Just as when the proponents of same-sex marriage ban thought that the passage of Proposition 8 in the recent ballot initiative in California was the final hate nail in the gay-lesbian coffin, it instead saw the LGBT community and its sympathizers rising up like a reserve army called upon to fight an epic battle.
Visibly stunned and angered with disbelief, supporters of same-sex marriage reacted with impressive speed, galvanizing forces across the continent within hours of its passage for protest actions in cities big and small that would continue for days and cap with huge mobilizations in important cities.
I’m not at all surprised by this reaction. Prop (H)8 as it is called now by its opponents, struck at the very heart of equality like a wooden stake into vampire’s chest — at least that is how it’s proponents probably fantasize it to be. It made outcasts of a significant portion of the population who have not kept silent since Stonewall.
Proposition 8 has no rightful place in a truly free and democratic society like the US — well, at least that’s how the founders envisioned it to be – so the constitution guaranteed equal protection of the law (and even if it did not, the people would have definitely fought for it nonetheless.)
It is only proper to question Prop (H)8 in the state supreme court, all the way to the US supreme court if necessary. In issues like this, it does not matter what a person’s religious belief is and it is utterly repugnant that a certain religious definition or concept of civil status would be imposed upon the state or the public. Any person with a clear understanding of this constitutional principle, along with other hallmarks like free speech and expression and others, would not have difficulty comprehending the unconstitutionality of the Prop (h)8.
But ours is a society of hatred and bigotry. And Prop (h)8 makes one wonder if the Americans really mean it every time they sing (or if there is truth to) that part of the anthem where it says America is “the land of the free.” Slavery and segregation were not abolished or women were not allowed to vote ages ago only to prohibit same sex marriage in modern times. Prop (h)8 is a throwback to a dark past, not a bold push to a bright future.
It is ironic that California would decriminalize prostitution in a certain city and then ban same-sex marriage in the State by revising its constitution. Equality in this male-dominated society takes the form of women as sex objects and gays as abomination.
The battle, as it is, however, is not over. And rightly so.
Pending before the California supreme court are various lawsuits challenging the Propostion’s legality. But no matter which way the court rules, the people should continue the fight for equality. And this long arduous fight should extend to all forms of discrimination including women’s emancipation and an end to immigrant bashing in order for its essence to be genuinely met and for freedom to be a social reality. It should encompass the entire human race, global in scale and across all borders.
Yes, Obama’s election has brought change to America. But it certainly is not an epilogue to a history of discrimination, but a prologue to a continuing saga of the world’s peoples’ struggle for a better world.
Posted by diego rojo banaag 
