Til Death Do Us Part

I think it's been pretty well established that although I enjoy California, in my heart, I'll always be a New Yorker. In particular, there is one thing about California that really gets my goat, Prop 8.

Proposition 8 managed to tear down a law that allowed for gay marriage in the state of California under the guise of "protecting traditional marriage". Now there's a lot of things wrong with that concept. First off, "traditional marriage" was originally no more than an opportunity for a man to "acquire" a wife. Traditional marriage also allowed for the sanctioned abuse of women. Such allowances have changed as our society has changed. The concept of marriage is fluid.

My personal belief is that no one can lament their lack of civil rights if they only use their gains to oppress others. Therefore, I cannot demand civil rights as a woman or a Black person if I am not willing to give those same rights to others.

My current hero is a man who's decided that if we are truly going to "protect traditional marriage" we should ban divorce in the state of California. I think the genius of this concept is its simplicity. Why wouldn't you ban divorce to protect marriage? Although a lot of people view this as a joke, I would love to see people hop on his train if for no other reason than to prove a point. Homophobic hustlers are hiding behind this protection angle to avoid saying the truth; they hate gay people and they don't want them to have the same rights afforded to "normal" people. Until we expose this for what it really is, they will continue to gather people who feel comfortable hiding behind a falsehood. So I say, ban divorce. Marriage is too important not to be protected.