Dear CA, AZ, AK and FL
I'm going to put this as simply as I can so as not to confuse anyone.
To the 52% of California, the 56% of Arizona, the 57% of Arkansas and the 62% of Florida that voted to limit the rights of same-sex couples (in many cases adding discrimination to their state constitutions) I say simply:
Fuck. You.
When I was nine years old my mother was married at the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens. It was springtime and the Gardens were full of blooming flowers and an abundance of life, my mother was wed on stepping stones that crossed a small stream while her and her husband's family and friends stood along both banks of the stream. It is one of the happiest and most beautiful memories of my life, and one of my fondest hopes was that someday I too would be married on that same spot, surrounded by my family of both blood relatives and dear friends. That dream died on November 4th though, when the ignorance and fear of the people in my home state led them to write minority-targeted discrimination into their constitution. My shattered dream is but one of many thousands broken, as same-sex couples in California who have already been married during the brief window when such a thing was still legal are left to wonder if they will even be able to retain the rights they were given now that enforcing said rights will be an up-hill battle.
While I am filled with hope for our nation that we no longer suffer under the regime of a power-hungry megalomaniac, that joy is sullied with the knowledge that to more than half of this sad nation I am a second-class citizen. While there may be hope for the direction this country will be headed in the future, that hope is marred by knowing that too many Americans would rather that I not join them in this bright and shiny new future. Criminalizing marriage and adoptions by a minority group is sickening and inexcusable no matter the rhetoric used to justify such actions. I fear for the gay and lesbian youth of all forty-five states that have banned or outlawed same-sex marriage, for what hope can you have in yourself when the laws of your land tell you that you are wrong for being simply who and what you are? I am ashamed of my country when so many of us allow our fear of difference to dictate our actions, and I rage at any nation that would dare to call itself great when it deprives citizens of even the most basic rights and refuses to recognize that while not all love is the same, all love is equal.
While I may have hope for my future, I have very little faith in it.
To the 52% of California, the 56% of Arizona, the 57% of Arkansas and the 62% of Florida that voted to limit the rights of same-sex couples (in many cases adding discrimination to their state constitutions) I say simply:
Fuck. You.
When I was nine years old my mother was married at the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens. It was springtime and the Gardens were full of blooming flowers and an abundance of life, my mother was wed on stepping stones that crossed a small stream while her and her husband's family and friends stood along both banks of the stream. It is one of the happiest and most beautiful memories of my life, and one of my fondest hopes was that someday I too would be married on that same spot, surrounded by my family of both blood relatives and dear friends. That dream died on November 4th though, when the ignorance and fear of the people in my home state led them to write minority-targeted discrimination into their constitution. My shattered dream is but one of many thousands broken, as same-sex couples in California who have already been married during the brief window when such a thing was still legal are left to wonder if they will even be able to retain the rights they were given now that enforcing said rights will be an up-hill battle.
While I am filled with hope for our nation that we no longer suffer under the regime of a power-hungry megalomaniac, that joy is sullied with the knowledge that to more than half of this sad nation I am a second-class citizen. While there may be hope for the direction this country will be headed in the future, that hope is marred by knowing that too many Americans would rather that I not join them in this bright and shiny new future. Criminalizing marriage and adoptions by a minority group is sickening and inexcusable no matter the rhetoric used to justify such actions. I fear for the gay and lesbian youth of all forty-five states that have banned or outlawed same-sex marriage, for what hope can you have in yourself when the laws of your land tell you that you are wrong for being simply who and what you are? I am ashamed of my country when so many of us allow our fear of difference to dictate our actions, and I rage at any nation that would dare to call itself great when it deprives citizens of even the most basic rights and refuses to recognize that while not all love is the same, all love is equal.
While I may have hope for my future, I have very little faith in it.
Labels: fear, gay marriage, hope, rage, shame
posted by Zeroes at 9:39 PM
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