Nov. 4th

When I was 18 and the year was 2000, I had no idea who I was going to vote for. I didn't pay attention to issues, I didn't understand the differences between a democrat and a republican, but I was definitely excited to vote. I remember I was dating a guy who didn't feel like driving the hour to our voting district and how infuriated I got that he was just going to give up his vote. That he didn't care. I certainly cared, but I had no idea what I was caring about. In the end, I am 90% sure I voted for Bush and I am 100% sure that the boy voted because of my relentless "persuasion." 

In the year 2004 I had jumped on the bandwagon that Bush is pure evil, that everything republican was selfish and self righteous. I didn't get to really know Kerry, I just knew he was the best shot at ousting Bush, so I was excited once again. 

I'd like to think that I have settled somewhere near the middle and can look at both sides somewhat objectively. My values usually still sit more left than right, but at times I think things can be taken too far. Sometimes I think a little more regulation on the giving of funds needs to be in place and this year on issues I am 70%D, 30%R. My vote will whole heartedly go for Obama though. 

I know many great republicans, many in my neighborhood. The neighbors across the street have about 12 signs in their yard.  The only one I really can't agree with is "Women for Palin." Really? I have to think that by this point even they would like to yank that one out of their yard and hide it out of embarrassment, but that would leave a hole where a republican sign once stood, and I don't think the yard would be the same. 

The issue this year that has me in butterflies, up thinking at night, and passionate enough that the 18 year old fury comes rising up is one that I can't even have a say in. Proposition 8 is in CA, and the effect of that outcome will be huge in thousands of lives. Babies that go to sleep tonight with happily married parents can rest their heads tomorrow night with parents who still love one another, but are not allowed to be married. Their parents will be told that they are not good enough, their love is not valid enough, and in fact, it is so bad that it needs to be written into the constitution that it cannot even be recognized. 

I just finished a book, The Color of Love, and it is a book by a person who was born to a mother who fell in love with somebody she was not legally allowed to be with. The story takes place in the 60's. The boy was ripped out of his mom's home because she was not providing a proper home for him. Her crime? Loving a black man. Reading this, it highlighted to me that we really haven't come that far since then, we are just casting stones at a different population. 

If prop. 8 doesn't pass, how will that effect me? It won't. I will still wake up happily married to my husband. Our marriage will still be in tact, and the day won't really change. And in CA, the same will go for all married couples. Mary and Jane, or Bill and John will continue on with their lives and maybe they will have a boost, a slight pep in their step, that the majority of CA stood up and said, "Congratulations on your wedding day!" If prop. 8 does pass, Chris and I will still not be effected, but thousands of families will. They will no longer have a husband or wife because the public said, you don't get to. 

The fight against gays being able to marry lies in religion. God made men and women able to procreate, not people of the same sex. Marriage is a commitment of two people to God. To that, I have a couple of questions. If God is our maker, he has made many people sterile. Should they not be allowed to marry anybody? And, if marriage is a commitment of two  people to God, and Chris and I did not do that, are we not married? How far can we take this? Maybe people who are sterile, or who are not Christian should not be allowed to marry. If marriage lies within religion, there are many more people who are not gay who should not be allowed the title.  But! Next people will be wanting to marry ANIMALS! Oh bullshit. We are talking about people here. Two people. Two people who are not any better or worse than everybody else, but who are certainly treated as second class. 

I get that if marriage is banned, domestic partners can still hold the same rights. I understand that. But I also understand that even though they have the same rights, they don't have the same recognition. Gays and lesbians would still be looked at as different, like they aren't good enough to ride up here with the rest of us in the land of happy marriage. 

I don't have signs out in my yard. But you can bet that if I was in CA, I'd have more than the 12 that I look at across the street. And tomorrow night, as I sit stuck to the TV watching district after district show up on the giant "magic wall" at CNN like the most avid football fan on Superbowl Sunday, I will be rooting for Obama, but one eye will constantly be on CA hoping that NO on 8 really destroys the opposition.