No On Hate

"You tell me this, then: Now, when God created man, he saw that was lonely, right?"

Now, if I believe my what my late mother always told me (I miss you, Mommy!) my father hasn't regularly attended church in almost 50 years, having walked out of a Sunday service in a huff after they'd taken up the collection, counted it, declared it "not enough" and sent the collection plate around again. Thus, except for rare occasions the only time you'll see my dad in a church is a wedding or a funeral. But that doesn't matter. Like most of his generation he was raised in the church, in the deep South. So he may not be a thumper, but his religious beliefs are just as important to him as they were to my mother, for whom her faith was far more central day-to-day. So even though to me Proposition 8 is a political, not religious, question, my father's question made clear to me that he and I couldn't go straight into the politics. We first had to get through The Religion.

"Yes, that's what the Bible teaches us." --- read more

We don't have a measure on the current ballot that addresses gay marriage this time, but Oregon has seen some doozies in the past. No one has ever given me a good reason, or even a half-assed reason why adult gay couples can't get married. I've heard a number of religious, political, moral or economic arguments why the state would want or need to block their marriage. I have heard ignorant hateful and bigoted reason, but nothing that makes logical sense. That's usually when people bring up their religious rationale on the topic, and well .. really how can you argue against that if you don't know their specific interpretation of their own faith? I can't. This story helps in that aspect. I feel they should have the right to marry, and that is shouldn't be taken away ever, unless we're taking the privilege of marriage from everyone. So California, kill Prop 8, fight the hate!