Let’s not be naive. Just because it looks like the Western world is about to get its first black intellectual president, just because the nation’s most influential and populous state could very possibly decide, finally and forevermore, that two adults of the same gender can get married without the cruel hammer of religious ignorance crashing down upon their heads, well, this can’t possibly be a sign that racism and homophobia, two of our three most revered national pastimes (don’t forget the sexism!) are going away anytime soon.
Unless it can. Unless some of our darkest cultural demons could finally be up for a major exorcism. Could it be true? Could this vote, at the very least, be one hell of a giant step forward in the fight against two toxic beliefs that have poisoned the American mindset for ages? Let me suggest: You’re damn right it could.
There are 1,001 ways to try to convince the outer ring of the outer ring of your sphere of influence to get up and do something about this election out here, but Morford’s piece bumps it to 1,002.
We knew a Field Poll on the California propositions would be released right before the election, and indeed, out it came. From “‘Yes on Prop. 8′ gaining on foes, poll finds,” in this morning’s Sacramento Bee:
Over the past six weeks, a proposed constitutional amendment that would end same-sex marriage in California has gained substantial ground but still trails by a five-point margin heading into Tuesday’s election.
A new Field Poll shows Proposition 8, one of the most closely watched state ballot measures in years, is supported by 44 percent of likely voters. Forty-nine percent oppose it, and 7 percent are undecided.
In the last Field Poll, released Sept. 18, the measure was behind by 17 points.
I hasten to remind us, with a stone in my gut, of the “gay Bradley effect,” as I like to call it, surely confounding the historical record about the sexual orientation of the former mayor of L.A. His loss in the 1982 gubernatorial race in this state, given his healthy lead in the polls before the vote, was a suprise, and widely attributed to the social stigma of racism that voters felt when speaking to pollsters. In anti-gay marriage initiatives nationwide, a 7-10% difference has consistently shown up between actual vote and the polls leading up to it. Same thing: there’s some social stigma against homophobia/heterosexism, but no one’s looking when you get into the sanctum sanctorum of the voting booth.
I was in the midst of “Urgent appeal, part deux,” a rambling rant which may not see the light of internet, because IN CAME THIS BREAKING NEWS!
Look what you just did! You just blew past our pulled out of my arse third fundraising goal, and poured in more than $3,216 in less than 24 hours! We get to see the “we did it!” happy graphic again! (For at least 24 hours, really. I mean it this time. But then I may be inspired/egged to up it just an eensy bit, one more time. For the last time. Really.)
Why did we did it? Because a ton of people are coming together and helping us to did it. Over a half dozen other bloggers have graciously borrowed the code for the thermometer and parked it on their blogs, either in a sidebar or a post:
(You want to post this fundraising jobbie on your blog? Write me! It’s yours!) I’m absolutely certain I’ve forgotten some more LD Love Train Brigadistas, and will gleefully add them to this list, plus the other in-process one I have going on over at my No on 8 page.
Yet more have linked to it in blog posts, and as Goddess is my witness, I will note and thank all of THEM properly, too. Along with the first names, the home towns, and the various occupations of those of you who have contributed to this much, much larger battle via this extremely appreciative entry point. (All info disaggregated, of course, so that you don’t find a clot of picketing wingnuts in front of your house chanting “No on love! No on love!” or what have you.)
All that, as soon as my fingers can catch up with real time events that are exploding all around me.
The other reason why we did it is simply that the magnitude of this whole battle is getting bigger and bigger, and clearer and clearer, by the minute. Picture the opening scene of Star Wars, where over the course of a good long twelve seconds (an eternity in movie land!), we eventually get the full measure of the Star Destroyer, or whatever it is, that’s attacking our intrepid heroes. Like, at first, we’re all: Ooo! That’s scary! Then we’re all: Shit. O shit. Then we fall silent.
On Tuesday, the other side reported donations of $2.2 million, dwarfing the $255,650 we reported, and called on their donors to contribute another $3 million.
With this enormous sum of money they are buying every available ad space on TV in California to blast even more of their hateful lies and prevent our messages from being seen.
Unless we raise $3 million in the next three days we will likely lose.
Kate added:
A campaign donor recently told me that their gift was five times more than they had ever given and suggested that everyone do the same. I am pledging to raise $100,000 each day, and Sandy and I are draining the household emergency fund to make the largest contribution we’ve ever given to a political campaign.
And I’m asking you to increase your gift at whatever amount you can, so that we can match the other side on the air.
So. It’s back to the family budget talk for the beloved and me, to figure out what ELSE we can do without. More than separate-but-unequal status for our family.
[This post is one among scores hundreds of entries in Write to Marry Day, a blog carnival to support same-sex marriage and rally opposition to Prop 8, organized by Mike Rogers of PageOneQ and Dana Rudolph of Mombian.]
With the dutiful, if futile, determination of Sisyphus, I keep trying to find some words –Â the words — that will make a difference in the battle against California’s Proposition 8. The same series of thoughts have dogged me for weeks: if only I could string together the right reasoning, the sparkling jewels of argument, the compelling details of personal narrative. Real imagery of real people, good people, kind people, who deserve the preservation of this right. Lofty, heart-swelling reminders of what a Constitution is for, and a Supreme Court, and a Bill of Rights. The protection of individual and minority rights. The sanctity of church/state separation, for the love of both. Â The stuff democracies are made of. Â
If only I could convey these, I think, in the right tone. Â If only they could somehow be put in front of the right people. Â Enough of them. Â Hell, even a handful. Â Since all along we’ve known this will be won or lost by something like a handful of votes.
Compelling arguments for the retention of same-sex marriage abound, of course. Any whistle-stop tour of these should begin with the very finding of the California Supreme Court  that Proposition 8 seeks to override:
And ample illustration of why I (along with any other sane person in this state) might need regular, high doses of Mary Oliver, my children, and everything else that is holy, over the next week.
This incident, captured by a woman at an intersection I’ve walked through countless times, since I was a girl:
Highlights, especially helpful since a Yes on 8 enthusiast grabbed the camera phone and disabled it off mid-clip:
That’s when she attacked, clawing, grabbing and then shoving. I didn’t fight back; she was much bigger than me. Calling me a “nasty fucker” and threatening to kick my ass, she pried my phone out of my hand and tried to break it in half while her friends egged her on.
Please note that I never touched or threatened her in any way (unless you want to consider my pulling the edge of her sign out of eye-poking territory a threatening gesture).
…I stood there for another minute or two, checking the phone’s applications for damage. One of the other sign-wavers, a teenage boy standing nearby, leaned over and whispered “fuck you, dyke.”
My wife appeared with an “Ex-Mormon 4 Equality” sign and that fueled a personal attack that was verbal and in-your-face, literally 2-3 inches from her. It included prolonged screaming, taunting, name-calling and anti-gay hate speech including things like “you need to be f’d by a man.” That was one thing, but when they actually circled around her and began closing in physically (grabbing at her), she called for the police officer nearby.
…We spoke tonight with a woman who was in Hawaii during the election that determined their laws on same-sex marriage, and she relayed that the homophobia really escalated after same-sex marriage was defeated.
Evidentally, people didn’t feel so bad about keeping their comments to themselves anymore. Let’s not allow this to happen in CA.
they really didn’t even understand the measure very well, they just Hated gay people. They would yell things like “Yes on 8 No HIV” “Yes on 8 I love women.”
So to top it all off, the police were there keeping order because most of the Yes on 8 people were young men and boys who were very very riled up. When the police left they started to approach us and it felt a little scary so I called 911 and asked them to come back. They reluctantly said ok and stated, “Ya no, we can’t baby-sit you all the time.”
“Make of yourself a light”
said the Buddha,
before he died.
I think of this every morning
as the east begins
to tear off its many clouds
of darkness, to send up the first
signal-a white fan
streaked with pink and violet,
even green.
An old man, he lay down
between two sala trees,
and he might have said anything,
knowing it was his final hour.
The light burns upward,
it thickens and settles over the fields.
Around him, the villagers gathered
and stretched forward to listen.
Even before the sun itself
hangs, disattached, in the blue air,
I am touched everywhere
by its ocean of yellow waves.
No doubt he thought of everything
that had happened in his difficult life.
And then I feel the sun itself
as it blazes over the hills,
like a million flowers on fire-
clearly I’m not needed,
yet I feel myself turning
into something of inexplicable value.
Slowly, beneath the branches,
he raised his head.
He looked into the faces of that frightened crowd.
So fast, the title doesn’t even give you a CLUE.
