A bittersweet day for Justice

Nov. 4th 2008 – Barack Obama elected as POTUS, the first African-American. Prop 8, which bans same-sex marriage, passes in CA. 

May 26th 2009 – Obama nominates Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and the 3rd woman, to replace Justice Souter on the US Supreme Court. CA Supreme Courts upholds Prop 8 denying the Gay/Lesbian community equal rights. 

11/4/08 and 5/26/09 will go down in history books as bittersweet days. We have taken leaps in the state of race relations in our country and minorities and women are finally having their voices heard. On these same days, the rights for the Gay/Lesbian community have been squashed in the great state of California. 

I find it interesting that Obama said “And when Sonia Sotomayor ascends those marble steps to assume her seat on the highest court in the land, America will have taken another important step toward realizing the ideal that is etched about its entrance: Equal justice under the law.” on the same day that Prop 8 is upheld in CA DENYING equal rights to the Gay/Lesbian community.

How in the world do we elect an African-American to be President of the United States and yet deny equal rights for all citizens? One can not choose to be Gay/Lesbian any more than they can choose who they love. These are things that we don’t have control over. One is born with their sexual preference, gay parents are not going to necessarily raise more gay children. Most gays grew up with straight parents for goodness sake! How do religious zealots account for that? And what happened to love thy neighbor?  If you dare quote Leviticus and say that homosexuality is an “abomination” then I hope that you haven’t ever eaten shellfish or pork in your life or else you’re going to hell. 

If anything, I think gay families will teach their children to be more open and accepting to people who are different from them. To love people based on who they are inside instead of prejudice that is taught to them by people who are afraid of what they don’t know.

If it isn’t OK to discriminate based on the color of ones skin, sex or physical ability, then why is OK to discriminate based on sexual preference? I think people who oppose gay marriage need to take a deep look into themselves and their religion and see who is really in the wrong here. 

Separate is not equal. I support my Gay/Lesbian friends in their fight for equality in this country as much as I support minorities (blacks, asians, hispanics, women), to be treated as equals under the same laws.