What happened with Prop 8?

So I am still thrilled about Obama, still often on the verge on tears when I listen to the news. But the Proposition 8 thing has really been bothering me. It just boils down to the fact that everyone I know is thrilled out of their mind to have elected our first black president, but not many people seem very upset that all over the country people voted to take away civil rights from another group. Maybe, as one friend said, this is a blessing in the same way that GW Bush was a blessing to Obama. As in, things have to be really f*cked up before can we understand how badly we need to change. Maybe.

But I am hurt. A lot of people are hurt. And even though I actually feel like I can say I love Barack Obama, I am angry at him now. Because he says he supports full gay rights, but he is still against gay marriage. Our beautiful new black president-elect would like to deny some of us our full civil rights. Or maybe he's not really, some people say he downplayed his support for gay marriage to get elected. And since a lot of the people who voted for him also voted against gay marriage, maybe that worked. But what he said is that he is against gay marriage but also against banning it. How do we expect people to make sense of that? Does mentioning us in his acceptance speech get him a free pass? Gay people are so used to accepting crumbs, it's ridiculous...

When I was in high school, in the early 90s, I was very active in the gay youth movement in Boston. I helped run my high school Gay/Straight Alliance, I was appointed by Gov. Bill Weld to his Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth (which was later abolished by Mitt Romney, but still exists as a non governmental-entity). I brought a girl to my prom, I was a member of the Boston Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Youth. Later, in Missoula, I got involved in fighting back when the home of my friends Carla and Adrianne was set on fire (with their 2-yr-old son inside) after they filed a lawsuit demanding benefits from the University of Montana. These days, since I moved to Portland, I am less political (aside for volunteering once in a long while). Not many of the people in my life now know much about that activist side of me. But right now, I am feeling the righteousness of my youth, and feeling called to get back to that work in some way.

I have been reading some blogs about this, and would like to share them with you. I'd love to know your thoughts on all this.

http://nailingjello.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/why-were-not-all-dancing-in-the-streets-today/

http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2008/11/sf-mayor-denounces-yes-on-8obama-mailer.html

http://wearefambly.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/delection/

http://www.racialicious.com/2008/11/07/on-proposition-8/