I'm sure that you know that it's not what you do but how you do it. For 3 months I watched the same video clip of SF mayor saying "Wether you like it or not" to gay marriage, something that doesn't play well. I'm sure his heart was in the right place, but his words did a lot of damage.
As far as the school class, the supporters of "no on 8" (which I'm sure that most of them that organized the thing were) should have been a bit brighter and not make it an organized thing as a class because anyone could have seen the "yes on 8" supporters use it.
I see it that if you give people the right to vote on an issue, they have to vote how they see fit according to their values. If this is a civil rights issue the courts should deal with it. Why didn't the "no on 8" people manage to get the measure off the balot if it is unconstitutional?
I do know that it is how you do it, and I'm not trying to be obtuse here, but we are not discussing an opinion, we are discussing taking away the rights of a segment of the population. Trust me, gay marriage is not the issue I ever thought I would be so outraged about, but from where I stand "Like it or not" resonated with me.
As for the teacher. The timing was unfortunate, but you know what? I believe we had the right to get married when that occurred. It was legal and had that teacher waited until after the vote, I am sure she knew she may not get the chance again. The children and their parents wanted to express their appreciation and love for their teacher and this was her "under the wire" wedding day. Who called the press? Don't know. Could it have been "Yes on 8" people? Again, I don't know. If you spend your life - scratch that, if I spend my life wondering if something I do could be used against me by homophobes, I wouldn't ever leave my apartment. I prefer to live my life.
I am really not comfortable with the idea of playing nice and watching my step to be considered an equal member of society. I'm 46 years old and, quite frankly, it's getting really old.
Prop 22 was put on the ballot years ago, voted on and it wasn't until years later that the Supremes said it was unconstitutional. I honestly don't know why Prop 8 couldn't be withdrawn from the ballot, perhaps Phil could help me out since I've had the very same question. We managed to get the language changed from "protection of marriage" to "elimination of rights" but clearly that wasn't strong enough.
Maybe it should have said "Gays will officially be declared second class citizens". But judging from what I've heard lately, that may have won in a landslide.
