Winning the Battle, Losing the War

Posted by Marielle in US Election 2008.

I don’t want to interrupt everyone’s post-election celebrations (and hangovers), but now is the perfect time to talk about ballot measures. Our country made history last night be electing its first Black president. On the American ballot, you can vote for president, and representatives for the House and Senate, as well as local representatives in your county. Some states also use election day as an opportunity to get a public vote on an issue.

Last night, residents of Arizona, Florida and most famously California, checked ‘YES’ to ballot measures to put in place a state constitutional ban on gay marriage by defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Once it’s in the constitution, the state supreme court can’t touch it. What this could mean for Californians who are already in same-sex marriages is that for the second time in the state’s history, their marriages and the many rights and liberties that come with those unions, no longer exist.

Also consider an Arkansas ballot to prohibit unmarried “sexual partners” (read: gay parents) from adopting children or from serving as foster parents. The measure applies to both opposite-sex and same-sex couples…but you know they weren’t all that concerned about the hetero couples adopting children and being bad parents.

These four ballot measures in particular have set back the LGBT civil rights movement by at least a decade. It’s a reminder that slightly-less-than-half of Americans did not vote for Barack Obama last night. And in the cases of California and Florida, who both helped elect a Black president, it’s an example of the most vicious selective discrimination.

Last night we won a momentous battle. But we’ve got to keep fighting this civil rights war.

US Election 2008 |