Prop 8 Unconstitutional

Marriage Is A Human Right

Refreshing news from California. Yes, the denial of equal protection is indeed wrong. Proposition 8 was grounded in an assumption of heterosexual privilege, and it has been ruled null and void in California based on the laws that keep us all free and equal. It was never a question of whether voters should determine the rights of individuals. In a democracy voters should never be allowed to determine the rights of others. This is why we have constitutions, and constitutions are not swords, they are shields meant to protect not the powerful majority but the unempowered minority. Should citizens of this country enjoy the equal right to marry the person they love? The answer is self-evident. Of course they should. This country has never been good at perpetuating a group of second class citizens. And we are less able to do this all the time as we mature and educate ourselves. Our acceptance also increases, sadly, the further we remove ourselves from hateful religious intolerance. The very institutions that should be promoting acceptance are preaching hatred and division, and shame on all of them. So-called Christians, Mormons, Muslims, Jews--any religious sect promoting unequal treatment of anyone should know that they are on the wrong side of the civil marriage equality issue, and they need to join with us in celebrating love, or they have a lot to answer for. The ruling in California is likely only a beginning, but let's hope it's a solid one. Let's hope this is the start of the dissolution of our national identity taken hostage by Christian fundamentalists and religious groups of all stripes who insist on injecting their intolerant, sexist, racist, hateful message into our civic dialogue. It is time for Americans to demand the true separation of church and state functions as the founders envisioned and to deny Christian hate mongers access to our courts, legislatures and other civic entities. Unless these churches begin to pay taxes and assume the role in the sunlight that they've enjoyed in shadow, these groups must step aside and allow our national civic affairs to proceed unimpeded. The sacred documents we should be observing as citizens are not the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas or any other religious text; our sacred documents are the United States Constitution and our Bill of Rights. The decision in California upholds that belief, and so should we all.