Prop. 8 Aftermath
It has been telling to watch the aftermath of the passage of prop. 8 in California. Rather than revel in the democratic process, the prop. 8 opponents are having a cow. Well, not really. They can’t have progeny, even cows. In the aftermath of prop. 8, gay rights advocates have shown their poker hand when they should have folded and tucked their cards back into the deck to fight again another day.
I mentioned in a previous post that I thought the real motivation of gay-rights was, in part, anti-religion sentiment on the part of gays. It turns out I am correct. Aside from targeting the Mormon temples (which so far as I can tell has produced as collective "ehh!" from the church) and Catholic churches, this story of an attack of a cross bearing elderly lady in Palm Springs caught my eye.
What was planned as a peaceful candlelight service in front of City Hall took a hostile turn when the crowd began pushing and a cross was torn from Burgess’ arms. The cross ended up in pieces on the ground. [After being trampled by angry gay-rights activists)
Somebody apparently caught it on video as well, which shows the gay rights advocates a pitchfork and torch away from burning a church down.
After the election, the LA Times produced a photo essay of the protest at the Mormon temple in Westwood. Many of the signs in the pictures had some sort of "Hate" ("H8") message, as if people in favor of prop. 8 hate them. (My favorite: "Mormon Hate Out of My State.")
The attacks on religion cause me to ask, who is hating whom?
Most of the prop. 8 supporters were very clear to communicate that the issue to them was one of morality and ideology rather than hatred. There is a difference. People can have a set of values, and even disapprove of choices made, and still offer love and support to the same person making the choices. This isn’t hate — it is using the democratic process to mold society in an image of what majority considers mainstream and right. This is precisely the reason for having democracy, so that no one person (e.g., a king or judge) or a minority group can dictate to the majority the morals of their society. The majority of Californians decided (twice) that gay marriage should not be recognized. Prop. 8 supporters articulated a number of reasons for their support, most of which focused on the ancillary effects of gay marriage for children and free practice of religion, and none of which that were based on hatred of gays as people.
The only haters in all of this are the gays. They are free to disagree, assemble outside churches and temples (provided they do not interfere with the free exercise of worship), but attacks on religious people and tearing crosses, listing those who donated to prop. 8 and encouraging gay rights supporters to do what is in their power to make life difficult for there donors, causing people to be fired from their jobs, staging loud and obnoxious demonstrations during worship services, and the general vitriol observed in these protests against Mormons (this one is really classy ), Catholics, and other supporters of prop. 8. This is hatred. Hatred of religion, morality, and more generally the people themselves that share in these values.
Hate? In a prior post I mentioned that I have a gay colleague. Over the last two months, he has gone from friendly to not talking to me. As our path’s don’t often cross, I didn’t read too much into it, even when friendly greetings from me to the gay colleague were ignored as recently as two weeks ago. That is until another Mormon colleague of mine who works more closely with him came into my office yesterday and made the same observation.
Hatred? By who?
Tags: "hate", gay rights, morals, Prop. 8, Religion