One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap Backward for Mankind

So the election is finally over. The people have cast their ballots and the first black man in the history of the United States has been elected to the office of President. This is a monumental moment in our nation's history. One that makes me proud. But this is only a small step.

Never have I witnessed the amount of racism that came running out of the woodwork during this campaign. Slogans like "Keep the whitehouse white" Allegations of Barack Obama being a muslim terrorist. Really? I thought Americans were smarter than that these days. So, while this is a really important moment, it's a small step on the way to ending racism.

In California though, we are witnessing a giant leap backward for mankind. Though it hasn't been called and there are still absentee ballots being counted, it looks as though Prop 8 is going to pass. For those that don't know, Prop 8 was a proposal on the ballot to re-write the California State constituion to say that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and will be recognized. So far with 95% of the precints reporting, it looks like a 52% vote in favor.

I have never been so disappointed in my fellow Californian's. It's one thing to morally and religiously oppose same-sex marriage. It's quite another to actually write that discrimination into the foundation of our state's laws. That's what this is. Pure and simple, discrimination. Disagree with it all you want. Don't marry someone of the same sex then. It does nothing to harm you. It is no way a threat to your heterosexual marriage. My marriage is not diminished in the slightest because my best friend's brother-in-law gets married to his partner.

The ridiculous arguments supporting this change are the same arguments that were used to outlaw inter-racial marriage too. I hope that people who voted yes on this prop have a child who turns out to be homosexual who will not have the ability to marry the person they love. I hope they can live with themselves knowing that they have denied their own children the rights they get to enjoy. I hope they agonize over that guilt of denying their children happiness. Maybe once it hits home, people will start to think about other people's happiness instead of their own personal agendas.

I am sick to be a Californian today.