities and perhaps understand one another better.  There are similar circumstances.  Civil unions are “seperate but equal”.  I wouldn’t presume to say gays face all the same issues.”

I read more of her posts and don’t believe that she is among those who would have voted in favor of Proposition 8; however exit polls did show that African-Americans voted 2 to 1 in favor of banning marriage for gays (Yes on 8).  Here is an interesting article from a friend I work with: Proposition 8 vs. black homophobia .  There is a great quote by the African-American author of that article where she says:

Sadly, some African-Americans believe that it is only we who should benefit from the gains achieved by the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. They fear that to allow the gay community to enter the doors of opportunity opened by our struggle, to permit gays and lesbians to share in the fruits of that movement, will diminish those benefits for the black community. Truth is, there is more than enough to go around.

@Sistory in later tweets has suggested that if gays wanted to obtain more support that they should focus on comparing the Loving laws or Interracial marriage to the current battle for same-sex marriage.  And while I agree that there certainly are merrits to that argument, the fact remains that gay rights extends well beyond the issue of marriage.  (this is where she would tell me to narrow the argument and don’t bite off more than I can chew).

More later…

Here’s a great Youtube video in support of voting “No” on Proposition 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlxJJUtI7g4.

If you support Brian and I and our right to marry, please vote No on Prop 8.  Please advocate that your family and friends vote as well.  If you or anyone you know is not registered to vote, you still have until October 20th in Californai to register to vote.

Living under a rock?  Been out to sea?  Don’t know what Prop 8 is?  In short, Prop 8 is a constitutional ammendment that would ban same-sex marriage in California.  Unlike constitutional ammendments that come before the state congress and require 66%, it only requires a simple majority of the voters (50.000000001%). Every last vote counts!  The last pole by one conservative group showed that votes may be swinging to “Yes” in these final days.  Please please please donate your money, your time or your time of day to friends, families and organizations to help fight this injustice.

The ruling makes Connecticut the third state, after Massachusetts and California, to decide its constitution mandates treating citizens equally when applying for marriage licenses, regardless of their sexual orientation.

“Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice,” the ruling said.

Read the full story.