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Voting No on Prop. 8 in California

A huge part of this political season is Proposition 8 in California. Proposition 8 if passed would take away rights and privileges from citizens of California that were granted to them this past Spring by the California Supreme Court. I write this to encourage those who are in California to vote NO on Prop. 8 and for others to encourage their friends and families to also vote NO on Prop. 8.

I have a domestic partner, Summer, and help raise two wonderful boys with her. I am a soon to be attorney and Summer is a business broker. Our sons are 5 and 7, they are athletic, artistic, and amazing. Summer and I work hard to provide for our little family and to make our lives better. The people in our lives love and respect us. We strive each day to make this world better for Joseph and Jayden.

As domestic partners many think that we enjoy the same rights and privileges as a married heterosexual couple. However, this is not the case. A domestic partnership does not always, in legal terms, work the same as a marriage. Couples are not given the same rights and respect as a married couple. Domestic Partners have to provide proof to see their loved one in a hospital, they face more difficulty in adoptions, owning property as a married couple etc. Although the differences are slight they are significant.

What we are talking about here is fundamental civil rights. This debate is not about your church, your god, or the institution of marriage. Marriage is simply a term that now defines a bundle of 1,600+ civil, legal and financial rights and privileges to people that choose to get married. This is not about morals or sex. This is about civil rights. If it was about the institution of marriage there would be no divorce. If it was about church and gods we would have the separation of church and state. If it was about morals and deviant behavior the laws that use to make these things illegal would have never been overturned. If it were about morals we would be focusing on more important political issues that involve the life and death of American citizens. If it were about sex we would stop using sex to sell beer and cars, we would outlaw all the perverse things heterosexual couples do as well. If it were about sexually deviant behavior we would use all this time, money and energy to focus on the prevention and capture of pedophiles and rapists. The debate on ‘Gay Marriage’ is not about any of those things…it is being used to distract us from the real issues and deny AMERICAN CITIZENS civil rights.

I am not (and the vast majority of the GLTB community) asking your church or your God to recognize my marriage. I am asking my country and my state where I pay taxes, where I contribute positively to the community, where I give back, where I raise two little men that will be a positive impact on society, where I was born and raised, where I was told anyone can have the American dream, and where I was told we are all created equal to purely and simply be treated equally.

Prop. 8 is not about this word ‘Marriage’ that has become the focal point of the debate. This is about civil rights. Call it what you want but two consenting adults that make a commitment to each other deserve the same rights as every other couple. I am asking everyone to vote NO on Prop. 8 and to encourage anyone you know voting in California to vote NO on Prop. 8.

Summer and I deserve the same rights. Joseph, Jayden, and our future children deserve to have their parents be treated equally. The people of America deserve to know that no matter what we are all treated equally. At some point when this fight is done there will be another group or class to focus on. In the past it was the African Americans, Indians, Irish, Jews, Bi-Racial couples, Women, Mormons, Catholics, Chinese…and on and on. Are you next? As Americans we should stand together letting the Federal and State governments know that we are all created EQUAL.