Postcards From The 8

To Supporters of Proposition 8:

I am a lesbian and have been in a committed partnership for over 25 years. My partner and I have intertwined our lives in many ways, forming a family that includes my partner’s children and grandchildren in a warm and loving set of relationships. We feel every bit as “married” as do my sister and brother-in-law, yet the state withholds the privilege of marriage from us. The right to marry represents both symbolic acceptance of the importance and value of committed gay relationships and the granting of legal rights that supports couples in maintaining strong relationships. I believe the time has come for our society to recognize and fully acknowledge our relationships.

When Proposition 8 was first put on the ballot, I assumed that California had reached the stage where widespread social acceptance of gay couples would easily defeat this attempt to move the clock back. As the race heated up and eventually Proposition 8 passed, I was shocked to realize how wrong I had been.

What galls me most about the passage of Prop 8 is that it was a group of conservative Christian ideologues, many of them from out of state, that poured lots of money into a misleading and distorted advertising blitz that convinced enough voters to pass this proposition. Yet this nation was built on a foundation of acknowledging different religious traditions. In the colonial period, Puritans, Anglicans, Quakers, Catholics and others founded colonies and enshrined their religious beliefs in their colonial governments, taxing their citizens to support the established church of each colony. At the same time, Indians and many African slaves continued to practice their indigenous religions. During the 18th and 19th centuries, more religious denominations gained a place on American soil, including Methodists, Baptists, and Jews. When the colonies pulled together to form a new nation, the Founding Fathers created a Constitutional framework that separated the power of the state from religious beliefs and authority. They wisely recognized that if they failed to do this, they could never create a unified nation. Today we have much wider religious diversity, including many Protestant denominations, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists and many others. We would do well to follow the basic principle of separation of church and state that was laid down in the Constitution.

Yet Prop 8 privileged one set of religious beliefs over all others. Relying on a literal interpretation of several passages of the Judeo-Christian Bible, the proponents of Proposition 8 claimed that gay marriage was a threat to the moral fabric of the nation. Rather than allowing each religious tradition to define their own views on marriage, and leaving it to the state to create a universal civil framework for marriage for all adults, they insisted that their own narrow views about marriage be incorporated into the Constitution of the State of California.

Justice is on our side, but I feel frustrated and angry that it may take many more years to realize. Yet as Dr. King said, “the long arc of history bends toward justice.” The struggle for civil rights for racial minorities in this country has taken a long time, and although the struggle is not complete, we have come a long way since the days of slavery and segregation of African-Americans, as well as the repression and subjugation of Indian peoples; now America is embracing its first African-American president. In a parallel fashion, as we struggle to achieve the right of gay marriage, we will continue to confront bigotry and hatred of those who perceive us as threateningly different from them. My hope is that the time will come when lesbian and gay people will be accorded the same rights, responsibilities, and respect that heterosexuals enjoy. I am both angry and sad that that time has not yet come.

Sue Lynn