How did Prop 8 Affect Me?
Depends:
For California-
If you're gay and already married, then your marriage is still valid and legal, however, if you were to dissolve your marriage, you wouldn't be able to marry again unless they are of opposite gender.
If you're gay and not married, then this affects you greatly, for Prop 8 halted same sex marriage and made it illegal in the state of California. The only other option you have is a civil union.
If you live outside of California, pay attention to what happens here, for it is likely that if same sex marriage issues have not come to your state yet, it will. When it does, educating yourself on what happens in California, as well as past cases, will prepair you for what may come in your state.
Prop 8 does not apply to Heterosexual Marriages.
What is the big deal?
Prop 8 has now created a legal underclass out of the gay community by taking away their right to marry people of the same sex. Throughout history we've seen the travesties that people of an underclass suffer due to discrimination. Discrimination distorts the truth and damages personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. It also sets the precedence for more radical laws or amendments to be passed and deflates justice into nothing more then a euphemism of bigot beliefs.
But my church says I should oppose gay marriage?
Allowing people the freedom to marry whomever they choose should not only be a right, but a moral obligation. It is wrong not only to allow religious philosophy to enter into the political realm, but to presuppose that it obligates you to condone inequality for a minority in a democracy that promotes freedom regardless of beliefs. It is blasphemous to believe in a higher power that says that it is OK to dehumanize others because they disagree with you.
What about the Preservation of Marriage?
In Loving V. Virginia, there was a similar issue. A state law that banned interracial marriages. In this, the state interest was protecting the sanctity of marriage, the preservation of Justice however outweighed the hidden motive of discrimination, and it was overturned. Same sex marriages do not destroy the sanctity of marriage. The states that allow same sex marriage, have not been destroyed and all of the fear behind it's legalization was just that. Fear. When Prop 8 was on the ballot, supporters of it pushed fear into the public by saying that it sets a precedence for laws allowing people to marry animals and that you will lose parental rights, that allowing homosexuals to marry impended on freedoms.
In the end, the final product was a perversion of justice and a mockery of civil rights. But it's not over yet.
Check back here periodically, I will have more questions to answer and more education to give.
