Allow Me a Brief Moment on My Political Soap Box

While I, along with most of the country and even more of the world celebrate the election of Barack Obama and look forward to a new era in the US, I hope you all take a minute with me to mourn a loss that occurred almost simultaneously.

As the news came in that Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii, along with California, provided Barack Obama with the necessary electoral votes to clinch his 2008 campaign victory, California was in the process of delivering an almost as stunning loss. The loss was proposition 8 whose passing revoked Californians' rights to gay marriage.

I am neither gay nor a Californian, but I felt like I had lost something at that moment. That loss was the connection California had with my home state of Massachusetts in that both states were the first to allow gay marriage. As a progressive, and as a believer in equal rights to all, it had made me proud. Now, I am just as ashamed.

I am too young to remember the days when African Americans were not allowed to vote. I was born well after the peak of segregation. This is the first time I've ever seen legislation passed that intended to take equal rights away from fellow Americans. In the last 8 years I was weary of the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade. I also thought there may be a time when the ironically named "Protection of Marriage Amendment" would garner enough support to disgrace our national Constitution. What I never thought I'd see was Californians flocking to the voting booths with the intention of taking rights away from fellow Californians. I can't tell you how much I hope that never happens in Massachusetts.

It amazes me even more that there are couples in California, who have been married for years, who now wait it out as courts decide whether they are, in fact, married. So remember, while Tuesday marks a great moment in our country's history, it also marks a significantly dark one. I can only hope California, as well as the rest of this country, comes to their senses and stops trying to write fear and hatred into our law books.