Thought about cutting this. Decided not to. Swearing, rage, and violent imagery ahead.
I’ve been hearing a lot about Proposition 8 today.
About how California’s high court just upheld it, which means that no new same-sex marriages will be happening in the Golden State. About how people are Very Angry.
You know what? I’m angry too.
I’m angry for Aaron Webster, who went out for a walk and was beaten to death with a baseball bat. I’m angry for Richard Jefferson and Ryan Smith, who were on vacation in the Caribbean when they were attacked by a group of self-described gay-bashers and beaten so badly that Jefferson’s skull was fractured. I’m angry for Satender Singh, whose murder, accomplished by a group of people shouting racist and homophobic slurs, was barely touched by the news.
I’m pissed the fuck off about Lawrence King, who was fifteen years old last year when he was shot in the head by his fourteen-year-old classmate.
IN CALIFORNIA.
(You joke about how Iowa is now more liberal than California. Yes, the state has same-sex marriage, and that is awesome. It doesn’t mean Iowa senator Matt McCoy hasn’t gotten death threats.)
And you are shocked — shocked! — that the state won’t let us get married.
As if this is something new.
As if we weren’t denied those rights last year. And the year before it. And the year before that. And for the entirety of your life, and mine, except for a fleeting six-month period in 2008.
You, my fellow Americans, you are especially outraged. The rights of the minority have just been suppressed! In your country!
As if they aren’t at this very moment being suppressed in Alabama, Alaska, Arisona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missisispi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and that very seat of freedom, the District of Columbia.
You throw up your hands in disbelief that the California Supreme Court has “taken a step backwards”.
As if the law in California is some kind of outrageous throwback.
As if, with 18,000 legally married same-sex couples, as well as domestic partnerships which involve most of the state-level features of marriage, California is not still one of the most progressive states.
So don’t be angry about that inexplicably bigoted decision on Prop 8, and those mysteriously horrible people who made it. Not if, after expressing that anger, you’re going to go back to living in a magical fairyland where civil rights flow freely and same-sex marriage is taken for granted by everyone but a few rogue pockets of uncivilized fundamentalists.
This was a completely normal decision, made by completely average people, upholding a policy that is far less oppressive than the nationwide status quo.
Be angry about that.
The Sailor Hellsing 
