One year later...

Same bat time, same bat channel.

It was like a case of Deja Vu - except I was kind of expecting it this time. I'll admit, Prop 8 caught me totally off guard. Question 1 didn't. I know what happens when the rights of the few are handed over to the ballot box of the many.

I'll admit, I'm disappointed. I am not, however, shocked - as I was in November of 2008. When groups like NOM, and large religious groups (the Mormons in CA, the Catholics in Maine) are allowed to contribute to political campaigns, the result is always such.

What most people don't understand is *why* it works this way. To me, it's pretty simple. Bear in mind, I grew up in a Southern Baptist environment, and was shuttled into a conservative Lutheran church in adolescence. But enough of those experiences stuck with me to understand this: People fear God.

So after being subjected to the dishonest NOM ads, and the Catholic lectures about how homosexuality is an abomination, and passing marriage equality would mean homosexuality would be taught to your children in school, well, let's just say some of these voters had overwhelming religious reasons to vote Yes on 1.

Think of it this way, as a fully indoctrinated conservative Christian of any stripe - who has been taught to fear and abhor homosexuality - what would you feel walking up to the voting booth? Well, if I still bought into that garbage, I'd feel like God was watching me, and judging me. I'd be worried about going to hell if I voted "wrong."

That's what these people are taught - and what NOM and the Catholic church reinforced in their rallies, speeches, and ads in Maine. They guilt-ed these people into voting Yes on 1. Much as they did in California on Prop 8. I don't hold the people responsible - but I do hold a political process that allows these people to vote on the rights of people who may or may not share their religious faith responsible.

Civil Rights are not something to be "voted" on. If it were, do you honestly think black and white couples would be able to marry today? People complain about how there's no comparison between the Black community's struggle for Equal Rights and GLBT rights - but I say those people are wrong.

What it comes down to is this - we are different, GLBT's. We are not hetero-normative families, and we have ALWAYS been denied equal rights in this country. We even have a better argument than the African-American slaves did - we PAY TAXES! We pay for rights we are not allowed. We pay for heterosexual benefits - yet we are denied those same benefits.

We might not be slaves in the technical sense of the word, but, by (your) god, we are slaves. We contribute monies to your - "your" being all the heterosexual families in this country - retirement and benefit systems. Yet, our families do not benefit from those dollars. If that isn't a form of slavery - or extortion - I don't know what is!

If heterosexuals were expected to pour tax dollars into a tax system they did not benefit from, how loud do you think they would protest? A whole lot louder than we have, for certain. A gay man or woman cannot even sponsor a spouse from a foreign country in America. Yet, our tax dollars assure that a heterosexual man or woman can. Many gay couples cannot obtain insurance for their partner or children - yet heterosexuals can. The families of our partners can drive up upon their death and take everything - they can't do that to legally married couples, now can they?

The fact is, there are gay families in America. There have been for years. Yet, those families are denied rights that they PAY for. There is no justice in that. But the religious organizations that are allowed to launch campaigns in an effort to vote away our rights never discuss these issues. They know they would lose if they did. Instead, they pull the religion card, and dismiss our rights legally by asserting that we would somehow corrupt their children and destroy their families.

Sorry, Maggie, but my mom was straight. And your argument is laughable.

It's time for reform. It's time to stop allowing churches and religious organizations like NOM to participate in the voting process. It's time to take Religion firmly out of Civil Rights - and politics in general. It's time to change the laws that allow these fear-mongerers to influence the political process.

It's time for change, folks. Real change.