Nathan Scandella (personal)

California Sucks

California made the wrong call Tuesday. No, I'm not talking about their overwhelming selection of Barack Obama. I'm talking about Propositions 7, 8, and 10.

Californians choose to overrule their state Supreme Court, and institute a ban on all same-sex marriages. California! The home of Berkeley, Nancy Pelosi, dozens of hippie beach towns, and the ultra-liberal Film Actors Guild. This is truly disgusting. Injecting government into the personal affairs of its citizens this way is abhorrent. Liberals should cry foul on account of the loss of civil liberties of millions of Californians, and conservatives should be upset because government is sticking its nose where it doesn't belong.

This is pure, unadulterated bigotry. There is simply no defense for this proposition passing. Allowing gay marriage is one of those rare times when we get to take part in our democracy, and give something to people without hardly costing the rest of us anything. As I filled out my Washington state ballot, I was presented with several choices for programs I'd like to have, but that had significant costs associated with them. So, I was torn between wanting the service, and being cheap. Gay marriage isn't like those issues. Allowing same-sex couples to marry is merely giving them the rights that everyone else has. Not a single right is being taken away from heterosexual couples. This is humanity at its absolute worst. Straight people casting their ballots simply to interfere in the lives of gays. This would be like me voting to ban prescription drugs, or cell phones, or voting (!) in someplace like Africa. It's bad enough that they are already disadvantaged, but now we have to pour iodine in their wounds just to prove our superiority?

What are heterosexuals worried about here? That some gay couple who they don't even know, getting married, will affect their own relationship? That they will suddenly value their own marriage less? Will divorce rates skyrocket amongst straights? Did white men suddenly lose interest in voting when women and blacks were granted voting rights? Of course not.

I don't want to hear anything about civil unions here. Of course, gay couples should have options that give them all the same rights as heterosexual married couples. And that should be called "marriage". The argument that marriage is somehow a religious institution, and private religious organizations should be able to make such choices themselves is also ridiculous. Consider:

• For one, this ballot measure prevents private religious organizations from choosing whether or not to conduct gay marriages. It's banned. Statewide. Made illegal.


• Churches get huge tax breaks from our government. I, as a card-carrying atheist, am shouldering a larger tax burden to subsidize these organized hate-mongers. I don't care if they are "private". The government has plenty of other examples whereby those who get its financial support are held to a higher standard, especially as it pertains to non-discrimination.


• Marriage licenses and certificates are issued by the government. The government should not be in the business of discriminating against its citizens on the basis of who they like to have sex with.

I constantly hear the argument from religious folk that religion inspires so much good around the world. True, but it also inspires an enormous amount of evil, and this is pure evil. There is no way a ballot measure like Prop. 8 passes without the nonsensical fairy tale of Adam and Eve and the talking snake. I can guarantee you that opposition to gay marriage drops substantially amongst non-believers. The leaders of our most prominent religions, those who serve as mentors and examples, openly denounce gay marriage. What is a weak-minded church-going ignoramus to do, but assume that homosexuality is indeed a sin? And of course, when heterosexual people sin (adultery, rape, incest), we take away their ability to marry, too. Oh wait, we don't do that.

This is a perfect example of why religion is so dangerous. When you teach people to blindly believe in thousand-year-old mythology, you allow them to ignore their better judgment, and do some pretty hateful things. War, bigotry, hate crimes, suicide bombing, oppression, genocide. All done with the help of religion. We claim to oppose those kinds of acts. But, in the year 2008, we're still doing them. Not just in the closet. Out in plain view. Unapologetically. Using government to help out. We are a barbarian hoard, not a civilization.

In addition, Californians choose to ignore the mounting evidence on climate change, and voted down two alternative energy ballot measures. California was the state that tried to impose a zero-emissions mandate on auto manufacturers. Of course, they later caved on that and repealed the mandate. It looks like they also repealed their collective common sense. California used to be a place where people first came up with good ideas, that helped pull society up. Smoking bans in restaurants, renewable energy, civil liberties, HOV access for hybrids. But, they seemed to have lost their will to be leaders.

Maybe Barack Obama will redeploy our troops from Iraq, to forcefully annex Switzerland. The Swiss are now more progressive than the Californians. And with fewer collagen implants. Oh wait, Obama doesn't support gay marriage either. Which reminds me of another interesting statistic. That being the one about how gay marriage is opposed more highly in the black community than in society at large. That's pathetic. All over the country, we see teary black faces embracing a "new era", where a black child can be anything they want to be. And yet, a majority of black America, including our first black President (the so-called most liberal Senator) still supports discriminating against gays.

So, let's not get too proud of ourselves, California or the USA, for electing a black president. We are still a bunch of bigots, whether we know it or not.

Posted at 12:12PM Nov 06, 2008 by Nathan in General  |  Comments[0]