The Bright Site Of Proposition 8

     Filling gay couples with disappointment and despair, but making gay rights visible to the entire country, the passage of Proposition 8 did bring some benefits to the Castro as well as to the whole gay community, advocates say.

“The level of energy and anger that has come out of its passing is actually starting to reunify the community, not just the queer community but along with our straight allies,” said Ardel Thomas, the chair of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies at City College of San Francisco.

     Gay equality, which Harvey Milk fought for his entire career 30 years ago, is still an issue today, even in a city known for its gay tolerance. Gay marriage was rejected by a majority of society by the passage of Proposition 8.

“If it took the passage of Proposition 8 to remind us – again – that every generation has to fight for its ideals and not take them for granted, then it may be a dark but necessary chapter,” said economist Dean Volker.

     A petition whose goal is to overturn Proposition 8 was available online by the day after the election. Also, many groups supporting No on 8 quickly formed on web social networks like Facebook and Myspace.

“The gay community needs to get behind it and do the work necessary to make equality a reality,” said Jim Lonergan, registered nurse, who has lived in San Francisco over 40 years.

     The fate of gay marriage is now back in the hands of the California Supreme Court. It is a battle that is not simple and is not nearly over.

“I think it is a setback to be sure, but certainly not the end of the story,” said Brandon Leonard, M.A., who got married on Election Day.

“We are gaining ground, we just need to be up there,” said Thomas “History is on our side, if you keep looking, we will eventually get marriage, it just takes some more fighting. It’ll just take some more time.”

     It all started on July 17 when same sex couples were legally able to marry in California. San Francisco City Hall added extra operating hours to satisfy the high demand for wedding appointments. It was a big day for the gay community and a significant one in the history of human rights, but not for long.

“The right to marry for gay people will not be an easy battle,” said Lonergan. “There is much more work to be done.”

     When Proposition 8 appeared on the ballot, it claimed to protect marriage as an institution between a man and a woman, attempting to take away the right for same sex couples to wed in the state of California.

“It wasn’t just about marriage, it was a very hateful measure,” said Thomas. “There is no way to read that without reading how incredibly homophobic it is. Regardless of how gay people feel about marriage as an institution, we all recognize the hatefulness behind Yes on 8.”

     Bothered by the fact that gay marriage grew into an enormous issue in just the past few months, Dennis Peron, a gay activist and a friend of Milk’s considers it “a battle that we did not choose.”

“We have so many issues,” said Thomas. “I don’t think that marriage would be the one people would have necessarily gone for, but it ended up being the issue on our plate.“

     Sponsored mostly by out of state religious organizations – Mormons from Utah, The Knights of Columbus from Connecticut, but also independent contributors from around the country, the Yes on 8, gaining over 35milion for their campaign, kept growing and gaining supporters.

“It helped show publicly which side people are on. I'm thinking of the fact that donations to political causes are public record, and now the folks who funded Prop 8 find themselves under fire,” said Volker, noting the well-publicized incident when a regional theater director in Sacramento who contributed money to Proposition 8 was forced to resign.

     On Election Day, City Hall in San Francisco was busy with same sex couples getting married, taking advantage of the opportunity to wed before too late. However even on that day throughout the gay community, representatives of the No on 8 campaign seemed to be quite relaxed about the whole issue of Proposition 8.

“There was a certain complacency about Prop 8 in that gay people felt that right was on our side and that the proposition would fail, that most Californians are fair and would not want to discriminate,” said Lonergan.

“The passage of Proposition 8 shocked enough people who thought California was ‘enlightened’ into realizing that even we in this state have these hurdles to jump, as well as causing a national embarrassment,” said Volker.

     While coping with disappointment some couples decided not to let the passage of Proposition 8 affect their marriage status and lives in general.

“I will not stop being David's husband just because a narrow-minded proposition or a court says that we are not legally married,” said Leonard.

     There was immediate reaction to the passage of the Proposition 8, starting with protests in the city the following day.

“The gays got pretty complacent lately, especially after anti-retroviral drugs took the heat off the fight against AIDS,” said Volker. “It took the passage of the proposition to get people back on the streets and mad as hell.”

     According to Thomas, political activism is more apparent now than it has been before, especially in the Castro. “It’s bringing the community together, I’ve seen more protesters, more energy after it. So in a weird way that’s good, it energized us.”

     In just couple of weeks after the election, from a state issue it became a national one. On the morning of November 15 all around the country supporters of gay marriage and equality stood in front of their local City Halls to express their disappointment and disagreement.

“We should be painfully aware at this point that freedoms can't be taken for granted and that complacency and apathy will never move us forward,” said Tara Walsh who got married on July 17. “I'm forever grateful to the people who wake up every day and devote their hours to making our world a better place.”

     Patience will be necessary now. According to Lynn Holton, Public Information Officer from the Judicial Council of California, there won’t be any new updates about the lawsuit against the Proposition 8 available until March 2009 when the first court hearing is scheduled.

“Hopefully, the courts will reject the proposition, which is a strong possibility,” said Lonergan. “In our system of government the rights of the minority and equal protections under the law are fundamental. The courts have done it before.”

     According to Walsh, the current lawsuit means hope and strength to same sex couples and the will to continue fighting.

“Without the lawsuit, we'd be dealing with a much more permanent and devastating reality right now,” said Walsh. “One that we're not ready to face.”

     Remembering the history of human rights, the gay community is not loosing their hope about the future success of their cause.

“It took 40 years of work to undue slavery and discrimination of blacks in the US and now we have our first black President and First Family, over time it too will happen,” said Lonergan.