Phil,
I understand your point about not needing or wanting approval of anybody to enjoy your civil rights. The analogy is: What is the point of having Freedom of Speech if you never say anything offensive? The First Amendment is there to protect our right to say offensive things, since non-offensive speech doesn't need any protection. And that is exactly why I look to the California Supreme Court and eventually the US Supreme Court to overturn all laws that deny anyone equal rights or equal protection under the law.
But I think the Prop 8 initiative and others like it that will follow even if it is overturned, in California and in other states, can be defeated at the polls if enough of the voters had some sympathy and understanding of what they were doing to gay and lesbian people when they vote for these horrible things. Lots of those people know and like gay and lesbian people but don't know their sexual orientation, or don't understand how devastating it would be to be told you are not allowed to exercise the same rights because of your sexual orientation.
Over time, more and more gay and lesbian people will come out, more positive images of them will be in the media, and more of the hopelessly homophobic will pass away or fall out of the voting pool. (If nobody over 65 had voted on Prop 8, it would have failed.) So it is just a matter of time before the homophobes give up on these things. I just think it could be less time with some PR effort.
