Pride and Prejudice: Thank God Obama is Married to a Woman

Last night, the people (or at least, 64 million of us) spoke -- and sent the world a message: America is ready for change. We are ready for progress. Shoot, we're even ready for a new-and-improved national rhetoric. We want to be hopers, dreamers, teammates, idealists, rational thinkers, good-doers, try-harders, beacons-of-light, wealth-spreaders, planet-huggers, lovers, achievers, Americans. We want this country to reflect opportunity, equality, multiple perspectives, varied backgrounds, different choices, and forward thinking. We want to salute a "President Barack Obama." Wow. What a mouthful.

Especially when you consider that in that same confusing breath, millions of Californians expressed the desire to discriminate against citizens, deny them fundamental rights, and regress to the mindset that unfair, unequal treatment of gays (at least we're not being racist!) is perfectly acceptable. At last count (and we should still keep the faith, because roughly three million votes still need to be counted), the decision to pass Proposition 8 in California was leading at 52%, and if the numbers stick, gay marriage will be banned in the state -- meanwhile, leaving the validity of legal unions performed over the last six months up to the courts.

So this is what it's like to feel proud to be an American again. And at the very same time, we are supremely filled with shame as Californians. If we're going to be part of the Obama-era of a better mankind, this state sure as hell needs to get its "kind"ness shit together.

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election

Comments

[blasofsky]

A close friend and I recently started a grassroots site (www.OurVoicesForMarriage.com) as a response to Proposition 8 passing. It is a VERY basic, no-frills site that allows individuals to voice their sadness, their frustration, and, most importantly, their personal stories on how the passing of Proposition 8 effected them. Our hope is that President-Elect Obama will soon announce a GLBT liaison whom we can refer to this site, and, who in turn, will refer President Obama to it with the hope he will speak out and say, loud and clear, that discrimination written into any constitution is a violation of everyone's civil rights.

PLEASE take a moment, go to the site, and post YOUR story. The more voices we have the louder our message will be. . .

www.OurVoicesForMarriage.com

Thanks!

Brian Lasofsky

[BluePrideSMW]

This liberal white guy has supported minority causes and will continue to do so... This hurts that compassion isn't returned. Religions hate. And they try to enforce their mind-numbing know nothingness on the rest of us. Mormons, go ahead and have six wives, I don't mind. You are on the wrong side of history and I only wish I could have seen freedom to vote a black man president AND gay rights. Black people, I expected more and am less than joyous for your willingness to subject me to second-class status when I never did that to you. Quite the contrary.

The Obamas are Moving On UP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf3uGsMxsoQ

A sublime Moms Mabley version of Abraham, Martin & John:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge32xtm23rQ

[SpoxLogic]

I love it how the powers are now turning two minority groups against each other. What was that old adage again - "united we stand, divided we fall"? While the numbers show a large percentage of AA and monorities voting for Prop 8, they only made up 30-36% of the total vote. Meanwhile, Republicans votes for the measure at a 80-85% clip - so really it was White Republicans that pushed this measure through.
Also, keep in mind that if one voted "Straight Ticket", Prop 8 would get a Yes vote. Would anyone care to guess at the percentage of all the voters who actually voted "Straight Ticket" and didn't bother to indivdually select each vote?

My guess is the minority Dems voted "Straight Ticket" because they knew they were only gonna vote Democrat and it probably didn't even register that would mean voting Yes on Prop 8. Similarly, the die hard Republicans did the same thing.

[AMERIKA]

I guess this result means that African Americans and Latinos are actually socially conservative. WHite liberals were simply overwhelmed by the numbers who turned out. The gay and lesbian movement as to appeal to Latinos (read catholics) and black Americans (read conservative Christians) . Good luck to one and all.

[Dayword]

I recently moved to Indiana from California, and I was confronted with the difficult decision between voting for Obama in a swing state, and voting absentee against prop 8. The results from prop 8 nearly ruined the high I was riding on after Obama's speech.

I do think that the election results were better for civil rights than worse, but it still pains me how long it now appears it will be before many of my friends and I can marry.

[cylindar]

Well, don't worry about it. It is simply a matter of time and you can all have your fill of divorce lawyers and their bills. Why would anybody in their right mind want to get married anyways?

[M1]

Ironically, I am watching African Americans celebrating Obama's win and, not for a second, reflecting on what 70% of the Black voting population in California did to the Gays. I not only feel left out, angry, sickened but outraged at a people whose leaders lied when they talked of Equality for All.......they forgot to add Except for gays because our religion tells us so. Hispanics 51% and Asians 49% voted in favor of stripping gays of their fundamental right to marry as well. This is not to blame them for they did not act alone and I do so appreciate those that stood with us, in the rain, on the street and in the voting booth. But what a shocker from so many a people who have suffered discrimination.

The courts will reverse this but what will remain is a deep wound between these other minority groups and the gay community. The media is talking about the outrage of the right wing.....wait until California gets a load of the outrage of the Gay.....Obama can forget my support in 2012 unless he takes a stand for our Equality.

African Americans who voted for prop 8 now have to live with the reality they have the stain of bigotry on their hands....no longer just a victim....now a perpetrator.....is this your American Promise?
Same for hispanics and Asians who supported prop 8 and all the white and Republican voters at a whopping 82%.

[BSERIUS]

Then why are you not coming out against the group that was responsible? 70% of African America voted for PROP 8 and they , not the Mormons or Catholics or the evil Republicans did it.....And will you specifically call them bigoted or boycott Black American businesses as the misguided Kevin below would as he/she listed Mormon entities? African America said loudly what they believed and liberal America befuddled as they had the audacity to no toe the line

[M1]

It is not toing some line....it is called equality for all persons. I am sick of the African American I am the only true victim excuse being used to mask the bigotry of 70% of African Americans who voted for prop 8 and same goes for all the other minority groups who want equality for themselves. Hypocrites.

Nothing but hypocrites....and the guy with list has the right idea. I am definitely for stepping back from supporting minority groups who do not support us.

[XME]

Perhaps the problem is that you're looking at the color of the skin to decide who's "supporting" you. After all, what of the 30% of African Americans who did support you?

This is not an issue of skin color, it's an issue of religion and of AGE. People under 30 support same sex marriage rights overwhelmingly. The older people are, the more set in their ways they are...regardless of race. That is a good sign as it shows that newer generations see equality in much broader terms than do older people who somehow manage to have "exceptions" to who's equal. That tells me that we are progressing, and as was the case with African Americans, it has taken hundreds of years for them to go from being treated as less than human, to anywhere near equal.

[vazzy13]

Absolutely! The homophobic morons here in Florida passed a ban on gay marriage too - which also bans any kind of civil union, even between heterosexuals - what morons! Anyone else reminded of the bans against interracial marriage?

Seriously - WTF could gay couples do to damage "the institution of marriage" any more than heterosexuals have already? Cheating, beating, emotional abuse, marrying for money, spite, children...PUH-leeeeeze! The fundaMENTALists seem to forget that not everyone attaches religious significance to marriage. They are "Christians" but they get to judge who is right and who is wrong, who gets rights and who doesn't??? Am I the only one who feels like I've fallen down the rabbit hole?

[KevinKSF]

Boycott Mormon companies or companies run by Mormons:
Affiliated Computer Services
AES Corp.
Avista Corp.
American Express Company
Black & Decker
Cadence Design
Corvis
Central Pacific Bank
1-800-Contacts
Cygnus Inc.
Diebold
Dell Computer
Dionex
Downey Savings and Loan
EarthShell
Franklin Covey
Hillenbrand Industries
Headwaters, Inc.
Hollywood Entertainment
Host Marriott
Marriott International
NuSkin
Oakley
Ryder Systems
Swift Transportation

and more.
http://www.mormonstockindex.com/msi/index.shtml

[Pearlswan]

HuffPost's Pick

Yes, I agree. Its hard to feel the great triumph of achievement in electing Barack Obama if you are a gay person or related to a gay person in California. I cannot describe the feeling of winning and losing so much at the same time. Stunned. Stoic. Resolved. Hurt. Angry. Sad. Grief. Happy, even ecstatic at moments. Confused. Betrayed. Heavy. Lost. Left out. I feel like I'm living between worlds--marginalized again. I have five grown children who all supported Barack Obama. We even had the grandkids saying "that's not change, that's more the same," and "Yes, We Can." It was cute. It was fun. We had a blast! But now, most of these same young voters of mine are in tears over the Prop 8 issue. They were so full of hope for equality. I suspect they feel duped by Californians who shared their hope but voted against members of their own family. Even my 12 year old granddaughter, a child of mixed race like Barack Obama, was crying on election night over Prop 8. It was her first real experience of feeling collective discrimination. It broke my heart to see how much it hurt her. But,at the same time, it gave me hope to feel her love and compassion for me. It was a moment I will always cherish. It was a moment of raw pain and raw hope. Yes, we can!

[TedB]

Two steps forward, one step back. It is still progress, but I am not so proud of my state today.