Author: Don Rowe
This past Sunday, a member of the Oxy community declared to a group of students that he did indeed vote “yes” on the now-infamous Proposition 8. Yet, he is no cold-hearted bigot insidiously bent on ruining the lives of an entire community; in fact, I have always known him to be a giving, compassionate person whose position in the Oxy community involves being a champion of human rights. Indeed, every single person I know who has admitted to voting “yes” on Proposition 8 is an equally compassionate, loving human being absolutely devoid of the “H8” with which the anti-Prop 8 rhetoric has associated them.
But what about the rest of California? While I can’t possibly vouch for the humanity of every individual in this state who cast a “yes” vote on the proposition, if 52% of the voting populace were indeed the homophobic hatemongerers the opposition tends to paint them as, this state would not have gained the reputation as a “guiding light for LGBT rights” in the first place. Additionally, even though 76.5% – the percentage of San Franciscans that voted “no” on Prop 8 – is undoubtedly a landslide, if a full 23.5% of that city were the blithering redneck bible-thumpers the anti-Prop 8 crowd has made them out to be, wouldn’t that tarnish the stereotype of the cultured San Franciscan Pinot Progressivist?
Finally, what about California’s community of black voters? One would expect that a community so sympathetic with the struggle for civil rights would staunchly oppose a state constitutional amendment forbidding the extension of a government service to an entire category of Californians. Yet, according to the Los Angeles Times, black voters favored Proposition 8 by a margin of more than 2 to 1. What gives?It is apparent that among Californians there is a fundamental difference in the concept of equality under the law and the significance of marriage as a legal institution. Opponents of Proposition 8 believe, as the Oxy community is well aware, that marriage is a bond based on love, and for the government to recognize heterosexual love while rejecting homosexual love is an act of discrimination and a severe civil rights violation. Supporters of Proposition 8, on the other hand, contend that there is in fact no test of love in securing a certificate of marriage, and that because marriage has always been by definition a union between a man and a woman, granting certificates of marriage to same-sex couples is a form of institutionalized perjury.
I am not trying to say that supporters of Proposition 8 are the sole victims of emotionally charged political bigotry. The proposition’s support campaign threw its share of low blows, most notably fearmongering based on an isolated incident in a Massachusetts classroom involving a children’s book featuring a gay couple. However, much of the rhetoric coming from those opposed to Prop 8 has been unfairly hyperbolic and divisive. For example, in her Nov. 12 article in the Occidental Weekly, Charlotte Strauss-Swanson partially blamed Proposition 8’s passage on the “many religious voters [that] were active at the polls.” Considering, though, that about one-third of Californians are Catholics alone, this voter demographic is not unexpected. She also warned readers of the “many pockets of right-wing conservatives living in California.” However, Proposition 8 received some of its heaviest support from dense population centers such as Los Angeles and San Diego Counties – areas that typically lean to the left.
Most disturbing, however, has been the ease with which the word “hate” has been thrown around. Tying a person up and dragging them behind your pickup for several miles is hate. Systematically gathering up an entire category of people and working them to death in the name of unity is hate. Proposition 8, as evidenced by the surrounding political and historical conditions, is at the very most an act of discrimination. If you take anything away from this article, please refrain from associating your fellow Californian citizens with the ugliest driving force of human nature. Doing so only renders less significant the pain of those who have suffered and continue to suffer because of real hate.
Don Rowe is an undeclared sophomore. He can be reached at drowe@oxy.edu.
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