Something magical

Something magical happened today. For me, this last week and a half has been filled with magical events, starting with the Obama victory last Tuesday night. That was amazing. Living in Chicago during this time is something that I cannot easily put into words.  I am not a Chicago native, and while I love this city, it is easy for me to pick out its faults.  But on November 4, 2008 those faults faded away. There were no problems with the millions of people in Grant Park. There were no reports of violence or craziness. As I watched the events on tv, my usually disruptive neighbors were unusually quiet. There was an occasional beeping horn or cheer but it as a fairly quiet night. The next morning was more of that. There was a comfortable silence that took over this great city. A calm that spread through the inhabitants... some relieved because they finally felt as though their vote counted and some just happy that the present regime is living its final days. Cheers of hopefulness filled the majority of the American population... until Prop 8 passed. 

For those of you who do not know, Prop 8 is an amendment to the California state constitution defining marriage as a unity of a man and a woman.  In essence, the state of California (and three other states in the country) will not recognize a marriage of a same sex couple.  I was bummed. Some of my friends were bummed and some liberal tv personalities were bummed. In California Prop 8 passed by a slim margin (52% to 48%) and while last month it was absolutely legal to get married in California if you were a same sex couple, those rules no longer apply.  There are tons of people who disagree with same sex marriage but today- something magical happened. There was a protest that started at the same time all over the country, where Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Blacks, Whites, everyone got together to protest the idea that Prop 8 stands for. I applaud them and happily took part. 

I am not for any law that is going to prohibit people from living life that they see as normal. As long as their lifestyle is not interfering with the lives of others, why is it any of my business what they do?  Gay marriage is not the norm, but that does not mean that it is something to be prohibited. Until the Loving v. Virginia, the marriages of Blacks and Whites were against the law. Was that right? No. Was it the law? Yes.  To deny a person the right to marry simply because their partner is the same sex makes no sense.  I firmly believe that people do it to advance a bias that is unacceptable. I heard tons of people today that said that 'God does not want to recognize same sex marriage.' When did you become God? When did he start speaking through you? When have you started to feel responsible for the souls of all sinners? Was it after you figured that you were a sinner, but their sin was worse? The last time I checked the Bible teaches that you should love your neighbor as yourself. According to my memory the Bible also says that we ALL sin and fall short of the glory, which means that the sin that I commit is just as bad as the sin that my neighbor commits. We both have fallen short of a mark set by God, mine is no less because I am heterosexual. My neighbors is no more because he is homosexual. The Bible also says (can you tell that I am a Deacon's kid??) that we will all be judged individually... therefore I should make better use of my time. I have so many other things to worry about than thinking about what my neighbor does in his bedroom, or who is getting married. If all parties are adults, why do I care? I don't and no one else should either. If laws like Prop 8 were freely practiced I could not have openly dated my last 6 boyfriends, none of whom were Black. Does that seem fair?

November 4, 2008 is a day that will forever be a contradiction. On that day, we elected our first (of many?) African American Presidents... and we told another significant portion of our population that what they do in their bedrooms was more important than what the rights they deserve. We should all try to remember a time when we were unjustly unable to exercise on of our rights... and keep that in mind the next time we want to limit the rights of others.