Saturday, May 30, 2009

Follow up to same-sex marriage post...

After tweeting the link to the post "Really California? Are you kidding me?", a friend of mine @replied me and sent me the link to another blog post supporting same-sex marriage: I Am Married. It was written in 2004 by an award-winning author and blogger. He is a thirty-something straight man who is married with one child.

It's a great read! (Thanks for sharing, Aaron!)

Friday, May 29, 2009

Really California? Are you kidding me?

The title of this blog post really says it all.

I am shocked, offended, apaulled, disgusted, disappointed and ANGRY that the Supreme Court of California voted to uphold Proposition-8 this week. I mean, seriously. What the hell decade/century/millenium are we living in?

I whole-heartedly believe that marriage should be a LEGAL union between any two individuals who love each other enough to commit their lives to each other. Anyone who has ever been married will tell you that marriage is tough. But it's the most fabulous roller coaster you'll ever ride and I commend two people who are dedicated enough to each other to want hop on that roller coaster together.

LOVE IS LOVE. What difference does it make whether it's between a man and a woman or two men or two women? With all the horrible things in this world, I'm outraged that the Supreme Court of California has decided to continue to support something that takes away the happiness of marriage and equality from a few hundred thousand of the state's citizens.

It amazes me that states like Massachusettes (where same-sex marriage has been legal since 2003), Connecticut (legal since 2008), Iowa (legal since April), Vermont (becomes legal Sept 1) and Maine (becomes legal Sept 14) have embraced their gay populations while California, which is supposed to be a progressive state, has not.

I think at this point it has to be up to activists in California to petition to get a new bill/referendum/proposition on the ballot as soon as possible to legalize same-sex marriage. Since 6 of the 7 justices of the Supreme Court of California didn't have the cojones to overturn Prop-8, the voters are going to have to do it.

I'm proud that the State of Washington has passed a law to expand rights for domestic partnerships. But there is already a proposed ballot initiative to overturn the bill, which was signed into law by Governor Gregoire on May 18th, called Referendum 71 and immediately Equal Rights Washington starting urging citizens to Pledge to Decline to Sign Referendum 71 petition. I pledged earlier this week and I encourage everyone else who is registered to vote in Washington to sign it too.


While I am saddened and frustrated and angered by all this, I am still hopeful. I have faith that every state in the union will legalize same-sex marriage in my lifetime. And I am choosing to help the cause rather than ignore it or sit idly by.