thoreau

well its a interesting morning to wake up to - as I thought - Prop 8 would track closer as the votes got tallied. at 8% of the vote counted it was 65% yes - at 20% before I went to bed it was 54% yes. and now at 95% of the vote counted it is at 52% yes. I don't see much hope that the last 3% gain will move the proposition below 50% to defeat.

It's shameful that it only takes a simply majority to amend the state constitution, because honestly - a simple majority is pretty easy to accomplish. Particularly considering Prop 8 has won by staggering margins in the central valley...as high as 78% in some central california counties. It makes the urban centers - who are voting no on 8 hard to create a balance.

so it doesn't mean the fight is over - it means the fight is just going to take longer. All the better reason for happiness over the Obama victory - because he will nominate three supreme court justices - that will eventually decide the gay marriage question for the nation. We need to start collecting signatures to up the vote requirement for amending the state constitution - if it had been been 2/3rds like most every other state across the country? Prop 8 would have soundly been defeated.

I need to get coffee and take Miss Kate out for a walk - my day has to start like any other. and we'll continue to fight for what we know is right.

Last night - I was listening to a President-elect Obama talk about a 106 year old voter who cast her vote in Georgia - how she was born one generation past slavery - - and the host of progressive movement forward she's witnessed in her lifetime. He wondered outloud - that if his young daughters live to 106 - what amazing progressive moves forward will they be witness to.

I am confident that one of those things will be marriage equality in America. There is a lot of reason to be upset that such a terrible amendment could succeed in a state like California. but there is a lot of reasons to understand that it's a single event in the battle - the battle for equal rights for gay Americans is just getting rolling. We - as gay Americans - need to stand up for equal access to healthcare, job discrimination.... as well as marriage equality. In the thirty-nine years since Stonewall - and the thirty years since Harvey Milk - and the ten years since Matthew Shepard - there have been great advances in our cause.

It does nobody any good to lose the hope that got us here. Because surely - the fight is ready to head to the next level. and armed with truth - we will win. It is not a matter of "if" - but when.