Not Threatened

Like many Americans, I am elated at the results of last night’s Presidential election. I am proud to live in a country where we have proven that one does not need to be a rich, white male in order become President. I am proud to know that this is the world into which I brought a son – a world of hope and promise, not the bleak misery of the previous eight years.

However, even this monumental occasion has its dark side. California’s Prop 8, eliminating same-sex marriage, has passed. Can you imagine marrying someone and then having that marriage taken away from you? A ban on gay marriage is terrible enough, but to have it eliminated entirely – even retroactively – is unfathomable. And yet this is what homosexual couples in California have woken up to, today. Yesterday, they were happily married; today they are told their marriage is no longer valid because some the voters said so.

Why should this even be a question? What gives anyone the right to judge the definition of family? The most common arguments seem to be based in religion. The problem with this? Not everyone practices the same religion. Even those who do don’t practice it the same way. Not to mention, of course, that religion really has no place in state or federal policy in a country where we are free to practice any, all, or no religion. Such matters should be left to the individual, not forced upon a State or the Country at large.

Marriage vows are as strong or as weak as the couple who makes them. Their strength is not dependent upon who else has made a similar vow, nor on who else is allowed to make them. The vows are between the couple and their officiant, and perhaps their God (using this term as all-inclusive, whatever name may be given) if that is what they have chosen. The only ones who can weaken, or cheapen, or indeed unsanctify your wedding vows are you and your spouse.

As a member of a monogamous, heterosexual marriage, I am standing up to say: My marriage is in no way threatened by anyone else’s.

(Editor’s Note: Apparently previously married couples will, in fact, remain married.)

Wake Me When it’s Over

Election 2008

Tomorrow is Election Day. Everyone with access to the world outside their front door knows this, and I would bet I am not the only one who is counting down the minutes for this whole dramatic time to end. I’ve chosen my candidates, read through information on my local races, and figured out the logistics of going to vote on a day when my husband will have the car and I have choral practice when he gets home – fortunately, my polling place is within walking distance, and we’re expecting beautiful weather. Beautiful weather for what promises to be an historic day for America. Beautiful weather for a day I will be glad to see come and go, whatever the result.

No matter who wins – my Presidential choice or someone else’s – the mudslinging can end. Well, no, that’s not realistic. There will always be mud to sling, and an us vs. them mentality. But at least when the election is through, the mud will return to its usual level, tension will (eventually) dissipate, and we can all remember the things we have in common rather than the differences election season forces us to focus upon.

Conversely, I am also eager to stop seeing everyone painting everyone else with the same brush. Not all Democrats/Republicans/Libertarians/Greens/Whatevers are the same, believe it or not. Yet everywhere I turn, I read sweeping generalizations and insults to the intelligence of anyone who could possibly have a different point of view. It’s nothing short of uncivilized. And no, it’s not going to miraculously end at midnight tomorrow. But the dust will settle; it always does.

Until then, I’ll just try to keep as far from all the negativity as I can.