It sums up my feelings exactly. Of course I'm bothered by Prop 8 getting overturned—but of course, we have to find out if the overturning of the law is legal or not. On the other hand I finally have a president who referred to us by name. This is huge. Clinton never did that. There was Obama, on the national stage, a president elect, not a candidate drumming for votes, stating that he will protect and defend gays along with everyone else. Truly making a bid for inclusiveness and for an America that respects, values, and needs everyone who makes up the country. I sat in front of the television screen in a state of complete bliss.

On November 4th, 2008, chickens and pigs were granted rights, but Gay Californians had theirs stripped away.

How f*cked up is that.

An empty statement.

"For man" of us, the passage of Prop 8 made it impossible to be jubilant. Once again it made me feel like an outsider, as if i were thought of as a bit less. The way it feels every time i go to a wedding where I'm supposed to be happy for my straight friends and they expect me to be happy, all the while not once recognizing that they're rubbing it in my face.

It's an inescapable conclusion that many Obama supporters in California, in the act of voting to usher in a new era that forces many to question their own prejudices, voted to remove the rights of some people.

At the moment, I can't think of any group more hypocritical—any Bushes or Roves or McCains or Palins, none of them—than African Americans who voted for Obama with hope of a better future while also voting yes on Prop 8.

I despise each and every one of those people.

Every generation is more liberal than the last in this country (or at least this trend has been true for a long, long time) and I have no doubt that, in time, there will be absolutely no legal distinctions--none--between gay and straight Americans. Serve in the army openly, get married, adopt kids; it's all coming, in time.

I'm straight, but this law affects me even so. Any discrimination hurts all of us, even bigots, though they do not know it. And one day, the majority of Americans will know it and it will be enshrined in law.

You said: "On the other hand I finally have a president who referred to us by name. This is huge. Clinton never did that."

Ummm, one of the first—if not THE first—things that Clinton did as President was a little thing called "Gays in the Military".

If you're contented to beg for word-scraps at his speeches, then dropping the "G" bomb every so often will be seen as placating us.

Gimme a break.

Obama's a gay basher and an anti-drug extremist. Except for abortion, he's a dependable social conservative, and he's a Marxist on fiscal issues. Kind of like Fidel, Hugo, Vlad.

There's no way I'd vote for the turds on the major party tickets, but I was hoping McCain would win despite not voting for him--wishing that he'd panic, choke, and DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for the next 4 years. What the US needs now is a 4 year Congressional recess. We can pull ourselves out of this without those corrupt reprobates around laboring to make it worse.

On the contrary, one of THE first things he did was "Don't Ask Don't Tell" starting off his presidency by retracting his promise to gays and lesbians. He went on in his presidency to sign the Defense of Marriage Act, which effectively supports exactly the outcom of Prop 8.

Yes, I see a great difference between Clinton and Obama. And see Obama as a great man, Clinton as not.

Huh? I guess "the many" who experience the jubilation aren't gay Californians?

I have always supported Obama. I've always spoken out for civil rights for all Americans, and I would always decry prejudice and bigotry. How ironic that the same people I have fought for voted in large numbers to deny me my own rights and relegate me to second-class citizen status. African-Americans: Religious bigotry has always been reactionary and the basis for denying rights (including those afforded African-Americans: review your history). It's no different now.

Search your souls and realize that discrimination is discrimination is discrimination. While racial prejudice is not the same as gender prejudice or sexual-orientation prejudice: it's all still wrong and needs to be rejected.

It seems to me that most are missing a huge, huge point when discouraging us from taking Prop 8 to the California Supreme Court. Not only should we take it to them, the court should actually act swiftly and decisively and strike down Prop 8.

Our California State Constitution is quite clear that any amendment which alters existing language therein must first be voted on and receive a 2/3 approval by the State Legislature before ever going in front of the voters. This part of the Constitution is there explicitly to prevent a very small part of the population — in this case only 1/8th — from altering it any time they see something in California they don’t like.

If the Supreme Court does not strike down Prop 8, they not only fail in their duties but also set a terrible precedent. Next year, the LDS-sponsored proposition could be “all teachers employed by the state must be born-again Christians.” Anyone who thinks they couldn’t get just five million people out to support a measure like that has their head in the sand.

Would anyone telling us to stay out of court today argue to let that proposition stand and just settle for trying to get the religious right to someday accept that non-Christians can be teachers, too? Would anyone telling us to stay out of court just concede that “a majority” 1/8th of the population of California had legal standing for enacting such a rule without it having gone through the legislature?

Prop 8 is infinitely bigger than same-sex marriage and the religious right knows exactly how big and far-reaching a precedent has just been set.