The first step in a long battle...

I'm sure you've already heard, but a judge in California has declared that the vile referendum known as Prop 8 as unconstitutional.

But wait, this isn't the end of the fight. The religious right wing, who think that the Constitution should regulate morality is already greasing their wheels to appeal.

My feeling is that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals with uphold the Judge's decision. It's the Supreme Court that I'm worried about. If they choose to hear the case, the ideological imbalance could result in an interpretation that could make Prop 8 a federal base on which many states will make their laws upon. But I don't know if the Supreme Court will choose to hear the case. Especially since there is a court case in Massachusetts that would probably reach their bench before that.

We can talk about it we're blue in the face (and we have) but the fact that this issue is about civil rights and not the defense of a moral interpretation of "marriage" eludes many of our conservative friends. The ones who absolutely LOVE the Constitution except when it conflicts with their world view . I would challenge anyone to dispute that the vast majority of people who advocate Prop 8 or condemn homosexuality do so because they believe it's immoral on some or many levels. And of those people, many derive that feeling of morality from a religious view of some sort. Once you go down that road, you've already relegated our LGBT friends to second class citizenry in your own mind. It's no wonder that the Churches (specifically the mormons) came out in force to help spread propaganda in favor of Prop 8 (remember that next time you think of Mitt Romney or any of the evangelical politicians in Washington today)

But there is a silver lining. If you haven't noticed, it's the youth of this country that is defeating homophobia. With each passing generation, the bigoted way that our predecessors viewed homosexuality makes less and less sense to our young people. Will homophobia die all together? Probably not. But if we all open our eyes we can tuck it away so that you would have to look really hard to find it.

If you take one thing away from this writing, remember that this fight for equal rights is no different from other civil rights issues from the past. The Constitution guarantees a basic set of rights for EVERYONE straight, gay, bi, black, white, blue or yellow. Citizen, resident or illegal alien. Please remember that first and foremost, people are just that; PEOPLE.

Posted by Vinny Mongru