This is a very personal diary, and I'm a little scared to write it, even at a place as supportive as DailyKos can be. I've been coming to this site for my national news, general catharsis, and rallying cries for over four years now, so sharing a part of me this personal is a little scary.
I am gay. Yes, I know, National Coming Out Day was last Saturday, so I'm a little behind the ball. That's kinda the story of my life, actually, arriving at the bus stop one minute after the bus just came through, moving to the gay mecca of San Francisco years after it was the "in" thing to do, discovering the music of the 80s twenty years later...
I live in California, and I am scared because I don't want us to be behind the ball for the rest of my life.
You may know why I'm writing this diary, but it's important enough to me to share with you and I hope important enough to you to hear me out.
I do not have a husband. I'm 30 years old, my parents were married at the age of 22, and I always figured growing up that I'd do the same. Except, it was when I was 21 that I first got my heart crushed, and a year later I was still quite hopelessly single. So... so much for that fantasy of being married at 22.
Of course, my dad came out while I was in college, so the fantasy was kinda dashed for other reasons too.
I moved to California only a few months after the State's voters overwhelmingly approved the so-called "Knight Initiative," named after the now-deceased virulently homophobic State Senator Pete Knight... whose son is gay. That measure passed with 20% of the vote to spare, and the door was slammed on same-sex marriage for years to come.
Until 2008, when we all know what happened this year and suddenly people who had been together for 5, 10, 15, 20+ years (and some less and some more) were finally able to have their relationships legitimized by the State. We were all equal.
And for at least the next three weeks, we are still equal.
Right now, Proposition 8 is on track to win - and would write discrimination into our State constitution for the first time ever. Why? Not because the proponents (who have unlimited funding from the Mormon Church) have fought this on the merits. No... instead they're choking our airwaves with vile and despicable lies - myriad lies - with only meager resources on our side to rebut them.
It is painful to watch, and we are being outspent 2-to-1 by a disgusting, anti-Christian campaign (I think anyone that lies as much as they are lying is anti-Christian, much less when it involves denying people their civil rights).
California will vote overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. He may win by more than 20 points. But we may also vote to end marriage equality, almost as quickly as it began. And, for me, that means I will be "less than" in the eyes of the State, likely for the rest of my life.
I do not have a husband, but someday I will. And when that day arrives, I want the same rights as everyone else.
I'm asking you, as best I can, to please contribute to No on 8. Please, volunteer for No on 8. Please call your friends, send emails, talk to anyone you know who lives and votes in California. Tell them to vote NO on 8. Many Democrats won't even flip the ballot over to find Proposition 8 and we'll lose tens if not hundreds of thousands of votes simply because people don't understand the stakes and won't check the box.
This is urgent.
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I'm still behind the ball sometimes. I didn't get my own wake-up call on Prop. 8 until recently, and now I'm sounding the alarm in hopes that 3 weeks out from the election is not too late to win this thing. And if we win in November, we win period.
I ask you for your support. And thank you. From the bottom of my heart - thank you.
Update: In response to a comment below about how we could win this 2, 4, 6, 8 years from now, that's simply not true. This is a Constitutional Amendment, and the campaign so far has cost us over $40 million (counting both sides) and may well exceed $60 mil by election day. People are busting their banks on both sides, and the likelihood that there will be any effort to re-amend our State Constitution anytime soon to try and undo what Proposition 8 will do is slim. And even if someone did spend the millions to get something on the ballot, if we lose in 2008, how long is it until we can pull together a winning coalition?
I'd rather not take our chances on the future 10, 20 years from now, and I'd rather win this thing now.
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Update: Rec list - thank you all so much! I feel truly blessed to be a part of this community. I go to sleep with 25 comments and wake up with 210. I will reply to comments below. Continue to have hope we can win this - just know that we have a lot to do to make that happen.
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Update: ActBlue/Orange-to-Blue fundraising page for No on 8. That's another way to contribute, via the netroots medium.
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Update: In the comments, someone pointed to this Ellen DeGeneres PSA on No on 8. I love it! Short, sweet, and on point: