Posted by
Jim Cathcart on Friday, November 14, 2008 6:55:29 PM
by Jim Cathcart
The news is filled with people screaming angrily "Stop the Hate!" These are primarily people who are protesting the defeat of gay marriage in the recent election. When Proposition 8 passed in California the opposition mobilized their forces and started demonstrating nationwide. They disrupted traffic, screamed at people, and made it clear that they do not accept the democratic process when it disagrees with them. There have been some among them who have identified others, who voted for Prop 8 and contributed money to it, and then targeted them with boycotts, vandalism and ridicule. Sounds like hatred to me!
The American people don't hate the gays. We almost universally accept them just like any other citizen. This election was not about whether gays are decent people or have rights, etc. It was about whether we redefine "marriage" to mean something other than the union of a man and a woman. This definition has huge legal and societal implications. It will affect what is taught in schools, what kids learn to expect and more. The gay community already has a louder public voice than the straight majority, despite representing less than 5% of our population. That is amazing. There are many minority groups with larger numbers and lesser access to the news and the public's attention.
Now we have a large movement of angry people demonstrating against this second vote that expressed the same public sentiment: a "marriage" is between one man and one woman. These people seem to be asking the courts to defy the populace and to legislate gay marriage no matter how the citizens voted. This selfish attitude toward our democratic process is wrong, fully, clearly and undeniably wrong.
I'm not out there demonstrating with the millions of McKain-Palin supporters to get the election reversed. Nobody else is demonstrating as the gay supporters currently are. I suspect that these demonstration "organizers" are many of the same people who had the hispanic community up in arms a few years ago to get citizenship rights for illegal immigrants. This is NOT the American way!
In America the people rule, and once they have voted then life goes on. If you want a country where the courts make the citizens comply with your wishes then you need to move away from America. We are a country where people who disagree also get on with their lives and accept that sometimes others will disagree and prevail. Our system is the most fair system ever created. I say to the noisy resisters, "Stop the hate. Give it a rest. Your side lost this vote. Find another avenue for healthy disagreement."
If you want to stop the hate, you go first!