Proposition Octophobia

Lately, I have experienced random attacks of sexuality-induced anxiety, moments of absolute panic, delusions of two people walking down the street hand in hand without criticism, nightmares about a large white men in robes standing in the corner of my bedroom (and he's not Santa Claus!), and heart palpitations beyond the effects of my regular four cups of coffee (w/ 2 packs splenda, 2 bits French Vanila). I considered calling up my doctor, then realized that my condition is an acute case of Proposition Octophobia - Fear/Anxiety about Proposition Eight.

The country is celebrating Tuesday's electoral return as a victory and a national outcry for change. I'm as ecstatic about Obama's success as the next liberal democrat, but I'm not ready to pop open the champagne in honor of progress. Tuesday brought this country hope, but it also brought us homophobic bigotry and institutionalized discrimination. On May 15th, 2008, the California Supreme Court overturned legislation limiting marriage to heterosexual couples only as it would violate the equal protection clause of the California Constitution. LGBTQ couples were allowed to enter into marriage for nearly 6 months - and are now banned from doing so again.

Gay marriage was voted upon and banned in the states of Arizona and Florida, and Arkansas took the issue of discrimination one step further by prohibiting LGBTQ couples from adopting or fostering children in their state. Because we clearly have a country with an OVERabundance of people adopting and fostering - no shortage there, oh no!

I have many, many issues with banning gay marriage. I am outing myself more and more these days, minds well do it here. I identify as bisexual, though I'm currently more interested in women than men. No one has the right to tell me that I cannot marry the person of my choosing with his or her consent. No one has the right to CRIMINALIZE intimate moments between me and my consenting partner, or tell me that I am not capapble of adopting or providing foster care to a child in need. If I can do this a single woman, why would my ability to do this suddenly change if I enter into a relationship with another woman? Wouldn't our total ability to care for that child increase, not decrease?

Here's what really gets me. What if... what if the California Proposition challenged the right of two people to marry if they are of different races??? Or if your combined IQ is less than X. Or if one of you is HIV positive. What if we replace "queer" with "black" - what would happen then? The person who wrote the proposition would be tarred and feathered... or at least sued for every last penny his or her family ever owned throughout time. Why then, does this country allow for the blatant discrimination of citizens based upon their sexuality???

Also, to borrow from a friend of mine who recently spoke at my university, if it's the "sanctity" of marriage people are trying to protect, perhaps they should focus on reducing the DIVORCE rate instead of banning others from entering into holy matrimony.