The H8TE rally tonight in suburbia for Proposition 8
I just returned from standing in a torrential downpour for two hours in an effort to promote No on 8. (This has nothing to do with the food or drink topics on BiteClub, but it has moved me enough to make this post nonetheless).
The scene was the heart of suburbia - Sunrise Blvd and Greenback Lane in Citrus Heights, ironically 2 miles from where I grew up through high school and where my parents still live.
It was absolutely insane. Well over 500 people were on either side of the intersection, running back and forth across the street, blocking the streets, and driving around with their decked out cars. The "Yes on 8" camp clearly outnumbered the No's. I would say out of 500 people, 400 were there supporting Yes on 8.
I found myself standing in the rain feeling very sad and disenchanted with society.
One aspect that really bothered me was the age range. It was clearly a high school rally: all kids, all teenagers, screaming and yelling like it was a pep rally. I felt that MOST of the people there really had no idea the impact of this proposition nor the impact it could have on their lives.
The majority of the 500+ people were too young to even vote!
I'm sure many of the Yes crowd never put their own thought into the side they were promoting, rather following the ideas of their parents or the ideas of their friends or how the "cool" kids in school were leaning (or being told to lean).
It reminded me so much of high school and how much I fucking hated the myopia that existed in my neighborhood back then; well, back then, is still EXACTLY THE SAME!
Gigantic monster trucks covered in Yes on 8 signs cruised the intersection, displaying enormous American flags, and the biggest Yes on 8 signs I've ever seen. Two trucks were wrapped (yes professionally wrapped) in Yes on 8 collateral. Rented limos displayed Yes signs, along with hand carried signs that required 3 people just to hold them up.
It was the contest to see who was the biggest badass with the biggest dick and whose truck was bigger and manlier.
The time and money that the Yes camp spent on their signs disgusted me, and quite frankly scared the shit out of me: the amount of hatred that instigated the time it must have taken to created such a instense amount of Yes propaganda.
The lack of diversity amongst the completely white Yes crowd was emphasized even more so against the diversity of the No's.
I had kids walk up to my face, within1-2 feet of my face, and say: "Faggot", "Homo", "You're a fucking fag", "You're disgusting".
I had two guys stand behind me and mock me and my male friend, Jayson, whilst they were waving their 10 foot fabric "Yes on 8" sign over my head so that my face and my sign was being blocked. They yelled in my ears, saying "Oooh, we're gonna go home and stick our dicks in each other's asses, cuz we're faggots!”
One Russian guy attempted to start a fight with me. Glaring at me, he said "You're fuckin disgusting...you fucking faggot, what the fuck are you looking at, you fag?" and he continued this slander for a quite while. I just stood there and stared at him as he attempted to jump at me and act like he was going to hit me.
Another girl walked by who was maybe 15 years old, stared at me and said "You're fucking disgusting...Oh my God, look at him, he's fucking gay, he's a No on 8".
I asked her, "So why are you a Yes, Why Yes?”
Her response was something like "because a man and a woman are meant to be together...it is a perfect match between the two. You can't have children. You can't raise a family. You're just wrong and disgusting".
My response was "oh so you're ok raising your own family and teaching them hatred and intolerance". Her only response was to look confused and ask me what I said as she clearly didn't even comprehend my choice of words. I said, "you don't even know what the word intolerance means!” Oh course, she ran away before I could continue, like most the people there were doing.
Most of these kids don't even know what love is, how can they possibly make an educated choice on the proposition. But that's the thing; most of them are NOT making educated choices. They're following the crowd in their clique, or their crowd in their church, or following what their parents "tell" them to believe.
It seemed illiteracy loves ignorance, as I saw one very large handmade sign saying "Honk if your for Prop 8". Maybe you should learn grammar first and understand the difference between Your and You're before you start sharing your closed minded beliefs about life.
The entire event was chaos.
Each group would have been much more effective if they had followed the "power in numbers" philosophy and grouped together instead of running around like children on way too much caffeine.
I did notice the "NO" camp mostly exhibited a calm demeanor, with fewer name calling and arguing, and a great deal of tolerance to the hatred being spewed from the other side.
It saddened me to see that after 17 years of living in the Citrus Heights suburbs, the lack of diversity and overwhelming hatred still prevails.
Now I am off to bed as I will be at the polls tomorrow morning offering facts and support for those voting No on Prop 8.
Tomorrow will be a very interesting day...
- Posted by
- Richard Muncaster (other posts: News, Blogs, Photos, Videos)
- Posted on
- 11/03/2008
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- http://www.biteclub.com/richard-muncaster/blog/
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When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
-Pastor Martin Niemöller
‘Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day’ (Suu Kyi).
Let us walk the path of peace not fear. Of unity not separation.
Obviously, I wrote my original blog on the eve of the election, yet it still remains a primary topic of conversation, as there have been many protests and rallys since then. Many are asking why the rallys continue and why the losers don't just give up and accept the 52.5% - 47.5% vote as the "will of the people".
According to the numerous lawsuits filed since Tuesday, the petition charges that Proposition 8 is invalid because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution’s core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group – lesbian and gay Californians.
“If the voters approved an initiative that took the right to free speech away from women, but not from men, everyone would agree that such a measure conflicts with the basic ideals of equality enshrined in our constitution. Proposition 8 suffers from the same flaw – it removes a protected constitutional right – here, the right to marry – not from all Californians, but just from one group of us,” said Jenny Pizer, a staff attorney with Lambda Legal. “That’s too big a change in the principles of our constitution to be made just by a bare majority of voters.”
In my opinion, this issue isn't about marriage. It's about equality. It isn't about gay rights. It's about human rights. The "separate, but equal" doctrine was struck down in 1954 and yet, at this very moment, we are continuing this tradition of creating certain laws for some and not for others.
Are we to change the constitution to read "with liberty and justice for some" instead of "for all"?
This is the way I see it: Marriage provides civil rights, federal rights, and great symbolic meaning to two individuals who share a profound and meaningful connection to one another. To insinuate that California domestic partnerships provide all the state rights that married couples have is insulting. Granted, California offers more rights than many states, however, all of these rights mean noting if I travel out of state. If I was on ski trip in Utah and a tragic accident left my partner in a coma, I have no rights in the hospital. Here is a list of all the differences between domestic partnership and marriage:
TAXES – Not able to file a joint tax return and enjoy lower tax rates.
SOCIAL SECURITY – Not eligible for survivor pension benefits. May not be eligible for spousal Medicaid assistance.
ADOPTION – Domestic partner is not eligible for presumption of parenthood, must go through additional legal procedures to adopt.
HEALTH INSURANCE – Localities and companies differ on making health coverage available to domestic partners. Under federal law, former employees may be able to bridge their insurance coverage to COBRA, but there is no requirement that domestic partners be covered.
HOSPITALS – Domestic partners do not have the same right to emergency room visits to spouses or to make major emergency medical decisions.
INHERITANCE – Without a will, domestic partners do not have an automatic claim to property.
FEDERAL EMPLOYEES – Married partners may take unpaid leaves to care for an ailing spouse, domestic partners may not.
VETERANS' BENEFITS – Domestic partners are not eligible for indemnity compensation, monthly pension benefits or dependent disability compensation.
(Granted, some of these benefits are federal benefits, but I am using this as an example to show the disparity in the so called "separate but equal" statements).
It is interesting to me that based on the statistics of voters, by demographics, that the more educated a person, the more they voted against Prop 8. Perhaps that increased education and awareness of the plight of civil rights in this country (and the world) provides a greater sense of tolerance and compassion for other human beings.
As MLK once said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".
I'm sorry you had to go through that Richard. I know prop 8 passed but at least there are still people fighting to get it repealed since it is unconstitutional. Before, I used to think that since prop 8 passed it's what the people of California wanted, and that it should be accepted. But this made me realize that just because the majority accepts something doesn't make it right.
It's so unfortunate amongst all this talk of progression and history being made this past presidential electon, that we are still taking away civil rights from people.
Richard, I am so sorry you had to experience such ignorance and hate! But remember, what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger.
Unfortunately, environments like the one you just mentioned is where intolerance and miseducation breeds.
Don't be disheartened by the 400 idiots out there, because quite frankly they were preaching to their choir. Furthermore, people who are too lazy to step outside of their box will be too lazy to make it down to the polls- as the results will show tomorrow.
If anything, you can take solace in the fact that these people are dumb enough to actually invest money into those banners and professional wrapping of their monster vehicles to support a losing proposition. Chin up.
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