Power and Glory – Phil Ochs
The Gay Marriage Song – Addie Brownlee
There comes a point when we need to take a long, hard look at what sort of world we want to live in. Do we believe in a future where love is rewarded and honored? A future where two people who want to share their lives together are not forced to contend with a legal system that declares what they feel to be less genuine than other people? A future where young men and women won’t be made to feel ashamed for who they’re attracted to?
Or do we want to be the only modern society besides Nazi Germany to wholesale invalidate the marriages of an entire class of people? Do we want to look back at California 2008 the same way previous generations look back at the segregationist and anti-miscegenation campaigns?
Unfortunately, the folks supporting Prop 8 have raised huge sums of money to fund ads full of lies, designed to scare people away from the simple truths: that gay marriage is a basic, nonintrusive human right which has been legal for a while now in California and Massachusetts, with none of the Chicken Little scenarios coming true. So what you get is saturated airwaves talking about things like “kindergarten students being forced to attend their teacher’s gay marriage” – which is untrue on so many levels that it’s almost impossible to list them all.
I’m not going to mince words here. This is a campaign of hate. It’s being waged because the people behind it are disgusted by gay people and want to hurt them. That’s why the ads are filled with lies – because the goal is to confuse people into thinking that there is a real threat here beyond simple prejudice. Unfortunately, according to the most recent polls, it might very well be working.
So those of us who care about this sort of thing need to recognize the significance of Prop 8. The symbolic importance is tremendous, but it’s also worth noting that California is so large that it accounts for 1/6 of the total US population. Winning the fight here would secure a basic human right for a huge amount of people. Moreover, if we lose here, it’ll slow the tide for the rest of the country to a tremendous degree.
All of which is to say that if you live in California, get out and vote! You can still register to vote (the deadline is tomorrow, October 20) if you haven’t already. If you’ve already registered, make sure your friends have. If they have, make sure they know all the facts. And if they’re still on the fence, ask them if they’d feel comfortable telling a gay friend, co-worker, or neighbor that they voted to invalidate their marriage.
Even if you don’t live in California, there’s plenty you can do. I know there’s a lot of excitement about the presidential campaign, and I’ve given Obama a fair share of cash over the last 18 months. But they are swimming in money right now, and winning the presidency isn’t the only thing that’s important. As of this week, I’ve decided to diversify where my donations are going, and right now my biggest priority is ensuring that we preserve some very basic principles of equality under the law for everyone.
Plus, if you donate before midnight tonight, your contribution will be doubled. And every dollar will go toward letting people know what is truly at stake here.