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I am sick and damned tired of being pontificated at about how this is OUR fault because WE didn't take our civil rights "seriously enough." Yes, someone actually said that.
If I go to your house and steal your child, is it logical for anyone to blame *you* because you didn't have a strong enough deadbolt lock on the door? Does anyone blame the First Americans for having their land stolen from them, because they didn't "fight hard enough," or take the threat "seriously" enough? If I, as a woman, choose to walk home on a dark street and I get raped, would it be partially my own damned fault for not taking the threat of rape "seriously" enough? The civil rights of gay people in California (and nationwide) were STOLEN. Flat-out fucking taken right from underneath us. And a sizable contingent of DU wants to tsk-tsk at the gay people and say, "Well you should have worked harder for it. You didn't take the threat seriously enough. You didn't 'make the case' well enough." To hell that noise, and to hell anybody who buys into it. The blame for what happened can be spread pretty far around, but the people who are NOT to blame are the ones who were victimized by this horrific piece of legislation.
And just like we're now being "blamed" by a certain faction for Prop 8 passing AT ALL, we are ALSO being blamed for the upheaval on DU because some of us are resentful and hurt that many members of a fellow minority group, who know what oppression feels like, decided to do a little oppressing themselves. Nobody is claiming that ONLY Black people, or ONLY Latino people, or ONLY Mormons, are to blame. But all three of those groups are comprised of people that have been historically discriminated against themselves. Of *course* we are discussing those groups more than we're talking about the white WASPy snotrags who made up the largest chunk of Yes-On-8 voters--it HURTS more coming from people we expected at least a modicum of solidarity and empathy from. We *expected* WASPy conservatives to vote against us, but we didn't expect it from groups of people who know exactly how painful bigotry is. If there is more discussion here about those groups, it is NOT because we blame them "more," but more because *their* opposition HURTS more.
Why people here feel the need to spin it as racism or bigotry against religion is beyond me, other than some kind of insane PC panic. You wouldn't believe the "defenses" I've heard--everything from "religious freedom," to culture, to "Well gay men stole the snappy 'You go girl!" stuff from black women, so black women hate them." The frantic insanity of it just boggles the fucking mind.
If you want to know the real reason why Prop 8 passed, it's right there in plain view. The Democratic Party failed to defend gay rights in a powerful enough way--including the head of the party, our President-Elect. We have not addressed the homophobia that is rampant in certain cultures within the Dem Tent--and that includes everyone from religious people, to white Yuppies, to black and Latino people. It is worse in certain "rooms" of our Dem house, and we are too terrified of making an un-PC mistake to even start to address it. And most of all--WE have not made gay equality a party priority. We give passes to beloved politicians who waver on, or oppose, equality. We defend the viewpoints of "bigots" because we need their votes. We excuse, rather than confront. We don't seek to change minds and hearts--we run away for fear of losing elections. We do not even come CLOSE to fighting as hard for gay equality as we fight for racial and gender equality. THIS is why Prop 8 passed.
So long as we continue to give a pass to people who oppose the Constitutional rights of gay people, then gay people will NEVER have those rights respected. It's not taken "seriously" enough because WE--Americans--have not taken it seriously enough. Don't blame gay people for not being able to overcome the enormous advantage that the other side possesses. There just aren't ENOUGH of us. We need allies--the kind that aren't afraid to stand up beside us and inconvenience themselves in order to seek true justice.
If the "ground game" for No on 8 was abysmal, it's because a lot of people just don't consider gay rights a priority. That alone should be enough to make ANY progressive sick. What we needed was a modern version of the Freedom Riders--people of other cultures joining us in order to seek liberty and equality. We we GOT was more of a yawn than a shout, and now a shitload of blame. If this is the best that the Democratic Party can do for us, then the Democratic Party needs a swift kick in the ass.
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