Welcoming hope back into my life

[ebonlock]

I know not all of the votes have been tabulated yet, but it looks like Prop H8 has won, and it is the one and only thing marring an otherwise perfect day. Given the fact that Prop 2 passed and Prop 4 received a thorough drubbing I can at least take a little comfort. But as pissed off as I am right now (and believe me, I want to personally kick every single bigoted asshole who voted for this measure square in the gonads), all of the other victories are making me look at the bigger picture. If this measure had passed 4 years ago when Emperor Codpiece and his hordes of flying monkeys were in charge, or heaven forfend McMaverick and Bible Spice had made it into office, I'd have been crushed. I mean literally I would've been considering leaving the state if not the country.

But that's not what happened, not by a long shot.

No, we put a black Democrat in the highest office in the land last night, and not by some tiny, contestable amount, but a goddamn landslide. There were a helluva lot of talking heads who said it couldn't be done, that this country wasn't ready for a black president and might not be in our lifetime. Indeed watching Chris Matthews go from pandering to Tom DeLay (and seriously, MSNBC, you brought that jackhole on as a "political expert"? WTF?) and alluding all too ominously to a McCain surprise win, to seamlessly brown nosing his new dusky-hued overlord made me laugh and laugh. As did watching Rachael Maddow verbally spank his flabby white ass repeatedly during the coverage (BTW, Rachael I know you've got a long time partner and all but if things don't work out for you two, call me).

We did it, though, we goddamn did it. People got out and voted in record numbers and they made it pretty fucking clear that they're no longer willing to let fear and hatred rule them. Eight years of living in the new Dark Ages is finally at an end, may we all look back on them with a sort of bewildered pity, future generations certainly will. Now is the time to look ahead. As President-Elect Obama (and I can't help grinning every time I use that phrase) said so eloquently last night, now is the time for us to pull together and start thinking not only of ourselves, our families and closest friends, but of the country as a whole. Pulling ourselves out of the hole Bush, Inc. has driven us into is going to take a team effort. We can't afford to be selfish and self-centered any more. It's time to let that 80's Reaganesque culture of entitlement die its well deserved death and then let's compost that fucking ideology so that at least something positive can come out of it.

Which brings me back to Prop H8. Sure we can sit around bemoaning the fact that a whole lot of people still let their fear and ignorance rule them in this state...or we can decide not to take this lying down. We can get involved in the fight against this constitutional amendment and do everything in our power to stop it from happening. There are going to be lawsuits, and there are already organizations in place that will, over the next few weeks, need your help and donations. Even if all you can do is post to your journal about upcoming events, or talk to a co-worker or just someone you meet on the street about why this measure is such a bad idea, do it. Make a pledge to yourself that you're not going to give up on this, and no matter how dispirited you may become, stick to it.

We proved last night that the majority of people in this country are ready to put one form of discrimination behind them and that's a great first step. But we've still got some work to do and we're energized now to do it. Let's prove to the world that we are, in fact, a true nation of equality and social justice. We can do this. Yes we can.

Comments

[rickey-a.livejournal.com]

Hey there,
c/p's response I gave to Sansa earlier this morning.
----
I woke up this morning to the final tally and was quite f'ing depressed about the state of CA. We elect Democrats and call for change, but then Yes on 8 (and manage to pass the most ridiuculously expensive stupid high speed train bond in the history of human kind). How?
They'll ask how people could've been so frightened, so narrow-minded, and so misguided.

The breakdown is frightening. The exit polls show that Blacks and Latinos voted overwhelmingly YES. Two groups of people who have been subjected to horrible discrimination, then turn around and pass this measure that so many of us equate with prejudice and discrimination. The problem? They don't see it that way. What do these to minority groups also have in common? Religion. Yes, CA is a very secular state, but Latinos and Blacks also make up a large percentage of the church going God fearing population. And when you fear God, you fear other things you don't understand as well.

I hope in 10 -20 years, just as America has now elected a President of color, we will move past this type of unfounded bigotry. :( I'm sad today, but need to go help out in N's K-class this morning.

----

so yeah, whatever it takes, I'm going to do "something" to help support this. Even if it means I have to wait another year for an repealing ballot measure and go door to door talking to people about what it means.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

so yeah, whatever it takes, I'm going to do "something" to help support this. Even if it means I have to wait another year for an repealing ballot measure and go door to door talking to people about what it means.

I'll be right there with you, I'm getting in touch with the HRC people to see if there are going to be any local events coming up.

[eilonwey.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this. Looking at these age demographics on the prop 8 vote, I also have hope that bigoted attitudes about sexuality will eventually go the way of the dark ages.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/individual/#CAI01

But hey, if we can make that tomorrow come even sooner, I'm all for it.

At least I have the cold comfort of knowing that my _county_ did the right thing even if my state didn't.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Amen to that. OTOH, it looks like only about 50% of SF actually bothered voting at all which is a sad, sad statement. Might not have made enough of a difference to change the outcome but it would've made this even closer.

Also anybody who voted for Obama and then voted yes on Prop H8 should really not be able to look at themselves in the mirror this morning. Seriously, discrimination is discrimination and that's all this measure was about. It protects nothing and no one and hurts so many for no damn reason at all.

[moonlightnrain.livejournal.com]

Given the fact that my niece who was raised Born Again and chose to go to a Christian college voted No (as did her boyfriend), I do have hope for the future.

And I see that my role to play is clear: be out. Let these people know someone effected by this stupid law. Let them see that my love is not an abomination... and continually question their love of shrimp. ;)

[snegurochka_lee]

Thank you for this. I'm trying to remain hopeful, and enjoy celebrating Obama's victory, but the Prop 8 disappointment is making me incredibly sad. But you're right: Prop 8 plus McCain/Palin would have been reason to despair. Obama still might, I like to hope, be able to do something to halt the hate still spreading through this country.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Alas, he's going to have to fight against a fair number of people like this: (http://www.cheapdisposable.com/bruce/brucelewis.com/2008/11/2008-revolution-is-over.html)

“If we wanted to create a true conservative movement in America, we would need to switch our basic mode of thinking from that of the post-Enlightenment, individualist, nation-state-defined Europe to that of Middle-Ages, family-defined, feudal Christendom. Only a movement that does not have its roots in liberal (i.e. Enlightenment) ideals — liberty, equality, fraternity, and so forth — is worthy of the name “conservative”.

Yes, there are really people out there advocating for a return to the "good old days" of Medieval Christendom. Proof positive, I've gotta' believe, that Neanderthals did indeed cross-breed and their genetics continue to exist even today.

[elenderel.livejournal.com]

I read that man's blog and I am terrified. So he would bring back the Burning Times, right? This ardent admirer of pre-Enlightenment Christendom? ... Keep him away from Michele Bachmann.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I suspect he'd be down with this until he was required to give up all the comforts that the technology only possible due to the kinds of science and rational thought brought to us by the Enlightenment produced. Well that and he realized he was going to end up as one of the peasant class rather than a landed lord.

BTW, I'm putting a care package in the mail to you tonight!

[aelfsciene.livejournal.com]

What the above commenter said. I'm...yeah. Too prone to wild swings of emotion, and I've been pretty down all morning (and I've been up for 4 hours at this point). So thanks for posting this, I'm trying to find more light out of this, and had already resolved to get more involved.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

If you need to feel sad, then feel it, then when you're ready move on to mad and finally let that motivate you to action. When you're ready to act you're not going to be alone, not by a long shot. We're not just going to stand by and let this happen to the people we care about.

H8 will die.

[(Anonymous)]

The most heartening thing about the H8 vote was the demographic breakdown. It's pretty clear that, simply on the basis of vote age, H8's time is limited. I only hope this demographic shift is not offset by an increase in brainwashed, I mean church-going, population segments.

Re: H8 will die.

[forkmonkey.livejournal.com]

This particular anonymous being Forkmonkey.

[senatorhatty.livejournal.com]

I don't ever watch Mathews, so I don't know what his show is like. I heard him on some NPR thing some time ago though, and he was surprisingly erudite. And he certainly qualifies as an "expert" in terms of his background.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Matthews is a political sycophant of the first order, and one far more interested in toadying to the Republicans than the Democrats (though he'll flog his own humble beginnings story and love of the common man to the point of absurdity). But I wasn't questioning him as a political expert, rather the genius who booked Tom DeLay to come on and whine about the evils of Pelosi and how soon she and her jackbooted cronies will be creating socialist re-education camps.

[mister-sunshine.livejournal.com]

I think things are going quite well. I mean, it took 144 years to go from freed slave to president. It took over 60 years for the Chinese Exclusion Act to die. It took 44 years for the U.S. to offer reparations and an apology to Japanese Americans for Executive Order 9066. I doubt Prop 8 will last even 20--unless we really drop the ball.