I took this picture in downtown San Jose at Guadalupe River Park. I stood up on a bench by the tennis courts and shot a picture of an old barn-ish place that is now in the process of being torn down.
Like so many of my fellow civil rights activists, I am still horrified by the passage of Prop 8. It has cast a shadow over what should be a time of celebration and HOPE. I am glad that people are mobilizing against Prop 8 as it gives me a place to protest. Protest. That almost seems too tame a word for what I really want to do. I want to scream til I’m hoarse. I want to force every one of those who voted 8 in to look a gay person in the face and tell them why they feel they shouldn’t have the same basic rights as they do. Tell them why they took away their civil rights.
I really don't understand how we can take such a basic right away from people. Doesn't it say in the Declaration of Independence that all men (and women) are created equal?
I watched a spoof video on The Onion that said we have finally become so angry and disillusioned that we could elect a Black man.
True. Damnit.
It’s interesting that those who have historically professed to be in favor of less government in our lives are the very people who are actually snooping in people’s bedrooms. You just can’t get more invasive than that!
Wasn't this country founded in the name of freedom? Our ancestors, except those brought here as slaves of course, came here to be free. To escape those who treated them as less than equal.
When we first arrived, to be free of tyranny, we almost immediately began our own tyranny against Native Americans. Why do we always seem to feel the need to designate someone to be less than us? Why must we operate from a place of there not being enough for everyone? Why can’t we be tolerant, loving, and generous? I just don’t get it. Is it bred into us, this need?
Some times it seems as though we become less enlightened as time goes by.
3 comments:
firstly, great photo... love the effect...
secondly, i find it absurd and extremely disappointing that they passed it hours after the election... a real travesty...
First of all I have to say:
I love reading The Onion, good stuff.
I know that wasn't the focus in your writing about prop 8, but I have to say that you are very passionate and fierce about your standing, which is great! It's a quality to stand behind and uphold your own world, especially when society threatens to crash down upon it.
In reading your passage I felt the vioces and minds of others that support your standing as well, very powerfully.
Although, the prop had issues in fine print... I'm sure if it were to be brought up again- that fine print revised so that rumors are hammered out, that your passionate stand and writing would not be in vain. During that time before Prop 8 was passed, there were all sorts of raging messages and faulty evidence that led a lot of people to waver on their support.
I am also interested in knowing the full details of Prop 8 and its potential effects (besides obvious, well-deserved and gratifying rights for many). I myself did research on Prop 8 so that I my own thoughts wouldn't be swayed by mudslinging comercials, ads, rumors, and etc. and I suprisingly found that the truth was hardest to find- and ultimately, I never found it. If the prop were to resurface again I would wish that certain details and facts would become accessible to everyone- and that there would be a way to determine which information is correct and not faulty. Those that were against same-sex marriage had the tactic of scaring the majority that had children... that America's educational system for young children would become 'warped' and centered around sam-sex marriage.
Meanwhile, the opposing side in campaign-like ads said otherwise.
The prospect of voting really turned me off then... I didn't know what was truth. Don't get me wrong, I support the rights of every American- regaurdless of their sexuality, ethnicity, haircolor, armpit smell- and all that jazz. We're all human, and deserve our full rights in society and in life.
-Breathe- Wow, I should be a deep diver some day.
Nice pictures by the way! 8D
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