Fight Against Proposition 8 Continues

While Obama was being swept into the White House on Tuesday, the GLBTQ community in California was being stripped of its rights. Proposition 8 was passed by a slim margin, reversing the state Supreme Court's decision to allow gay marriages. The passage of Prop 8 would write discrimination into the state Constitution by banning these unions. The status of the 18,000 couples already married hangs in the balance. Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the measure and massive protests have been held in the streets of LA and San Francisco. 

This is sure to be controversial, but I'm throwing my support behind the movement to strip the Mormon Church and other organized religions of their tax exempt status. The Mormon Church funneled more than $20 million dollars toward the passage of Prop 8 in California, and waged a campaign of fear and bigotry in its advertising. A website explaining the Mormon Church's role in Prop 8 and how it misused its federal tax exempt status to support the passage of Prop 8 has been started along with an online petition. I have already signed it and I urge everyone who reads this blog and who finds it via Google, Yahoo, etc. to do the same. Other states -- including Georgia -- have already written discrimination into their Constitutions. The civil and human rights of GLBTQ people continue to erode as other states ban adoptions, refuse to offer benefits to same sex partners and stop discrimination in the workplace. Enough is enough. 

Proposition 8 should have never been a ballot issue in California. The proponents of the measure made the wording hard to understand (I cannot tell you how many people thought "no" meant "yes" and vice versa) and the opponents should have come out swinging harder to get it defeated. African Americans earned their civil rights by protest and putting pressure on the federal government to change this country. That is what the GLBTQ community must do. The civil and human rights of a people should not be put up for a vote.

For more information, visit the new Overturn Prop 8 website or the official website of the movement, No On Prop 8. Thanks to Sarah for the image above, which says it all really.