Proposition 8

Hey, it was bound to come up in this blog right? Hahahaha!

So Proposition 8, in a nutshell is, quite frankly, one of those perfect examples why I think “religion” has no place in government policy. Lets be honest here, is there anything else that would make this sort of non-issue an issue? That shit is rooted in religious views no matter how you slice it. But again, I don’t say that religion should mind its own business because of it being “wrong” or “right” – but more of because religion is bound to give rise to conflict in any pluralistic society.

Proposition 8, taken from an article:

…aims to end same-sex marriage in California by amending the constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

While there certainly are nuances with regards to my stand on this, I’m interpreting “marriage” in this article in a “legal” context. If you can’t find the time to delineate the two, then that’s really not my problem. All the same, I’m going into “legal-union” (i.e. not sacrament) mode as far as this post goes.

I guess the bottomline here is that unless you’ve been living under a rock, or have your head buried in the sand (whichever metaphor works for you), you must’ve noticed that the world isn’t made of one single belief system. It’s not all-Christian, not all-Islam, not all-CotFSM, or all-whatever-the-hell-belief-system you can throw at it.

And while fundamentalists may see that as a bad thing for their particular party (i.e. people have “lost their way”), maybe they should take a good look in the mirror as to what type of people are actually “more decent” and productive when faced with multiple creeds.

There is a reason why something like killing is against the law. The law protects life not because it’s God’s will, but because it should be as inherent as breathing. We all agree that it’s a really dick move to take another person’s life – this has nothing to do with going to hell or what have you. I already mentioned in the past that the golden rule of religion(s) isn’t exclusive to the religious construct. Treating people fairly is a basic drive regardless of your creed.

The “issue” tackled by Prop 8; clearly isn’t one of those things. Even if you think it is, it’s not – period, fuck you. These people aren’t harming anyone in their relationships. As much as I don’t want my children to be gay (which is a different post altogether) I really have no problem with homosexuality; a bunch of us have been hosted by gay couples during our US tours, and quite frankly, their relationships seem to be more “stable” (for lack of a better term) than normal heterosexual relationships. The worst that can happen is that they make others uncomfortable – and I really have to submit the only reason why people can be uncomfortable with something like that is because they’re too naive to accept “love” in its truest form; unconditional.

So when companies like Apple and Google finally take a stand, I’m happy because finally, we have organizations that have just as much “clout” and influence as the religious nuts in a position to make a difference, and finally put an end to all this naivety.

To me, it’s an even more compelling point if corporations like them take a stand. The truth of the matter is that corporations have a lot to lose when they take such controversial stands – because they’re bound offend half of their customers every single time. So for them to actually take a stand, it makes it clear how unreasonable the “other side” is.

The bottom-line is: if you start from an unbiased perspective, you’d be hard-pressed to support the conservative/religious camp when it comes to things like this. I mean I can probably say I’m a bit biased at this point. ¹ Structured religion has had so many “strikes,” that its really hard for me to see other than a lesser, naive position… but I’m still trying, believe me. But if I literally were just a child who wasn’t exposed to ANYTHING and was simply taught the “golden rule” – I wouldn’t see anything wrong with gay-mairrage, but would certainly see something wrong with people trying to hinder other people’s happiness simply because they don’t agree with them. And if you see it that way, it’s not surprising why companies like Apple and Google can make those decisions despite the repercussions.

It simply is a matter of equality – and proposition 8 threatens that equality.

My stand on the matter: a resounding NO to Proposition 8!