Prop 8 WTF?!!
May 27th, 2009 . by Tim Babb (TANcast's #1 Host/Editor Fan)For those of you who haven’t heard, the California Supreme Court upheld the ban on same sex marriage today. So I was at a bar tonight waiting for a show to start and one of the TV’s had a news show won where supporters of Prop 8 were speaking. I have spent the last hour trying (unsuccessfully) to find the video of what I saw, because when I quote what the fool said, you’re going to think I made it up.
A Black Leader of some sort was at the podium and said basically, “The Black family has enough troubles facing it. That’s why we must stop gay marriage because it is a potential threat to Black families.”
Are you kidding me?! Gay marriage is a “threat” to Black families? How?! How the hell is that possible?!
Look I understand that many religions do not support gay marriage. I fully understand and appreciate why that is a very valid argument for why those people wouldn’t get “gay married.” And also why they would be against their children living a gay lifestyle etc. I don’t agree with that point of view, I look at the bible differently, but I respect their right to believe that and I would never get the government involved to try and change their right to believe that, practice that, and teach their children that.
What I don’t understand is how that extends to this country, this state and it’s laws. I know the religious folks on TV get tired of hearing “separation of church and state” as a justification…but it couldn’t be more apparent that it is lacking here. There is no rational, scientific, human-world explanation for why gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed.
I’m married to a woman (a far better woman than I deserve, I might add) if my gay neighbor gets married to another man…how does that weaken my marriage? There are children in foster homes and shelters right now who are going to fall through the cracks because there are not enough straight married couples to adopt them. If there were more gay couples who had the legal rights to adopt them…wouldn’t that be a good thing?
I dunno…there are many things that I don’t necessarily believe in for MYSELF, but I wouldn’t support them being illegal. Alcohol, for instance…I don’t drink…but I wouldn’t want to deal with the mess if it were made illegal again. Same is true of cigarettes, drugs, and even abortion (I know…that’s a whole other debate). But just because I don’t believe in it for ME doesn’t mean I should be able to make that choice for other people I don’t know.
But just to be fair…let me say to the anti-prop 8 people….this guy is not helping your message:
The California Supreme Court are not fascists…in fact, if it weren’t for their ruling last year, gay marriage wouldn’t have been legal in California to begin with. They were deciding on a rule of law, not on the issue of gay marriage. The LA Times did a good job of explaining it.
So basically now it’s gotta go back to the voters as early as next year. So you have to convince those who are on the fence or who are on the other side that ours is the right side to be on…it’s a little hard to do that when folks on our side are making wild, inflammatory statements about the supreme court, Mormons, republicans, etc. I understand the anger behind what your saying, but your goal now should be all about convincing people that you’re right…and you can’t do that by calling people names. So, knock it off you butt heads!
Also, my comedian friend, Thai Rivera does a great bit about yet another side of the argument from the gay perspective:
I’m Tim Babb, and I approve this blog!
May 27th, 2009 at 5:38 am
I totally agree, especially with the last bit. It pisses me off to see protesters with signs saying “NO H8” and then spreading that same hatred to other people. I voted no on Prop 8 but I’m Mormon so I kinda get crap from both sides. Not from anyone personally, thank goodness, but that whole scandal about taking away my church’s non-profit status really sucked… Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is, the supreme court was not hateful in any way, really. They ruled before that gay couples did indeed have the right to marry in California. The people of California voted to reverse that ruling. The court then ruled that the voting on that proposition was fair, blah blah blah. I didn’t expect any different outcome from today. Sad, but true. Everything was legal and if the supreme court had ruled otherwise THAT (technically speaking) would have been wrong.
I mean, the whole Prop 8 campaign was a total mess, on the No side anyway. The ads were weird, they even confused me, and I was on their side, yanno? The No on 8 campaign started late in the game too. I think they just assumed that California was a liberal state but anyone who lives in a city other than LA of SF knows otherwise. Then they were just playing catch up the rest of the campaign. It’s a shame, but it’s kinda their own damn fault. (I’m gonna get a lot of shit for that.) Anyway, I’ve kept pretty quiet about this all day so that’s my two cents. On the TANcast website… this is how I spread the word.
May 27th, 2009 at 5:44 am
I would also say that the “No on 8” side was ridiculously out funded by the yes side.
And I would be for taking away the Mormon’s tax exempt status only if they also rescinded EVERY church’s tax-exempt status. Because they all to some degree try to use their influence to push policy through the system…so fine…pay the cover charge like everybody else. But that’s another issue.
PS-Thanks for sharing your thoughts from yet ANOTHER perspective that we don’t see much of in the news 🙂
May 27th, 2009 at 6:01 am
I work with with a lot of older black guys who feel that America was formed as a CHRISTIAN country and that gays are evil and by them getting married, it weakens families and spreads disease.
They also believe that white people caused hurricane Katrina (the actual storm) to wipe them out and once had a conversation about how it was ok fro young black people to rob white people because the white guys don’t deserve the money and can afford to lose some. Right in front of me, a guy who’s been robbed. Some people are just out of their fucking minds and there is no logic or reason you can ever get through their heads.
May 27th, 2009 at 9:42 am
I fully agree with you Tim. I also voted No on prop 8 because it was a silly rule to begin with. Mostly because of what I heard when I said I’m voting no on prop 8, I was then told “oh what so then people can make a rule that humans can marry animals?!”….. wait, what? But the same goes for these protests, look if you want to make yourself heard march to the Gov. of California.
*I’d like to say more but I’ve gotta go off to work, drive on the 405…. meh*
May 27th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Regarding religion and gay marriage, my experience is that churches often try to “own” marriage – the whole “joining of a man and woman before God” argument, which I find really outmoded in a modern world. For a church to say that it won’t marry people of the same gender is one thing, but to extend the principle to society at large is to say that society should view marriage as a religious institution, which it’s really not. Marriage signified by a ceremony exists in pretty much every culture, and to me saying that a marriage isn’t valid if it’s not a Christian marriage means saying that you don’t recognise the marriages of most of the world’s people (including me). Many religions have marriage ceremonies, but I would argue that that is more about adding religion to a universal practice than the idea that marriage arose from religion.
Phew… err… what site am I at again?
May 27th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Tim, the thing about the church is that it wasn’t the church’s money. All the church’s money goes toward funding missions and events for members. Church officials, whether on the local scale or the big head honcho scale, don’t get paid anything, and they certainly can’t afford to use official church money on a campaign affecting only one state. It’s common knowledge that Mormons (generally speaking), and many other religious groups, do not condone gay marriage, for whatever stupid reason. All the money that came from Mormons came from individuals within the church. That’s why I thought that whole thing was stupid. If you’re gonna blame religion, blame alllll religions. I didn’t see anyone picketing outside of Catholic churches or any other church, for that matter (let alone temples…don’t even get me started on that).
As for everyone else, I’m with ya!
May 27th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Hi Tim,
I did care to read. This was very well written and I agree with most of it. I also noticed what you typed about your wife and that was lovely. I don’t know either of you two well to agree or disagree if she is or is not better than you deserve. A woman is lucky, however, if she is married to someone who always speaks highly of her and shows his admiration, love, and respect for her, and you do come across as a man who does that, so darn glad for both of you finding one another.
May 27th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I like Murray’s perspective on it all, but I think Lewis Black said it best in this clip. The important part starts at minute 2:40…
May 31st, 2009 at 4:50 pm
thanks tania for making me realize what a shitty husband i am.
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:57 am
Hey Tim, I just finally got around to checking this out and was just thinking the EXACT same thing about the name calling. I was reading another comic friends blog that had a lot of closed mindedness all from the No on Prop 8 slant and I was thinking, how are you helping us? Great mind think alike, Tim…I’m gonna be watching you 😉