The Burden of Power

Normally, my reaction to any political event is to have a strong and vocal opinion. But Wednesday’s announcement that Proposition 8 had passed with flying colors in California, eliminating the rights of homosexuals to marry and, potentially, annulling the marriages of many gay couples, left me saddened and speechless.

Part of the pain came in the déjà vu. In November of 1992 I was a computer science graduate student at the University of Colorado. Sitting among my gaggle of nerds - almost all of whom identified as heterosexual - we rejoiced as we watched the numbers add up for the dynamic and unifying Bill Clinton. We cheered aloud; we cried, elated that 12+ years of ignorance had come to an end. The joy quickly turned to horror as we realized that Amendment 2, constitutionalizing discrimination against homosexuals, had passed. Sound familiar?

Focus on the Family, based in conservative Colorado Springs, supplied the financial juggernaut behind Amendment 2. They ran a flawless smear campaign out in the Colorado Plains. To be successful, they did five things: 1) they wrote an amendment where Yes meant No, 2) they misrepresented that a no vote implied “protected status” for gays, instead of the truth: equal rights for all, 3) they wielded church money and influence onto a civil issue, 4) they shamefully lied about the threat of the amendment to the church and to our children, and, 5) they took their fear and their lies out to honest, working class folks and transformed kindhearted family values into a message of hate. Sound familiar?

But here’s where things get different: in 1992, my friends, my straight friends, were aghast at this result. No one, gay or straight, stopped to celebrate. There was work to be done. So we did something crazy: the very next day, we started an email “list” to discuss your objections to Amendment 2. We held a meeting at school, and we taught all the other students outside of the computer science department how to use an email list serve. In no time we were rallying support all over the state, using the Internet to spread the message that hate was not a family value.

Back in 1958, a Virginia court sentenced Richard and Midred Loving, an interracial couple, to one year in prison after they moved their Washington DC sanctioned marriage to Virginia: “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.” How silly this statement sounds 50 years later. Eventually, a higher ruled this lower court’s decision unconstitutional; likewise in Colorado, when a 1996 Colorado Supreme Court struck down Amendment 2 as unconstitutional.

AP exit polls reported that 7 in 10 black voters voted Yes on Proposition 8. Out in record numbers to vote for the first black president (depending on how you count) who could finally unify and respect the diversity of our great nation, they helped elect Obama at the same time as they helped condemn the basic rights of over 10% of California’s citizens. Since few blacks and Latinos are practicing Mormons, I can’t help but wonder if, in retrospect, those voters feel used and manipulated, as did many fine families in Colorado, when they later came to understand what their “yes” vote truly represented.

The question for gay marriage, like interracial marriage, is not if, but when. This time around, will we have to wait another 50 years for hate and ignorance to fully dissolve? There is an obligation that comes with the kind of new-found political influence wielded by the previously unrepresented voices who screamed on September 5th, 2008: it is the responsibility to do the right thing. That is the burden of power. Whether you are young or old, gay or straight, black or white, the time has come to do more than pat yourself on the back for what you might have done right, but to also ask yourself, “What can I do now?”

WOW: Stupid People

This week I am worried that Stupid People may ruin it for the rest of us. As the country enters what could be the most important election of the century, it occurs to me that there is still a possibility that Stupidity will prevail, as it has for the last two election cycles.

I have been living in a bubble, and not just my normal liberal bubble (though, that too); I have been living in a smart people bubble. It is cohabitated by those who read the newspaper, understand the constitution, grasp the importance of the separation of church and state, and can explain the difference between religion, government, and economics.

Here’s a recap of the man-on-the-street radio interview that sparked my concern:

Interviewer: Have you decided who you are going to vote for?
Stupid Lady: Yes, John McCain.
Interviewer: Can you tell us why?
Stupid Lady: Yes, I think Barack Obama is more of a communist.
Interviewer: Can you give an example of a policy that supports that?
Stupid Lady: I just think he wants more Communism.

REALLY?? Really. More Communism? More than what?

You should have to pass a test to vote. You should have to prove that you understand basic high school social studies terms, as well as demonstrate that you have absorbed pertinent election information from somewhere other than Star Magazine.

After the train wreck of the last eight years, there are really only two reasons to support John McCain and the Republican Party:

1) You are stupid.**
2) You are a wealthy CEO who earns over half a million dollars in income per year and appreciates that John McCain will be watching your back with tax cuts, government contracts, and protected status for you.

** ”You are stupid” sometimes masquerades as one of the following:
1.1) Barack Obama isn’t qualified, what with his Harvard Degree law degree and eight years in the senate. You know better.
1.2) You're just doing the same thing your parents have always done.
1.3) Barack Obama is a communist Muslim terrorist supporter. All those senate votes he missed? Trainin’ with Comrade Osama Bin Laden (at least he knows where he is).
1.4) Sarah Palin is hot.