Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.
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There are 75 million reasons California’ Proposition 8 – Banning Gay Marriage Won Out. That is, the YES VOTE won. California voters said YES, we want to ban gay marriage.
We didn’t vote to eliminate the right to gay marriage. There never was the right in the first place. We voted to ban gay marriage.
The proponents of gay marriage spent some $75 million trying to stuff their agenda and the agenda of 4 liberal judges down our throats. But, in the end, they could not. Prop 8 won. The Yes vote won. As a majority, we do not want gay marriage in California.
Money couldn’t buy the majority. Money was able to buy the presidency at a cost of about $500 million with almost $200 million left over. Imagine having so much money you can’t spend it all, but that’s a different topic.
Money can buy the presidency. Money can change people’s hearts, and attitudes. But, it can’t buy all of us. Gay Marriage has been banned in California. At least, for now.
On the corner of my street there is a house. It has, oh, SEVEN “Yes on 8” signs on the lawn. the house across from it has about 4 “No on 8” signs. Does having more signs make you MORE right?
I am sure it’s no coincidence that this house also had the porch light off on Halloween. Good thing, too, because I wouldn’t want my children eating their candy anyway. It might turn them “religious”, and we can’t have that – not in a civilized society. I don’t want my kids exposed to that “way of life” because they might decide to become “religious” when they are older and, well, what would the neighbors think? That’s why whenever a Jehovah’s Witness comes to the door I quickly send the kids to their rooms before chasing off the soliciting heathen. I don’t want them spreading their message and contaminating the minds of my innocent little darlings. I even cover their eyes whenever we drive by a church.
If this sounds like a bunch of hooey, that’s because it is. I’d never do that stuff. Yet, it is the closest analogy I can think of when arguing against prop 8. The truth is, I really don’t want my children to be “religious” when they grow up. Especially if they decide to become fanatical about it. I have been down that path and I don’t believe in it. But I am not about to take the above-mentioned actions or put some anti-religious prop on the ballot just because I think it will somehow “protect” my child from the real world. There are far greater dangers out there than some little old ladies handing out pamphlets.
In my family, we are not religious – we are spiritual. That has a different meaning for everyone in my household, including my girls. They are full of spirit and they know how to use it. In fact, I have found it ten times more difficult to explain to my children why someone would NOT want gay people to marry than to explain why gay people want to marry each other in the first place. Tolerance, acceptance, unconditional love – kids get the concept easily because they are born with these innate senses. They are naturally equipped with compassion – they just need to be taught the vocabulary to express it when the opportunity arises. When I see a child waving a “Yes on 8” sign, shouting at people across the street, I can’t help but think of an opportunity missed. Sad, really.
The world will teach them plenty about cruelty and intolerance and hate – we don’t even need to bother with those lessons. But we should be asking ourselves, will they be on the giving or the receiving end of those atrocities, and will they have the skills they need to make the right choice when the time comes?
As much as I’d like to mow down that picket fence and flatten all 7 of those ridiculous signs, I won’t. Keep them up year-round, Neighbor, as a testament to your “victory”. In fact, thank you for making them so visible that, when my child asks why such a sign exists, the opportunity to do the right thing will not be missed. Not by me.
Screw you, why can’t we have the same rights. Then maybe we would leave the straight people alone, and whatever happened to “All men are created equal” there needs to be equal rights, and get off the religious CRAP, and how much did the conservatives spend trying to stop us from obtaining what is rightfully ours
THIS BAN ON GAY MARRIAGE SHOULD BE ON OUR CONSTITUTION AND SHOULDN’T BE TOUCH AT ALL. IT’S A SACRED UNION BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN NOT MAN AND MAN AND WOMAN TO WOMAN. PERHAPS GAY PEOPLE CAN DISCOVER ANOTHER PLANET MAYBE PLUTO WHEREIN THEY CAN DO ANYTHING THEY WANT BUT NOT HERE ON PLANET EARTH. AMEN!!!