Please Vote No on Prop 8

If you live in California, or know someone who does, please read this post.

I feel incredibly moved by what I just saw.



I have to admit that although much of my political ideology is often terribly obvious and might lead one to believe that my position on this issue could simply be assumed, in reality it has not been so simple for me. This is largely a result of the time in which I grew into political maturity.

As a Democrat whose first self-initiated volunteer experience was holding signs on street corners for Al Gore, you can imagine what kind of political disappointments I have endured and what a formative impact they have had on me. I remember liking Bill Clinton but mostly because my parent did. Ever since I have been capable of independent thought on the state of the world around me, how it came to be, and how it might be different, I have only experienced that Democrats are not good enough to be part of that process.

Being beaten into the ground in this way during such personally influential years has an affect on one's psyche. Was it possible my parents didn't know everything??? This realization is an earth-shattering moment for every young adult. But it led me toward a much more critical approach to understanding politics and the deeply held beliefs that often drive it. I began to ask questions about why I believed what I believed and why most other people apparently did not.

Although I realized it was possible I wasn't "right" on every issue, mostly I just hated it when someone assumed I was naive for holding my beliefs with such ferocity. And I swore that I wouldn't do the same to others because of my experiences; I swore that I wouldn't take someone else's deeply held, fundamental beliefs for granted.

This is how I ended up ambivalent toward gay marriage. The argument I heard most often against gay marriage was that marriage was a sacred religious institution defined first in the Bible as between one man and one woman. While I personally didn't agree with this strict adherence to dogmatic tradition, especially when so many other Biblical traditions appeared to no longer be tenable in today's society, my experiences refused to let me simply brush aside other people's fundamental beliefs. Indeed, they still don't permit such dismissiveness.

While I want to respect those who still hold their beliefs about the sanctity of marriage dearly, I cannot support the idea of denying any law-abiding, loving, constructive member of society equal rights. Most especially when the upholding of those rights does not prevent anyone from fulfilling the religious and moral obligations to marriage they have prescribed for themselves.

If Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders has the courage to purge any ambivalence on this issue from his rhetoric, it is time I do as well.

If you live in California, please, please, vote NO on Proposition 8.