Yeah, I know I’m a little late here, seeing this prop already passed on November 4, but I still feel the need to express my outrage that such a thing could even become part of California’s state constitution.

For those of you who are non-Californians, Prop 8 goes as follows, short and (not so) sweet:

“Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

It basically eliminates the right for homosexuals to get married.

This to me is just ridiculous for several reasons. I’m not sure what good could be accomplished by enacting this law. All it does is discriminate, and what does that show about the people of California? That we are homophobic and prejudiced against people outside the norm? I definitely would not like to be seen that way. Think about it: the United States used to have laws preventing interracial marriage, between whites and blacks, and between whites and Asians. Those laws were repealed because they aren’t constitutional. Those laws eliminated marriage rights; so does Prop 8. Why is it okay now to prevent certain people from getting married when you can’t do so to others?

I know some religious groups, particularly the Catholic Church I attend and especially the Church of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons), were in support of Prop 8. I believe they refer to the Bible to declare that homosexuality is a sin. Being a more scientific person, I believe that sexual orientation is something you’re born with as a result of chemicals in your brain. I didn’t know until a little while ago that some religious people view homosexuality as a choice. To me, that is just ridiculous. I mean, I did a quick search on Google and found loads of sites confirming my theory. I mean, I just don’t understand, if everyone is “created in God’s image,” then aren’t the gays also? But then again, religion and science don’t mix too well, do they?

I’ve also heard some people say, well, so what if the gays can’t marry? They can get a civil union. Unfortunately, they are not the same thing. If a couple is married, then they are married in every state and have the same rights as every married couple. If a couple is in a civil union, then their rights aren’t uniformly defined across the US. So if perhaps someone in a civil union had a health care plan that included his/her partner in one state, they might not get the same benefits in the next state.

Some people want to protect the “sanctity of marriage.” Well, I hate to let this come to light, but people can get married in Las Vegas one night and then divorced the next. If that doesn’t violate marriage’s sanctity, then I don’t know what does. Some people think marriage is solely defined as the “union between a man and a woman.” Well, words change over time, as do their definitions. People will change language as it suits them. Why doesn’t that seem to apply to the word “marriage?”

Also, don’t even get me started on the ridiculousness of some of the propaganda supporting Prop 8. I’ve seen so many commercials and so many signs that my eyes have nearly bled (seriously). One of my favorites goes as follows: a young girl (maybe in second grade?) comes home from school and tells her mom something along the lines of “Today I learned that princes can marry princes and that if I want to, I can marry a princess!” And then her mom looks all shocked and probably proceeds to instruct her daughter in the “correct way of marriage” or something like that. Seriously, that commercial is so wrong it’s funny. Firstly, public schools aren’t required to teach anything about marriage, which is why I highly doubt a second grader would ever come home from school to talk about “princes marrying princes.” Besides, if there was a school program about marriage, parents can request to have their child excused from it, and the schools are then required to follow this request. On top of that, if parents don’t like the way public schools are teaching their children, they always have the option to home school their child or put them in a private school. And I don’t want to hear anything about well, maybe they don’t have time to home school their kids or maybe they can’t afford private school. Well, if they cared enough, they would find a way to make it happen.

I’ve also seen some of the most ridiculous handmade signs in support of Prop 8. One of them, I believe, said something like “protect religious freedom.” Uh, hello?!? Americans already have religious freedom. However, what we do not have is a mixture of government and religion. I don’t think eliminating rights for homosexuals to get married has anything to do with religion. It has to do with discrimination.

Oh, and my oh my, should you have seen all the signs in support of Prop 8 around where I live (I live in a rather conservative part of SoCal). One time when I walked home from school, I counted at least twenty something “Yes on 8” signs. The day before the election, I saw one house with at least 10 signs. I’m pretty sure I saw a man who lived in that house jaywalk across the street to plant some “Yes on 8” signs on public property. I’m glad they were gone the next day.

This weekend, I turned on the news and saw that there were anti-Prop 8 protests occurring in LA and one other southern California locale I forget. There were a lot of people holding signs that said “H8” because, well, that’s what Prop 8 is. I really hope Prop 8 will be tried in court and found unconstitutional (against the United States’ Constitution, not the California constitution considering it is now a part of it) because I believe in tolerance for people who aren’t like me. I am an open-minded thinker, and I hate it when people tell me what to think. I especially hate it when people lie to me. And this is why I am so against Prop 8. It serves no purpose other than to eliminate rights and promote intolerance and discrimination.

Of course, this is not solely a Californian issue. It was put up to vote in several other states, I believe Arizona and Florida (I may not be right, and there may be others as well). I hope in those states, their new prevention of same-sex marriage will be overthrown.