Massive Movement Erupts in Opposition to Proposition 8 (tags)
Ex-slave and Abolitionist Fredrick Douglas famously observed that power cedes nothing without struggle. The history of civil rights movements in this country also demonstrate that even the most fundamental democratic gains are temporary at best without vigilant struggle that can potentially challenge the power of the rulers against the ruled. Nothing has ever been gained and secured by simply relying on the institutions of the state and its politicians. Any implementation of progressive measures on their part has only been the product of independent mass mobilizations that have kept their forces in the streets until the sought after gains were won. We have again been reminded of this by the recent passage of Proposition 8 in California, a bigoted mean-spirited ballot measure aimed at denying gays and lesbians the fundamental democratic right to marry whom they wish. Last June, after decades of constant organizing, educating, and protesting on the part of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people and their supporters, the California Supreme Court was compelled to legalize same sex marriages. The purpose of Proposition 8 was to overturn this gain, leaving 18,000 same sex marriages performed in California since June in question. However, social movements aren't like films that can be run backwards and then replayed in the exact same way. The narrow victory of Proposition 8 (52% against, 48% opposed) has resulted in the opposite of its intended effect. It has re-energized the struggle for LGBT rights to a major degree, so that many are calling this movement “Stonewall II” after that inaugural rebellious act of the modern U.S. gay rights movement fighting for their rights in 1969.
Massive Movement Erupts to Overturn Proposition 8 (tags)
March on Sacramento! Demand that Marriage Licenses Continue to Be Issued in All Counties in California! Demand the Immediate Overturn of Prop. 8!
Prop. 8 and the Triumph of Theocracy (tags)
The passage of Proposition 8 proves that many American voters are committed to a basically theocratic view of government in which THEIR moral values and commitments should rule over others. It also means the Queer community needs to do some soul-searching over why people of color and others we considered natural allies voted for 8 in greater percentages than whites did, and whether "marriage" as a term carries too much religious baggage ever to win majority support for its legal extension to same-sex couples.