Faces of Haters; Other Gay Views on the Marriage Defeat

Christo-fascists celebrating the apparent passage of Proposition 8

If you read my earlier post from today on the wins by the "Christian" and Mormon haters in four out of five states, you know that I am upset. I do take it personally because the Christianist maliciously INTEND to hurt us. "Protecting marriage" is only the ruse they use to try to mask their evil and hate. Gay marriage costs them nothing other than one less thing for which they can act/feel sanctimonious, self-satisfied and superior. In contrast, for us LGBT Americans, it strips away very real civil legal rights. Frankly, it will probably take me a good while to set foot back in a church since I increasingly believe the world might be far better off without Christianity - or at least the version that holds sway in the USA with far too many haters and far too few Christians who have enough guts to do what is right even if it chases away some of their parish donations. Here are the thoughts of some other gay commentators and bloggers:

*

Andrew Sullivan: Yes, it is heart-breaking: it is always hard to be in a tiny minority whose rights and dignity are removed by a majority. It's a brutal rebuke to the state supreme court, and enshrinement in California's constitution that gay couples are now second-class citizens and second class human beings. Massively funded by the Mormon church, a religious majority finally managed to put gay people in the back of the bus in the biggest state of the union. The refusal of Schwarzenegger to really oppose the measure and Obama's luke-warm opposition didn't help. And cruelly, a very hefty black turnout, as feared, was one of the factors that defeated us, according to the exit poll. . . . It cannot be denied that this feels like a punch in the gut. It is. I'm not going to pretend that the wound isn't deep and personal, like an attack on my own family. It was meant to be.

*

Michelangelo Signorile: It's devastating for us all and heart-breaking for those who worked so hard in the fight. But we've been down before and we have picked ourselves up. We will do that again. We must realize that our movement is young -- much younger certainly than the black civil rights movement -- and we are going to have losses, sometimes very big ones, and there is no easy way to full civil rights and equality. . . . . And yes, prominent politicians -- our Democratic allies among them, including the next president -- have a contradictory position on marriage for gays and lesbians and we must demand they change it if they want our support. It has hurt us. We can no longer put up with their conflicted positions. In truth, however, there is still a lot of hate and misunderstanding out there, and that is really at the bottom of what happened last night.

*

John Aravosis: It's official. Nearly 20,000 marriages of gay couples were repealed last night. And their children made bastards. We lost. And it was the hateful leadership of the Mormon Church, along with, reportedly, hefty black turnout, that pushed it over the top. . . . And to be fair, the problems go far beyond the black vote and Mormon money. I'd like someone to explain to me why the leaders of our side of the campaign shouldn't be metaphorically beaten to within an inch of their lives. We should have hired political professionals, even - eeks! - straight ones, to do this. But we relied on the usual gay names and faces because, cumbaya my lord, a PC group hug is far more important than actually winning. I'm disgusted. And I want to see some heads rolling.

*

Pam Spaulding: While we have crossed one threshold, marriage amendments in Arizona, Florida and California have passed. In Arkansas, voters decided to ban the ability of gay and lesbian couples to adopt a child. To put things in perspective, voters in California handily approved another measure to improve the health and well-being of livestock - "Standards for Confining Farm Animals," but were content to eliminate the existing right of gays and lesbians to marry. . . . It makes it quite clear that equality is in the eye of the beholder, and we must reconcile the fact that some of the same people who marked that ballot for Barack Obama did not see fit to vote to prevent discrimination against gay and lesbian couples. And now I feel that a giant snowball of blame game is about to roll over and crush me on this front. Who voted for Yes on 8 is clear now, as exit polls show 70% of blacks, (with black women at 74%) voted for the amendment. That's about 20 points higher than any other racial group.