Really America, I thought we were beyond this...

One thing that tics me off is how uneducated people are about the facts. People in our country, for the most part, believe most of what they hear...wholeheartedly, without any personal investigation or questioning. For example, we here in California had a constitutional amendment that changed wording to include language that recognized marriage as being "between a man and a woman." Now I'm not exactly sure what it was changed from, but I'm pretty sure it said two persons or two people, hence the "need" for a change. Now, all religious sentiment aside, what the passing of the amendment did was take away the rights of millions of people in our state, which is fundamentally wrong. I have two arguments for this (I know some of you are thinking, "only two" but it's about quality, not quantity):

• First, if people are saying that marriage is a "religious" institution, then all marriages granted by the State of California should be rendered null and void. Due to separation of church and state, the state of California cannot issue something that is religious in nature. This means that everyone with a California "Marriage" License is not married, all children born to couples with marriage licenses are now born out of wedlock, all men who are paying alimony (and women paying palimony) do not have to pay anymore (in fact, all monetary awards should be paid back since the contract was invalid), and all Christians who have a state marriage license (not a church marriage license) have been living in sin for however long they've been married.
• Second, if it is not a "religious" institution, then we can't use religion as a means to keep people from having the same state and federal rights as everyone else. If we believe that "all men are created equal" includes men and women of different ethnicities, cultures, religions, creeds, and so on, then we fundamentally believe that the state institution of marriage has constitutional bounds to everyone, including same sex couples. I'm not saying you have to be in favor of same sex relationships, but you have to give people the right to do what the constitution protects for all Americans. If you are Christian, you know that your belief has to be a choice, your own free will. The Bible emphasizes FAITH in God and Jesus, being the Son of God, who died on the cross for your sins, is what "saves" you from an eternity of damnation. I met someone who told me, "But it [not being homosexual] is the right way to live and we need to make sure that people live their lives the right [Christian] way." My response to this was that if you are making it a requirement to live a Christian lifestyle, then you are damning millions of people to hell. Follow me for a minute; if you require people to live a Christian lifestyle, then you are taking away their free choice, which is the foundation upon what faith is based on. If you take away their free choice, they are not living the Christian lifestyle through faith; they are doing it because it's required. This, in all actuality, makes it so that faith is removed from the equation. "And without faith it impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and the he rewards those who earnestly seek Him." If people are being required by the law of man to live this way, then can they earnestly seek God through faith?

So what is a major reason that people voted to take away the rights of a whole culture of Americans, thus violating their civil rights? I say fear. People are so scared of things that are foreign to them. I guess it's the closest thing to a reflex we have. It's funny how these fears change as generations progress. Let's go back a mere 50 years ago, I mean we could go back further, but I don't want to wake up my history teacher friends for verification. So 50 years ago Black people did not have the same rights as everyone else. I think the main fear was that people didn't understand black culture and didn't know what would happen. You saw a huge negative attitude toward interracial dating and "fraternization" with people of Black American and African American decent. People were afraid of their children showing characteristics of a culture they didn't understand. Eventually, through acculturation led in the music and sports industry, it became understood and generally accepted by mainstream cultures. We can trace the same attitude toward any culture that is Fox News or CNN.

I had a friend, I don't think we're much of friends anymore...mostly my choice, who said the reason they supported Proposition 8 was because she did not want homosexuality taught in schools. Before we get into the obvious response, let's continue with the conversation. She said that even though her teacher friend had already informed her homosexuality was taught in schools, she still voted on legislation to keep homosexuality from being taught in school.. Now, I sat there and listened to her make this nonsensical argument to me and couldn't believe what she was saying. First of all, if your reasoning was to keep homosexuality from being taught in schools, then you should make a proposition that deals with curriculum, or talk to the CDE (California Department of Education), or talk to your superintendent. You don't change the constitution and support discrimination in order to keep homosexuality from being taught in schools. Second of all, if homsexuality is already taught in schools, it seems a little BASS ACKWARDS to pass a propostion to keep something that's already happening from happening.

So now we have a culture of people who are homosexual that are being denied the same rights as I was given as a result of my ancestors and their friends fighting and giving up their lives and futures for. Friends of all races, nationalities, creeds, religions, sexual orientation, and ethnicities. Am I saying that what Black and African Americans have gone through since slavery is the same as what same sex couples are going through nowadays? In a word, NO! I am not saying that. All I am doing is stating that the denial of "inalienable" rights is still prevalent in today's America as it was back in Benjamin Franklin's America, if not more so. It has just become more sophisticated, subversive, and devious. Sorry if I've offended people, but I'm just thinking out loud.