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Once the votes on everything I made predictions about are tallied, I’ll make a post noting how I did. I think I’ll find I pretty well on the Presidential (think I may have called NC wrong, but we’ll see), Senate and House elections, but I didn’t do as hot on the anti-marriage amendments.
Unfortunately I was correct on Arizona’s. I’d held out hope that a surge in liberal Obama supporters might hold it off, but I didn’t really believe it would happen. And it didn’t. But if you’ll allow me to look for the silver lining for a moment, this amendment did no pass when the “No nothing, no way, no how” version was put before the voters in ‘06. While it’s certainly sad that a stripped down version can pass, there’s a glimmer of hope in the fact that such an amendment must be stripped down significantly to survive. It allows for the possibility of civil unions. Is that optimal? Of course not. Acceptable? No, but if you look at history, a step towards separate and (un)equal from simply separate, is one in the right direction even if it’s just the first step in a long journey.
I have a harder time looking on the bright side of the Florida Amendment. When I realized it needed 60% to pass, I figured it was a goner. Not even Arizona’s measure got 60% (though it didn’t need it). There is no room for civil unions in this Amendment. It’s a “Nothing, No Way, No How” hate-fest no matter how you look at it and not only a majority but a 62% majority of Florida voters approved it. All I can say is that we still have a long way to go, but remember, it wasn’t that long ago that a black man couldn’t drink out of the same water fountain as a white man, yet a black man will be running our country in just a few short months.
On to California. Prop 8 was arguably the most important marriage equality-related ballot measure in this election. Unlike any measure passed so far, this one would actually invalidate existing marriages. To legally shred existing families is beyond the pale. I realize that the “Yes on 8″ campaign has been documented to have used lies about what Prop 8 did that were so far fetched as to seem satirical at a glance, and engaged in tactics as dirty as outright threatening of “No on 8″ donors, but still, anybody who voted for Prop 8 knew that they ultimately were legally dissolving existing families. As far as I’m concerned, if you voted Yes on Prop 8, you are evil. Period. May God have mercy on your soul, because I can’t.
Yet, I’m not ready to give up on the defeat of Prop 8 yet. Last I checked, the measure is ahead by only about 400,000 votes, with about 3,000,000 absentee ballots left to be counted. That’s certainly not an insurmountable obstacle, and though it’d be wise not to get one’s hopes up, I wonder if it’s reasonable to assume that a majority of those absentee ballots might not be those of college students. As a demographic 18-24 year olds are most likely to oppose the measure. It’s already gotten more votes than it ever should have, but I’m not quite ready to have this one called for the bigots yet. To use their own terms far more accurately than they ever have; love might still win out*.
* Update: ABC News is reporting that the ban has officially passed. It’s a sad, sad day.
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November 5th, 2008 at 2:15 pmGary K says:
And, if you voted on Prop 8, there’s a good chance you’re African-American. This demographic voted in an overwhelming majority (70% voting YES) for Prop 8. Not even Hispanics, devoutly Catholic in nature, managed to really break a 50/50 split for the amendment.
African-Americans ought to be ashamed of themselves. They single handedly passed an amendment reverting California law back to the civil union, separate but equal, status for gay couples. Yes on Prop 8 folks claimed that this amendment simply restores traditional marriage, and because of California’s extremely strong civil union law, has no actual effect on the legal rights of gay couples in the state.
That being the case, I propose that we re-institute segregation in the state. Why can’t African-Americans drink out of their own water fountain? The water coming out of it is exactly the same as the one coming out of my fountain. And, why can’t they attend their own schools? They are all public schools, so they are by default providing the same quality education.
I find it amazing that a demographic that not 35 years ago found itself in the same position as gays are today has the audacity to vote for a law that writes discrimination into the constitution under the guise of “separate but equal.”
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November 6th, 2008 at 9:59 amdolphin says:
Yeah it’s sad, but I’d shy away from a re-segregation push even to make a point. The point of just how unfair this is could be made quite effectively by pushing for more equality instead of more discrimination. Can you imagine if it were determined that, because the courts have said marriage equality is a matter of equal protection, all marriages (gay or straight) must now be prohibited by the new amendment in order to ensure that everyone is treated equally. Prop 8 would be repealed before the ink had even dried on the paper, and the point would have been made through a push for more equality.
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November 6th, 2008 at 1:26 pmGary K says:
Dolph —
I know, I was just being sarcastic
I don’t truly believe that we should re-institute segregation. The fact that they don’t see the irony in all of this, however, is truly staggering.
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November 6th, 2008 at 3:40 pmdolphin says:
Oh, I know you don’t support actual segregation, but there are folks out there who don’t support segregation, but think we should actually propose such a thing (presumably knowing it would fail) just to make the point. I disagree with that.