Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Fifty States of Gay

In 2008, Proposition 8 was put on the California ballot to outlaw gay marriage.

I voted against Prop 8.  I wasn't really active on the topic before the election...until I drove up my street one evening and found that, during the day, many neighbors had placed signs in their yards..."Family First - YES on Prop 8".

That did it.  I decided to add my viewpoint to the rear window of my pickup and park it in front of my house every day.  The photo shows how my truck looked in October and November 2008.  On the weekend before the election, I stood on the corner of a major intersection here in town for two days, holding a "No on Prop 8" sign with several other people.  The day before the election, I bought an extra tank of gas and drove San Diego freeways with my truck for a few hours.  I heard many horn honks and saw many thumbs-up - it was fun!  But we lost the election.  Christians had gone door to door and filled their sheep with fear.  Prop 8 passed.

When I woke up the morning after the election, I noticed someone had slipped something under my front door.  I picked it up - it was a Christian bible pamphlet.  One of my neighbors took it upon themselves, in the middle of the night and under the cover of darkness (truly a chicken-shit mode of operation, but the way), to walk over to my house and leave that "we succeeded in making non-Christians live by Christian rules - you will assimilate" reminder for me.  What wonderful people!

It was at that point I knew I could no longer be silent.  Being a life-long atheist/agnostic/non-believer - whatever label needs to be put on it - I had kept my mouth shut in what was at the time an overwhelmingly Christian population.  But no longer.  If the Christians feel the need to force their discriminatory beliefs on everyone through law, then I will take the opportunity to point out the lunacy that is Christianity (and religion in general) at every turn going forward.  I've now stayed that course and plan on continuing to do so until my last breath.  At which point I will expire and go to neither the mythical heaven nor hell.

But seven years have now passed and the US has truly shown what a great country it is.  Perceptions change, unethical laws eventually get nullified, and the world gets a little better with each passing day.  The youth of today are truly awesome people and I bow to their ability to see things as they really are.  Today, the world has become just a little bit better once again.  Thank you, SCOTUS!

My only regret: Ireland, Mexico, and a few other countries beat us to the punch of granting the right to marry to gays and lesbians.  America, you're losing your edge.

And one more thing - those that insist on posting their religious viewpoint on Facebook will find that I'll meet them post-for-post with my religious viewpoint.  Hey, you started it!  Thank you.

Do I have strong opinions on the topics of religion and gay marriage?  You betcha.  Now you know why.

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