I digress from my usual fodder to step onto my soapbox for a [maybe not so] brief moment.
My previous post talks about the bill that Governor Gregoire signed into law on February 13, 2012. I couldn’t be more proud to live in a state that has managed to make this happen. And yet I find myself cautiously optimistic. I lived in one of the last states that tried this and was then profoundly disappointed when groups dedicated huge sums of money to run a campaign based on misinformation and blatant lies in order to overturn the decision. And it worked.
I still find myself mystified as to how anyone can believe that prohibiting one group of U.S. citizens from having something that other U.S. citizens have is not unconstitutional. I am mystified as to how anyone can choose to quote a handful of Bible verses in support of their cause while ignoring all the rest. I am mystified as to how anyone who calls themselves a Christian can claim to stand in judgment of others, forgetting that it is God’s place, and God’s place only, to stand in judgment.
I know this is politically sensitive and religiously charged. But I feel compelled to share a handful of things that I have found, seen, or written over the past decade as it relates to this issue.
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One of the things that State Rep. Jamie Pedersen made clear at the Seattle Women’s Chorus event I attended on February 18th is that we can’t sit back and assume we are in the clear on this. Just as Prop 8 in California was put to the voters (amid confusion and lies) and ultimately supported in an incredibly close vote, so could this happen to us here in Washington. There are things I learned from living through it in California.
--Talk to people. It was amazing to me how many of my friends, who are in support of same-sex marriage, hadn’t really thought about it thoroughly. When we were able to talk with each other they began to see the importance of not only supporting the vote, but actually getting out and making the vote. We can’t sit back and think that it’s going to be ok. Complacence is our enemy.
--As I talked to those friends, they talked to their friends and family. We began a campaign of “if you find that you can’t support us, please at least do us a favor and don’t vote against us”. But we do need votes, so please get out and vote if you possibly are able.
--Get clear on the actual vote itself. Prop 8 in California confused a lot of folks in the way it was worded. Some people thought they were voting in support of gay marriage by making a “Yes” vote only to discover after the fact that they had been confused by the language. The people putting these measures on the ballot do everything they can to confuse the issue. Get to know the ballot measure if it comes to pass, and then please, get out and vote if you do support equality. Here is a link to help with that.
--There are a lot of folks who don’t give it a lot of thought about it either way. They are in support of equal rights, but they don’t take the initiative to vote about it. Ask them to step up. Ask them to see human beings as deserving equal protection under the law and equality across the board. Ask them to see gays and lesbians as regular human beings with the same concerns as everyone else; concerns about the economy, jobs, education, homeland security, our nation’s future, and raising children in loving homes to become responsible, contributing adults.
We’re all just here trying to make our own way.
Stepping down off the soapbox now.
Stepping down off the soapbox now.
