It wasn't all champagne and roses Tuesday

[thatcrazycajun]

Yes, Barack Obama won the Presidency yesterday. And I am immeasurably proud of my country for that today. (Then that right-wing Uncle Tom Ward Connerly had to go and spoil my joy by saying that Obama's win proves his point that we don't need affirmative action anymore. Tell it to the poor black kids still being raised in grinding poverty and warehoused in substandard inner-city schools, Wardo. Better yet, tell it to their parents.)

But then I found out that the obscenity known as Proposition 8 passed in California that same day, even with a huge turnout for Obama and Democratic candidates statewide. It won narrowly, 52% to 48%...but it won just the same. Arizona and Florida passed similar measures as well, bringing the total of states with religion-based bigotry and discrimination enshrined in their state constitutions to 30. And Arkansas passed one forbidding unmarried couples from being adoptive or foster parents...with its proponents making no bones about their real target being two-mommy/two-daddy couples. MSNBC's website has the whole sordid story here. The ACLU is challenging Prop 8 in court on grounds of improperly amending the state constitution (thanks, mdlbear), and we may yet hope it gets struck down as Amendment 2 did in Colorado years back.

And yet this same state also, that same day, defeated another proposition that would have made it harder for teenage girls to get abortions, and South Dakota and Colorado also voted down anti-choice state-constitution amendments. Go figure.

Sigh. One humongous step forward, three steps back. The Peepul, bless their black flabby little hearts, may be ready to tolerate a colored President and not ready to send pregnant women back to the back alleys...but even in the most notoriously liberal state west of the Mississippi, they're still not ready to let them damned faggots and dykes have marriage licenses. Stupid gits.

Comments

[crystalgee.livejournal.com]

Believe me.. the passing of Proposition 2 has me shaking my head.. *sigh*

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

It's too damn bad that Georgia, even if it had initiative, is so red outside Perimeter that the chances of passing such a measure there are slim and none and Slim just warped out so fast he didn't even leave a rainbow.

Wouldn't that stick in Corn Cobb County's craw, though? Oh, man, there'd be so many deaths from apoplexy they'd have to bus in coroners from all over the state. And then the folks from Midtown could buy up the houses cheap and freakin' take over the joint...

*GRIN* We can dream. Yes We Can.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

>>It's too damn bad that Georgia, even if it had initiative, is so red outside Perimeter that the chances of passing such a measure there are slim and none and Slim just warped out so fast he didn't even leave a rainbow.<<

Tell me about it! The State House is staying in GOP hands partly because the feckless state Democratic Party couldn't muster up enough credible candidates to run against Richardson & Co. even in districts that are less safe for Republicans these days. Makes me think I should just finally give the Songbird what she wants and move to Africa with her...

[mshollie.livejournal.com]

There are protests going on in California now as I write this. What happened was that the Mormon church poured more money and organization into their "Yes on 8" campaign than the "No on 8" counterparts. The GOTV effort for "No on 8" wasn't there.

Still, I'm happy that Obama was elected. I voted for him.

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

Yup on both counts. It looked to me like folks in CA saw the early polling numbers and did not realize they had a fight on their hands until near the end.

Does CA allow them to come back again next time?

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

1) As always, election results are a mixed bag. To quote Spider Robinson (from memory): "It took evolution millions of years to develop an intelligent human being, and you want a smart one in a couple 'o hundred thou?" Voters, even in uber conservative South Dakota, rejected the comprehensive anti-abortion bill by huge margins. We make progress and grind out the ground game, knowing that the contrary tendencies of the human heart will ensure a non-stop struggle.

2) I always find this prejudice even less comprehensible in that it has no economic substructure. Usually, prejudice is subtly reenforced by economic benefits from creating an underclass. Not here. But, I suspect, that is why it will ultimately yield.

3) This is why I keep syaing that rights advocates need to rely less on the courts and more on the tactics of legislative persuasion. CA had already passed a gay marriage bill -- which was then vetoed by the govrnor. Now it will take a constitutional amendment.

4) I guess folks who care ought to get cracking.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

3) This is why I keep syaing that rights advocates need to rely less on the courts and more on the tactics of legislative persuasion. CA had already passed a gay marriage bill -- which was then vetoed by the govrnor. Now it will take a constitutional amendment.

The governor had also said that he'd sign the next such bill, given that the courts had given it a thumbs-up. The opposition cut them off at the pass, with Prop Hate being a constitutional amendment (which you already know).

Also, as I've mentioned elsewhere, I have serious hope for the NY legislature to pass a gender-neutral marriage bill, now that the state Senate is in Dem hands (the Assembly passed one, and the governor said he'd sign it when it hits his desk). Maybe this civil rights movement needs the blue Northeast to be solidly behind it (MA and CT, plus NY, is a fair amount of financial clout).

It's coming. But oh, the defeat out west hurts.

[luscious-words.livejournal.com]

*sigh* It's sad, but true.