CA Prop 8 is Hate.
[soapbox]
I don't like to talk much about my grandfather. I don't think most people would understand the admiration I have for him. He was a WWII veteran. He survived the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. He marched across Europe, liberating concentration camps. He served his nation proudly.
But when he came back, the country he fought for institutionalized him for his... and I hate this word... "queerness" of character. They put him through electroshock therapy, a side-effect of which wiped clean many horrific memories he held of his service, for better or for worse.
My grandfather spent the last part of his life doing what he could for the San Francisco community. He sponsored people through AA, and donated his time and money to various charities, including The Names Project, better known as The AIDS Quilt. It was while volunteering that he met the man who he would share the last chapter of his life with, a Chinese national-turned-US Veteran. This man became as much a member of our family as anyone could, and I keep their dog tags together as a reminder that even though they departed at different times from this world, that they'll always be together - love is a force that bonded them, and their mementos I keep will always be with one another.
My grandmother never divorced my grandfather - she had a decent insurance plan as a College teacher that she would never want my grandfather to not be covered under. They lived apart from the time my dad was in 6th grade, but remained in constant contact, and would always be at family functions together. They always considered themselves "husband and wife." On my grandfathers deathbed, she confessed that she still cared deeply for him, and that she had no regrets for marrying and having 3 kids with a gay man, for the lives they both led.
My grandfather would want me to vote against Proposition 8 on the California ballots. If there's one thing I learned from him, it is that love, in all its forms and shades and colors, love is the most beautiful thing to have and share in this world. To say that someone's expression of love is less valid than another, simply because of some silly, superficial thing as gender, is an absurdity and a gigantic step backwards for civil rights.
It sickens me to hear the proponents of prop 8 justify their hatred and bigotry. They've been spreading lies told by children to push their message of intolerance. It disgusts me to think that hate is still a "family value" in religious households. These are the people who put my grandfather in an Asylum. They were the ones who put the electrodes against his temples. They threw the switch, erasing memories in a misguided attempt to erase what they didn't like about my grandfather. They are the religious conservatives, spreading lies and misinformation to goad voters into fearing homosexuals. "Love thy neighbor, unless he's a fag," they scream from their pulpits, missing the point of the teachings they claim to hold close so far, its ridiculous. What part of "universal love" do they not understand? It boggles the mind.
I'm urging all of my fellow Californian voters to join me in voting No on Prop 8. We need to send a message to religious conservatives that bigotry has no place in the State's Constitution, that Hate is not a family value, that the love shared by two consenting adults is always a beautiful thing, no matter who they are.
I'll close with a letter I sent to the editor of my local newspaper a few years ago. It got printed, and it is one of the pieces of writing I am most proud of.
--
Twenty years from now, when homosexuals have been granted all the same protections and benefits of heterosexual married couples, we will look back disdainfully toward those who stood in their way.
The so-called “Champions of Marriage” who seek to prevent this change will be viewed as the backwards bigots they are, unable to get along with the rest of humanity, akin to the KKK and those who attempted to thwart the civil rights movements of the 1960s.
In this day of war, genocide, famine, rape, poverty and stealing, does it really matter to you that your neighbor seeks comfort in the arms of another man or woman, and why would this thought bring discomfort to you? Maybe a better question is, “If two consenting adults decided to consummate their affections towards each other in the peace and privacy of their own home, what business is it to you?” And if you’re in a quandary about it, let me give you the short answer: “None, whatsoever.”
To me, there is nothing moral about denying the love shared between two people. To deny that is to deny one’s pursuit of happiness.
--
[/soapbox]
(I just showed this to my dad, who offered up some points and edits to make).
I don't like to talk much about my grandfather. I don't think most people would understand the admiration I have for him. He was a WWII veteran. He survived the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. He marched across Europe, liberating concentration camps. He served his nation proudly.
But when he came back, the country he fought for institutionalized him for his... and I hate this word... "queerness" of character. They put him through electroshock therapy, a side-effect of which wiped clean many horrific memories he held of his service, for better or for worse.
My grandfather spent the last part of his life doing what he could for the San Francisco community. He sponsored people through AA, and donated his time and money to various charities, including The Names Project, better known as The AIDS Quilt. It was while volunteering that he met the man who he would share the last chapter of his life with, a Chinese national-turned-US Veteran. This man became as much a member of our family as anyone could, and I keep their dog tags together as a reminder that even though they departed at different times from this world, that they'll always be together - love is a force that bonded them, and their mementos I keep will always be with one another.
My grandmother never divorced my grandfather - she had a decent insurance plan as a College teacher that she would never want my grandfather to not be covered under. They lived apart from the time my dad was in 6th grade, but remained in constant contact, and would always be at family functions together. They always considered themselves "husband and wife." On my grandfathers deathbed, she confessed that she still cared deeply for him, and that she had no regrets for marrying and having 3 kids with a gay man, for the lives they both led.
My grandfather would want me to vote against Proposition 8 on the California ballots. If there's one thing I learned from him, it is that love, in all its forms and shades and colors, love is the most beautiful thing to have and share in this world. To say that someone's expression of love is less valid than another, simply because of some silly, superficial thing as gender, is an absurdity and a gigantic step backwards for civil rights.
It sickens me to hear the proponents of prop 8 justify their hatred and bigotry. They've been spreading lies told by children to push their message of intolerance. It disgusts me to think that hate is still a "family value" in religious households. These are the people who put my grandfather in an Asylum. They were the ones who put the electrodes against his temples. They threw the switch, erasing memories in a misguided attempt to erase what they didn't like about my grandfather. They are the religious conservatives, spreading lies and misinformation to goad voters into fearing homosexuals. "Love thy neighbor, unless he's a fag," they scream from their pulpits, missing the point of the teachings they claim to hold close so far, its ridiculous. What part of "universal love" do they not understand? It boggles the mind.
I'm urging all of my fellow Californian voters to join me in voting No on Prop 8. We need to send a message to religious conservatives that bigotry has no place in the State's Constitution, that Hate is not a family value, that the love shared by two consenting adults is always a beautiful thing, no matter who they are.
I'll close with a letter I sent to the editor of my local newspaper a few years ago. It got printed, and it is one of the pieces of writing I am most proud of.
--
Twenty years from now, when homosexuals have been granted all the same protections and benefits of heterosexual married couples, we will look back disdainfully toward those who stood in their way.
The so-called “Champions of Marriage” who seek to prevent this change will be viewed as the backwards bigots they are, unable to get along with the rest of humanity, akin to the KKK and those who attempted to thwart the civil rights movements of the 1960s.
In this day of war, genocide, famine, rape, poverty and stealing, does it really matter to you that your neighbor seeks comfort in the arms of another man or woman, and why would this thought bring discomfort to you? Maybe a better question is, “If two consenting adults decided to consummate their affections towards each other in the peace and privacy of their own home, what business is it to you?” And if you’re in a quandary about it, let me give you the short answer: “None, whatsoever.”
To me, there is nothing moral about denying the love shared between two people. To deny that is to deny one’s pursuit of happiness.
--
[/soapbox]
(I just showed this to my dad, who offered up some points and edits to make).
Load Comments...
Discuss...
Enable JavaScript to submit a comment.