Writing as a straight male husband of an awesome woman and father of a wonderful 3-year-old girl, I'm so proud to be a Californian today!

The true test of us as a society is not how it treats those in the majority, but how it treats those in the minority. Today, with this ruling, California passes just such a test. Today California acknowledges that homosexual people are, well, people, and that they deserve the same rights and privileges as anyone else. And one of the most important and sacred of human rights is the right to join in monogamous union with the person that you love, and who loves you.

My marriage to my wife is in no way weakened or assaulted by marriage equality for all Californians. If anything, it's strengthened by the greater and wider shared appreciation in this state for the importance of a loving bond between two human beings.

My family is in no way attacked or lessened by the thought that there are families in California which are different from my own. If anything, my family is encouraged by the wider understanding that the things that ultimately constitute a true family are affection and commitment, not the mere possession of compatible genitals.

I trying to raise my daughter to respect and honor all her fellow citizens, even the ones who are different from her. Thank you, California, for providing a kind example of that respect and honor for others for my daughter (and all of us) to witness and learn from.

Now all we gotta do is make this stand up, politically, in November here in California (as y'all know, there's a constitutional amendment on the state ballot that would make this ruling moot). I think we can defeat it, and here's why:

a) Prop 22 (California's previous anti-gay proposition, which the State Supreme Court just struck down) passed in 2000 during a springtime primary election in which Democrats were underrepresented at the polls (only about 3 million votes were cast that day in the presidential primary on the Democratic side, versus 4 million votes cast in the Republican presidential primary that same day... compare that ratio to the one we saw in the November election of that same year, when the Democratic and Green nominees tallied a combined 6.2M votes in California, and the Republican nominee tallied 4.5M California votes). Contra 2000, this coming piece of gay-bashing ballot bait will hit the polls in the November general election. And unlike the 3/'00 election, there is absolutely no way that California Republicans will outnumber California Democrats at the polls in 11/'08. Plus...

b) since 2000, the California assembly and senate have twice passed legislation legalizing gay marriage, giving the institution the additional patina of statewide, government-approved legitimacy that it didn't have in the year 2000. And though the governor did twice veto the legislation, he did so on (ostensibly) democratic grounds, declaring the bill to be a legislative end-run around the express will of the California voter. But at the same time, the governor has repeatedly expressed opposition to the pending constitutional amendment, which means that...

c) the "Yes" side of this measure won't have a high-profile champion in its corner. And besides...

d) my straight, white, hetero, nuclear family is gonna work its butt off going door-to-door urging fellow California voters to vote "No" on this piece of discriminatory garbage.

Peace to all,

Patrick Meighan

Culver City, CA

"...to the extent that the comments of members of our staff are misinterpreted, they shouldn’t be read into as anything otherwise."

I hope--for the sake of the English language and the basic notion of words as a vehicle for the communication of information between humans--that there's some key context omitted before the beginning of this quotation. I'd rather be punched in the neck than have my intelligence insulted the way the above quotation does.

Patrick Meighan

Culver City, CA

Let's do this!

Thanks for getting the ball rolling, Glenn.

Patrick Meighan

Culver City, CA