My fellow Americans.

[Q3JR4]

On November 5th, voters in California adopted their own constitutional gay marriage ban. In California, the state that's regarded the world over for it's liberal policies, we lost by two percentage points. Whether this was because the other side was better funded, or because conservative black and hispanic voters came out in droves to vote for Obama, the point of the matter is that California did what every state has done when given the chance. They voted to make our community second class citizens. The outcome surprised me and it surprised everyone I know.

Why is it that we loose every single battle? We loose because the very instruments that are meant to protect the minority position from the tyranny of the majority are used as cudgles to beat us into the ground. We loose because we aren't given enough time for people to get used to the idea that Bob and Ted down the street love each other as much as Tim and Mary do. Most importantly, we loose because we've failed to educate our communities about why they should fight with us to protect our rights.

I say not again.

We need to form our own grass roots organization that does nothing but educate voters in America about our issues. We need to continue to press for court decisions in our favor, and we need to be boots on the ground when constitutional amendments come up for votes in every single state (even the ones we have no hope of winning).

I hope that Proposition 8 is struck down by the California Supreme Court as an improper use of the initiative process and that gay marriage will once again be the law of the land in California. If not then we need to go on the offensive. We need to reorganize around the election in 2 years. Supporters of equal marriage rights need to start collecting signatures RIGHT NOW to put the issue back on the ballot. They need to start raising money RIGHT NOW to begin the process of re-education of the California constituency. And finally you and I need to start doing our part.

While it is true that even if Californians are once again able to start marrying each other, it's not going to have an immediate impact on the rest of us. But consider this; with each year that passes, more and more gay marriage supporters reach the age when they can vote. For each GLBT individual that comes out and educates his/her family, we gain new converts to the cause. For each state that legalizes same-sex marriages we move closer to the inevitable moment when we win. I ask you to join me in my quest to make that happen.

Can you feel the coming change? I can.

[robinlynne]

1. Would you mind counting the votes? 3 million still uncounted in california.

I sjut read on another thread (election thread) that 75% of the abllots left uncounted tend to be Democratic. I can't back that up, but I do know they are urban, young, 615,00 in Los ANgeles alone. San Frnanicsco has yet to even declare how many uncounted ballots they have.

Actualy it is 2,800,000 uncounted.
400,000 is the margin for prop 8 right now.

There are enough votes left to kill prop 8 several times over.

[Jamastiene]

2. Do you have a source to the 2.8 million uncounted ballots statistic?

Like a link or something? If you do, would you please either PM it to me or post it here. I agree with you that it is important to raise awareness about that and I want to help do that.

[robinlynne]

3. YES. secretary of state, california look up unprocessed votes. There it is, by county.

[robinlynne]

4. It is a pdf, you have to download. unprocessed ballots. then it explains which ballots are

which.

[HamdenRice]

5. You made the same mistake the Black civil right struggle made

I wrote about this in another thread, but the problem is "legalization" rather than activism. African Americans won early victories in the Supreme Court during the civil rights movement, while a lot of grass roots activism also was going on.

But the court wins were so effective that the movement focused on that and let the popular movement languish. We left change up to the "legal experts" and the "movement" became an ever more arcane set of legal disputes about busing.

By establishing desegregation mostly through the courts, whites came to feel that change was not occurring democratically, but by some "outside" force. Even white who supported civil rights in the abstract came to dislike court ordered remedies. Meanwhile the popular movement withered on the vine.

In the last 15 years a majority of straight Americans have come to accept equal marital rights for LGBTs. That's a fact. But enforcing that change through courts creates a backlash, and meanwhile the popular movement has withered.

That mistaken attitude is prevalent here on DU: "It's my right and I want it NOW. I don't care what the majority thinks! It's my RIGHT! It can't be voted on!" etc etc.

O Rly?

Tell that to LGBT people in California who have to live with the morning after.

It may be what you want, but take it from someone who lived through the African American civil rights era, it's simply not going to work without winning hearts and minds and without a movement. Court ordered change has created a backlash in every single state where same sex marriage has been ordered.