In edinburgh :D

Prop 8

The fact that this even made it onto the ballot in this day and age
makes me angry.

Whilst all over the world gay rights are moving forward (you now get
civil unions in Uruguay or can get married in Norway for example),
across America they have taken a huge step backwards.
America might have just voted Barack Obama as their next president,
arguably the most gay friendly president yet (he even mentioned gay people in his acceptance speech), but gay Americans are still facing discrimination every day.

On ballots, this past election day, there was Prop 102 in Arizona and
Amendment 2 in Florida, both of which banned gay marriage by amending
the respective state's constitutions to define marriage as only "between
one man and one woman". Both passed. Also, in Arkansas, Initiated Act 1,
banned gay couples from adopting, under the guise of banning "all
unmarried couples".
Worst of all there was Prop 8 in California, also to amend the state's
constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. What
makes Prop 8 worse than Prop 102 and Amendment 2, was the fact the same
sex marriage had been legal in California since May this year. So by
passing it, rights were actually taken away from people, rather than
just not being given to them in the first place. It also seems to have
passed. However the vote was so close (52% for, 48% against), it will not be official
until December 9th when the official final election results are
published. Although most realize it has probably passed and have
continued to fight it, instead of sitting around, waiting for the final
announcement. Thousands of people across California have already marched
to protest the results. (For details of protests in California, see here)

Picture from here

The battle against Prop 8 was 2nd only to the actual presidential race
in terms of the amount of money donated (over $38 million) The campaign
had the support of huge companies like Apple and Google and celebrities
such as Brad Pitt, Steven Spielberg and Pauley Perrette (she believes
"this is the biggest civil rights issue of our generation.").
Even Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican Governor of California, and
Barack Obama, now the President elect, were against Prop 8. However it
should be noted that both of them were against any attempts to amend the
state's constitution, rather than for gay marriage.

In contrast the yes on prop 8 campaign raised just over $36 million, and
most of that came from the Mormon church (is there not a separation of
church and state? I don't think a church with non-profit status should
be allowed to contribute that much towards changing laws). Not
surprisingly it's near impossible to find many big names that gave money
towards the yes campaign.

Many people might wonder why I care so much about fighting prop 8. I
don't live in California, heck, I don't even live in America. In fact I
live in the UK which already allows civil unions/partnerships which give
me every right that a straight married couple has.
However, civil unions are not equal to marriage, they have a different
name. We are not equal until there is no difference and I am allowed to
get married, just like my straight friends.
I believe that no-one should have to face discrimination, no matter
where they live. Just because it doesn't affect me directly now, doesn't
mean that it won't in the future.

I have this in the window of my flat and I'm hoping to
organize some sort of protest/gathering/something here in the UK (if
anyone wants to help, drop me a message or something), to show that
people across the world are against 8.
If I could, I would be in California protesting with everyone else, but
since I'm stuck where I am right now, I'm going to do everything that I
can from here.

If you still don't understand why I'm fighting against Prop 8, I'll
leave you with these two quotes.

"Be the change that you want to see in the world."
Gandhi

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps
to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is
really cooperating with it."
Martin Luther King, Jr.