Prop 8 — the blame game

When I first learned that Prop 8 stood firm in California, I was livid. I immediately hit the Internet and began researching why. What happened? Who was responsible for this?! The media immediately pointed at the large turnout of African Americans, and the irony that an oppressed minority group came out to vote for a black man, while simultaneously helping California write discrimination into its constitution. I could barely contain my anger. How hypocritical can you be? After all, up until 1967 ^[1] blacks and whites couldn’t marry. The states wanted to protect the sanctity of marriage. Sound familiar? The very right you voted to take away from gays has only been yours for 40 years!

I blamed African Americans too. After all, 69% of African Americans voted for Proposition 8. Who else should I blame? Well, I gave it some thought and I came up with a whole bunch of people to blame.

Exit polls showed that Republicans and white churchgoers actually voted for Prop 8 at higher rates than African Americans. And conservative evangelicals? Those brilliant little messengers bombarded pastors, their congregations, anyone who would listen, telling them that gay people were going to destroy their civil liberties and come for their children. They even went as far as to suggest that Christians would be thrown in jail if Prop 8 passed. Oh and let’s not forget the conservative Catholics, a group that prides themselves on human dignity. They really took it to a whole new level when they portrayed anyone that supported gay equality as evil and satanic. That’s dignified.

So you see, there are a lot of people to blame here. The list goes on and on. It gets pretty monotonous though, casting blame all day. Hurling accusations across the country can be a very exhausting task. Thankfully, the geniuses at funny or die ^[2] have come up with a solution. All we have to do to protect marriage and our children is prohibit divorce ^[3]! It’s positively brilliant. So for everyone out there that is committed to protecting the fine institution of marriage, you need look no further than inside your very own home. By all means, protect marriage. Protect your children. Don’t divorce.