Ok, so it has been a really long time since I lat blogged so I apologize for all two of the people who read this. LOL I guess however it is time for me to talk on something that may make some people upset. Prop 8. Yes I know that the election is over, but it is still a forefront of the news these days.

When I first heard about how the courts had made gay marriage legal I was dumbfounded. I mean on March 7, 2000 we Californians already voted on this before. It was called Prop 22. In fact I believe we won by over 61% if memory serves me right. Then the Judicial branch of our government says nah. I understand that the judicial branch is here to protect rights and wrongdoing against the people. However the majority already stated no on this. It is not the Judicial branches Job to make legislature. They interpret what laws have already been placed in effect. It is the Peoples job to vote and decide what laws we want. This is the first thing that bothered me about this whole deal. As soon as there was pressure from the Federal Government everyone knew that it would be put back on the ballot which it was. Prop 8 was born. I immediately thought to myself will it really make any difference at all. If the Judicial branch of our government didn’t listen to us the first time, why would they have any interest in listening to us the second time?

One of the other thing that bothers me is just there is all of this assumption, on both sides at times, that marriage is a right. No marriage is not a right, it is a privilege. It is an institution, but not a right. Let me break this down for everyone before I am labeled as a bigot, homophobe, gay hater and all the such. You don’t, and I don’t need the Governments permission to enter into a marriage. Marriage is large and part a spiritual thing. It is an institution of two people sharing their vows to stay together and commit to a relationship to become one. In our day and age there are certain tax breaks and other things that come along with it, but are not part of it. Did you catch that? I didn’t get married for a tax break, and I didn’t get married for any other legal benefits. If I did I would be in violation of the main purpose of a marriage. That is to share my love with my spouse. If someone really needs a government entity to place their approval on their love, then…. well you have bigger issues you need to deal with. Domestic partnership is legal in CA, and has been around for quite some time, so individuals who are in a same gender relationship actually get all of the legal benefits afforded to them at the state level. Granted they do not get them at the Federal level, but they do already get all of the state legal benefits afforded to any other married individuals. Again if my marriage were outlawed to my wife on any basis, it wouldn’t really matter to me in the long run. I know I made a commitment to my wife, and I stand by that through thick and thin. I wouldn’t need to go out and get violent over it, as long as no one was being violent to me or my spouse. In that case it would be an issue of Self defense but more on that later. So I hope that people can see that what I am saying here is you don’t need your government’s approval to get married. Know I will take heat on that from some people but it is true. People have been getting married in private for thousands of years without the expressed approval of their king. Sure it may not be a state approved marriage, but if that man and woman took their vows before God. It’s a marriage.

The next thing that that bothers me is that just because I don’t agree with same sex marriage, I am instantaneously an anti homosexual who hates homosexuals. Wow! I can’t tell you how many times I have been called insensitive, a bigot, and a homophobe because of this. Some people who know me know that some of my closest friends have been gay. Yes they were gay but not once did I ever yell at them for this, scream at them for this, threaten to kick their @ss for it, or accuse them of anything. I kind of have to question, if you are accusing me of being all of these things, yet don’t know me personally, and wish I would just go away or die. Who really is the bigot? Now I am not saying that to inflame anyone, but sometimes people really need to think about how they are coming off. When someone just instantly makes an opinion about me because of one thing, how I vote, and show a bias that pretty much comes off as discrimination, that person has just crossed over to the other side. They have become what they accuse the other of. It is sort of like the Law of Noncontradiction that is used in Logic. You can’t contradict yourself to get to the answer you like, otherwise you don’t have a solid foundation and have in fact disproved your own point. Don’t get me wrong I don’t deny that there are many a Christians out there who disprove themselves as being true representatives of Christ. There are Christians out there that embarrass us all, just as there are many homosexuals who embarrass many other homosexuals with their behavior. So don’t think I am speaking about everyone in the gay community here because I am not. Just about all of my friends who are gay knew where I stood and I knew where they stood. We were still friends when we shared our opinions, and most of all I still loved then at the end of the day just as much if not more than the day before. I wish more people who call themselves Christians could remember that Jesus loved everyone irregardless of the sin. Let’s face it I am absolutely no saint. I am a sinner just as much as any homosexual. Jesus would not turn away a homosexual, he would love them. He would however be very clear about pointing out sin, and would not condone any sinful behavior, but that would not stop him from loving on them. I have never kicked in the door of any gay couple, nor have I ever in my entire lifetime subjected any homosexual to public or private ridicule. I don’t make gut decisions about any homosexual I come across nor do I wish horrible things on them. Yet somehow at the end of the day there are many a people out there gay or otherwise who would label me as filled with hate.

Something else I will touch on today is how a section of the gay community is going about all of this. As I am sure no doubt everyone has heard about how people in the gay community are going after people who voted for Prop 8. They are going after the list of people who contributed for Prop 8 and harassing them. Some people have lost their jobs because of it, and many are being subjected ridicule, threats, and sometimes outright violence. Again this brings me back to what I was just talking about. People who voted yes on Prop 8 are somehow filled with hate according to certian members of the gay community Yet all I really see in the news right now is a lot of hateful things going on against people who contributed to the yes on Prop 8 campaign. How does this truly help your case when you actively show behaviors that you accuse others of having? I have heard the common argument that they are protecting themselves because they are being discriminated against and sometimes you need to take steps outside of the box, (i.e. violence, intimidation, etc.),to get it done. I see people pointing back to the civil rights movements to prevent discrimination against people of color. Well there are some flaws in that argument. Yes sometimes an individual does need to resort to violence, but it should be a last resort unless it is to defend yourself physically. I don’t see where intimidating or threatening people who used their money to promote a Prop that they believe in. I don’t claim to know everyone on that list but I know that some of the people who are being stalked harassed and intimidated have never done these things to any homosexual. Not being able to have your government place their marriage blessing on their marriage is a far cry from being enslaved, being told that you can’t drink from the same drinking fountain, ride up front on the bus, eat at whatever restaurant you want, and so forth. This is an amendment for marriage; gays already have just about all of the same rights that they black community were fighting for back in the day. It is a different situation, and to compare them is to compare apples to oranges. Even Martin Luther King promoted peaceful protest, not going out and intimidating others. If you want to get something done you can do it by force, but if you want to change a mind that will truly be changed, violence is not the way. Yes you can intimidate someone into changing their mind but have they really changed their mind on their own, or have you just superseded their will? I fail to see where not being able to enter into a marriage with the blessing of the state, is the same as not being able to feed or support your family, and living in constant fear for your families protection. In fact I see just the opposite happening. I see this happening to the supporters of Prop 8. Granted it is at a much smaller scale than what has happened in the past to individuals who were discriminated against. If a homosexual is discriminated at work, or is being threatened physically, there are legal remedies they have in place to solve the issue.

The last thing I will mention is when I see members of the clergy being sued because they won’t perform a commitment ceremony because it is discrimination. That seems so ridiculous. As I mentioned earlier marriage is really a religious thing. Why would you want to have a clergy member who does not approve of your lifestyle perform your marriage ceremony anyways? Look for someone who has the same beliefs as you; wouldn’t you rather have someone who is willing to place their blessing on it? When I got married I got married by my pastor, he and I share the same beliefs on marriage. I did not go to a Muslim cleric to marry me and then turn around and sue him because he refused to read from my holy book. I went to a pastor who had the same religious views as I share.

Well I better get going it is time to eat dinner and I have a grip of homework to do. Eric hit me up sometime we got to hang out sometime soon I wanted to come down the other day when I waived at you, but I have been busy trying to get our bedroom fixed up so we can move back into it.