Californication

Sigh. California just seems unable to escape the news. One day it is the dire financial woes of our western state. Today it is the Cali State Supreme Courts decisions to uphold Prop 8. I was listening to NPR this morning and someone actually tried to tie the two together. Yes, now there is something else to blame on the gays, the near bankrupt state of California. Damn gays, what will they do next? Decorate my home? Buy me a great class of Merlot? I jest when I really desire to be serious. But sometimes you just have to laugh at the audacity of all of it. Because when it comes down to it that is really all this is.

Ignorance, bigotry, there are many words I can think to describe those who choose to refuse to grant equal rights. I assume if I was around during the women's rights movement or the civil rights movement I would feel the same. Maybe it is, in part, due to the fact that I am no longer a church goer. I do not mean that to come across as I am not a religious person, but maybe I just haven't studied enough. Because when I think back to my days in Sunday school, my years spent studying for conformation, I remember a few things vividly. The most important was that I can not judge people. Religion is not a weapon for me to yield like a sword, cutting down those who I do not deem worthy.

If you haven't guessed by now, I am a huge supporter of gay marriage. There is only one reason, because everyone deserves the same rights as I. Just because you are gay doesn't mean you shouldn't have the ability to be legally tied to the person you love. Yes I understand that civil unions offer those who are gay in California the same rights as those who are straight. But the rights are under a different name, so how are they the same. Equal rights are not different rights. In the fifties those of different colors were also allowed to drink from water fountains, ride buses, and attend school. They just couldn't do it in the same area as white people. Equal rights, yes, but different rights.

The argument of choice is null in this case. People do not choose to be gay, just as I did not choose to be straight. I was born this way. Just as my dear friend in California was born gay. He didn't just wake up one morning and decide, "Hey world, give me hell, I choose to be gay. I choose to be labeled and cast aside. I choose for people to judge me and use the name of God to bear false witness against me".

And religion. Goodness me. I can't think of one thing I detest more than people who hide beind the guise of religion to afford them them ability to spew hatred. I assure you my God does not love gay people less. Too many negative acts are committed in the name of religion. Instead of using a pulpit to incite bigotry, why don't we use it to condone love and acceptance. I am quite certain that God would be happy with that action.

The discussion of equal rights for those who are gay is one that I hope continues with the same fever. I hope that those of us who support equal rights are never silenced.

We are all familiar with a certain figures speech regarding a wonderful dream. Instead of quoting the same passage we all know, let me provide an alternative.

In the beautiful and inspiring words of Dr. Martin Luther King,

"As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back"

"This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

The beauty of Wyoming

Of all the places I've travel my least favorite is Wyoming. It is flat and windy and, well boring. Thanks to the Central Book Exchange I have a Steven King book on tape to keep my company.

Dinosaurs

I hate them. This is all.

Mobil blogs?!?

If I were Snoop Dog I'd say something like nizzle. The wonders of the internet.

And what unknown number calls at this time of night? I smell a slimy ex-husband.