Why are Homosexuals so Upset about Prop 8?

Should America really expect "them" just to go away in the wake of defeat? Many in America have desired exactly this and will fight for that day when it happens. However, this disposition fueled by ideology has only forced many people to react and they have now begun to scream. No one is "going away" any time soon.

Violence and absurdity should not be condoned simply because we as Americans have a right to freely assemble and protest. However, when any subset of a population believes that its fundamental recognition as citizens of a nation is being arbitrarily denied them, you will see such reactions inevitably occur.

Such protests do not speak for the entire group that is deeply hurt and offended by their regard by the state in as much as the Black Panthers did not represent the civil rights movement for most people of color. As with the civil rights movement, the entire issue with the homosexual community at the juncture in time is not new. It is a decades old conflict in our society that has just reached a tipping point. The abnegating rhetoric from lobbying and action groups that has been a continual jabbing force backed by millions of dollars from many organizations and people and it is exactly what fans the flames of hostility and irrationality in response.

Here is an example:

"For one, infertile normal couples meet the basic requirement of marriage: a man and a woman. Secondly, when they seek to adopt children or benefit from reproductive science, they are merely mimicking the natural, complementary, mom-and-dad family — not creating intentionally motherless or fatherless homes and subjecting children to a radical reinvention of “family,” with two “dads” or two “moms.” Lastly, such straight, infertile couples desiring children turn to bountiful, procreative heterosexuality — not homosexuality, or apple trees for that matter — to fulfill their dream of a family."

The message then considers the agenda of those who are attracted to the same gender deviant and makes a comparison to sex-addiction. The argument is that two people of the same gender cannot raise a child to grow and develop just as healthily and yes, heterosexually as a man and a woman. It places the union of two people of the same gender on par with a divorced couple wherein a child does indeed have a motherless and fatherless household.

Yet this assertion does not ask the question why a child cannot be raised just as effectively by two persons of the same gender as one who has two parents of different genders. It is assumed that this is the case. The notion of biological complementarity trumps the notion that two nurturing parents is the optimal situation which anyone can see is the case in the literature on childhood development.

The problem is quite simple. It is not enough that a domestic partnership in California grants the same rights to a partnership regardless of gender as those rights conferred by marriage. The problem is that there is a distinction and a clear devaluation of one kind of relationship in favor of another that is clearly viewed as more pure, natural, etc. The distinction is fueled by the kind of rhetoric that you read above.

A religious organization may choose not to recognize these kinds of relationships. The KKK, after all, has a legal protection to condone racism and devalue the relationships and existence of people of color and Jews in the geographic boundary of the United States. But the problem with groups like the KKK is if their ideological values become legislation. These values would, by definition, infringe on the rights of people simply based on their heritage, upbringing, and genetics.

One would think that we would be enlightened enough in this period in history to see the obvious conclusions that this argument should render in our system of lawmaking. If the enacting of an ideology infringes on anyone's Constitutional rights, that ideology needs to be revised. To that degree it is no different if I have certain beliefs about the presence of people of color or those of different religious traditions, or what I believe about marriage.

This is Rodney King all over again and in the same state. Now those riots were unjustified and horrible. But the rationale that fueled them was clear even before the verdict was rendered. We never even asked ourselves what would happen if that verdict came back not guilty. Even if we did ask ourselves that question, would we have just expected all the black folk in LA and DC to sing "Kum Bah Yah", hold hands, and let the white man hose them down again? That was a wake up call to a reality that most of America was not aware of.

Gay people are waking us up to the fact that they have not been included as full citizens in this union. To argue that they indeed are is ignorant of the actual reality that exists. No, violence and public displays of absurity are never justified. But sometimes you need to whack people with a 2×4 in order to wake them up to the realities from which they are comfortably sealed off and blissfully ignorant. It is part of our common heritage in this country for minorities that have been displaced to wake up the majority culture. It is the very furnace of outrage that made this country what it is. It is the outrage that results when a people in the union are continually devalued at the hands of irrationality.

The Revolution, equal regard for all religions in states, the freeing of slaves, equal regard for women, equity for persons color, etc. have all begun in quiet protest, but have all lead to loud voices shouting in order to be heard and recognized. When enough people gather together in one voice and demand equality, things change. Unfortunately those voices often get ignored and tuned out by the larger society until they get loud enough by making noise. I would urge peaceful protest at every opportunity in order to crowd out elements of violence. But those elements of violence will always subsist in a free society.

This noise will not stop until change happens. This is more than an ideological agenda by a minority trying to destroy the country. This is a movement of people who desire to be viewed as normal citizens with normal rights, responsibilities, and privileges. In America movements of people do not die, they result in change. It is time for people to recognize the sleeping giant in the room that the very presence of Proposition 8 woke up. It has been 30 years since Harvey Milk was assassinated. That's a long time to wait for change and the time is now.