Stop the Hate! Discrimination and the upcoming election

I was really hoping not to do another political post before the election, but something has been bothering me so much over the past few weeks that I feel compelled to spit it out.

This is likely the most hotly contested presidential election in American history. I think we can all agree on that, even if we Americans can't agree on anything else. But there are other issues that are being decided in this election, and one of the most highly debated and divisive issues comes out of my home state of California - Proposition 8. This is the proposition that seeks to eliminate the ruling of the California Supreme Court last May, that ruled that it is illegal to discriminate against any couple seeking to be married based upon their sex. You know... (whispers)... gay marriage.

I must warn you that I don't intend to offend anyone here who has a strong belief in Christianity. Indeed, I believe that the proponents of this proposition are behaving in the most un-Christianlike manner I could imagine. So I mean no offense to anyone, and I don't approach this as a Jew, a democrat, or any other type of person, except one who would hope for equal rights for all. One who, while I don't remember it personally, remembers learning about the difficulties faced by women when they tried to get the right to vote, and by blacks when they tried to get the right to vote, or by both in even attempting to get the right to own land, for crap's sake. And although I said I don't approach this issue as a Jew (and I don't), I know what it is like to be the object of someone's hate, simply because of who you are. Usually, this occurs out of ignorance. Usually it can be brushed off. Occasionally, I feel the urge to speak out, to educate, or simply to rant and rave at the offenders out of sheer frustration, anger, or plain old hurt.

I've often said that I live in the bible belt of Southern California, and never has it been more evident than during this election season. I've never felt more like a fish out of water. You can't stop at a red light without being swarmed by people on all 4 corners holding Yes on Prop 8 signs and yelling at me in order to sway my vote. The signs are on almost every lawn in my neighborhood and in every neighborhood in my city. I feel overrun with all the yellow (the signs are all yellow).

More and more, the ads are on the radio every minute or two, seeking to convince me that my children will be taught in school that marriages are all about a daddy and a daddy - indeed, that the schools will be compelled to teach this. Books about the King & the King will be mandatory reading. Commercials showing little girls about 6 years old coming home asking mommy about this are shown on TV, saying they learned it in school. Excuse me... my kids aren't taught about marriage in any form in school now - what makes me think that all of a sudden they will be taught about gay marriage? And so what if they are? Maybe if we taught about homosexuality in school from a young age, there wouldn't be such homophobia and stigma in the world. Much in the same way we teach about racism, and how all races are equal, perhaps we should be teaching that all people are equal, regardless of their genetic makeup. I don't know, just a thought.

The proponents of this proposition are so mired in their religious self-righteousness all in the name of Jesus, that they forget that the issue is strictly about discrimination. We don't discriminate. Let me rephrase that. We don't legislate discrimination any longer.

People walk around with their WWJD paraphernalia all over my town, and frankly, here's my thought on that. Mary Carves the Chicken, Bob's band, has a song on their first CD called Death of a Gay Waiter that has a verse in it that is fitting and proper, in my opinion. It goes like this:
"Hey You, You wanna be a hero
Love your fellow human beings
You - who call yourselves Christians
Sitting in your judgement seats
Remember - Jesus never bashed a homo
Jesus never hurt nobody
Jesus never put nobody down."

That's what Jesus would do. Bob saw a sign in town today that said "WWJD? He'd Vote NO on Prop 8!" I urge you to visit No on Prop 8 to find out more. And as I said, no offense meant, except to those who mean to offend.




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