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In a little over a week, California voters will have a unique opportunity. We will have a chance to strip some of our fellow citizens of their rights. Even in the enlightened twenty-first century, when it would seem these kinds of battles would have long since been fought and won, small minded people are still trying to minimize and marginalize an entire segment of society. It’s shameful and not a little shocking that we’re still fighting these battles.
Proposition 8 on the California ballot would revoke the right of same sex couples to marry. It’s a right they currently enjoy, the same as heterosexual couples, and yet there are some who would take that right away. There is no good reason to do that, other than prejudice and bigotry. There’s no justification for treating people differently because of how they’re wired or how they look or whom they love. Hate them all you want, but keep it to yourself and don’t use state law to deprive them of rights they’re entitled to by natural law.
The mark of a civilized republic is how the majority treats the minority. Just because one group has the numbers to oppress another doesn’t mean that’s what they should do. And yet it’s a battle we’ve had to fight over and over in this country. It took almost a century after our nation’s founding to outlaw slavery, and we’re still fighting the ashes of racism. It took another half century for women to be allowed to vote, and yet they’re still fighting for equal pay.
It would be a shame to allow another blot on the liberty we so prize, and the equality we celebrate, by passing a measure that would promote inequality and deny liberty, and accomplish nothing positive for our society. People should vote according to their own consciences, but I’m voting no on Prop 8. | 
