Good Day/Bad Day
So I watched with some awe and not a little wonder at the point when the networks inevitably called the election for Barack Obama, recalling the ups and downs, the out-and-out racism, the horror of Sarah Palin, the horrible worry that despite everything, it might all go terribly wrong in the ballot booths. And I felt happy and relieved (for the world, really) that the long dark night of the last eight years, and the prospect of four more of the same, was over. So; Hail To The Chief.
I went out after the result was clear last night and just wandered around the neighbourhood, where there was a certain amount of partying and people in the street greeted me in passing in ways that put me in mind of going to work in London on May 2nd 1997.
And then I sat down and started to absorb the reality that barring an almost mathematically impossible shift in the last votes that remain to be counted, California has voted in favour of Proposition 8, changing the state constitution to make same-sex marriages unrecognised.
And so this morning, when I expected to feel alive and happy and excited for the future, I feel flat and down and pretty much like I (and a lot of other people) have been kicked in the face. And I know that nothing that happens here actually affects my marriage to The Mrs, but that’s not the point. This state that I’m learning to call home is telling us that it doesn’t count. That we’re not as good as the bigots and idiots who voted for this. And that’s what this actually is. I don’t care what the scary people who wanted this passed say - gay people’s ability to get married is no ‘threat’ to the institution of marriage. This is about hating gay people. It’s that plain and it’s that simple.
The irony should be lost on no one that on the day American at large took a giant leap forward in one direction, California took a giant leap backwards into the dark.
November 6th, 2008 at 9:26 am
As I watched Obama’s marvellous speech (in, for the record, both a parliament and a palace) I was swept up by the excitement and the oratory, but also felt nagging deja vu from Blair and 1997, when things could only get better. And some things did, and others definitely didn’t. How depressing, too, is the news about Proposition 8.
However, I can’t help laughing at the idea of your house being requisitioned as a polling station. I hope your chads weren’t hanging.
November 7th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Jon, who cares what a bunch of homophobic idiots think. You’re married and no ignorant rule changes in California are going to change that.