I am unhappy, an awful lot of my friends are going to be devastated by prop 8's passage. It makes this morning a little bittersweet, though I'd rather have it this way than p8 passing and McPalin in control of the White House for 4 years.

We'll get em next time.

All it takes to amend the CA state constitution is a simple majority on a referendum? Is that the dumbest thing ever, or what?

As a married heterosexual, I'm disgusted by the discrimination the passage of these measures represents.

So this is the dark side of democracy Aristotle, Plato, and all those other guys used to rant against. I used to think that they were speaking purely from a position of undue love for the aristocracy. If even California can vote against equal rights, what hope do the rest of us have?

And that Arkansas law is completely fucked.

I guess that means that all of teh divorce lawyers in California can close up shop because there won't be any more divorces, right?

At least California is at a tipping point. Here in Florida our knuckle-dragging legislators put Amendment 2 on the ballot even though gay marriage was already illegal by statute. They said this was to keep those "activist judges" at bay (an activist judge being, of course, one you don't agree with). As I saw the returns come in, I turned to my wife and said "Darn, I guess I won't be able to go out and marry a man."

What really got me was the roadside signs that read "Vote Yes on Amendment 2 -- Protect Children." I mean, COME ON -- are these people trying to tell me that if two gay guys get married, they'll then run out and molest children, but if tehy don't get marries, and just live together, they'll automatically refrain from nasty impulses?

All it takes to amend the CA state constitution is a simple majority on a referendum? Is that the dumbest thing ever, or what?

You know, I have to agree. But then again, getting a Proposition to overturn Prop 8 in 2-4 years shouldn't be that hard, if it is in fact that easy.

California is an exceptionally silly place (and I should know, I lived there for about 8 years).

... how a state reputed to be so liberal, so in favor of civil liberties, so progressive and modern, can still manage to be so incredibly bigoted.

Unmarried couples in Arkansas can't foster? That's great news for children there. It's not like the system is overloaded with kids or anything. Geez. My husband and I fostered a child five years before we got married.

While we're all patting ourselves for being so tolerant and forward-thinking as to elect a black president, let's take a look at exit poll numbers which indicate that black voters overwhelmingly supported proposition 8. Seems like people who have been discriminated against would learn something, doesn't it? But it doesn't work out that way in practice.

It was never fair to vote on people's rights anyway. The whole situation makes me angry.

Obama is expected to appoint as many as three Supreme Court justices.

Even Scalia, in his dissent from the overturning of the anti-sodomy laws, said the Court's decision would make it impossible to deny the constitutionality of gay marriage.

Sooner or later, one of these laws will make it to the Supreme Court. It's taken far too long. But we are only a few years away from the eradication of anti-gay marriage laws, as anti-miscegenation was overturned in 1967.

This is a disturbing trend in state legislation. I would not be surprised if it ended up in front of the Supreme Court someday soon.

To me, this is not just a gay rights issue, but a human rights issue. But I wonder if the gay community, as a group, cares enough about this issue to take effective action against it.

I know there are a lot of gay people who truly do not care that they can't marry. And other than California, the states that are passing these bans are southern GOP strongholds, not huge meccas for homosexuals anyway.

Gay people have made huge strides since the '70s in making homosexuality just another part of life, in many areas at least. If it's time to go back to the streets to make voices heard, how hard might it be to achieve a cricial mass?

Christian intolerance is so... un-Christian. I cannot believe that this hateful Proposition passed. Disgraceful hatred based on ancient stupid ideas. And since Jesus told us how to vote, we didn't have to do any thinking...

Not mine. It wasn't a bad day. We woke up, showered, got our toddler son off to day care and we've talked a few times on the phone about the rest of the day.

Not outstanding, but not great.

Should there have been bluebirds singing or something?

What a jackass. It's a bad day for tolerance, for acceptance, and casts a long shadow on what should otherwise be a great day.

Nice job California.

Last night I was at a party held at my dear friends' house, a wonderful married lesbian couple. I feel sick to my stomach about the bigotry. We live in MA, so their union is (relatively) safe, but this is absolutely despicable. Human rights are not a matter to be voted on. My neighbors do not have the authority to decide whether I'm a full human being, whether it's regarding gay marriage or reproduction. They do not have the right to take my rights from me, and I do not have the right to strip them of theirs. It boggles my mind that we even vote on such things.

My only consolation is that not too long from now these bigots will be regarded with the same incredulous contempt we show people who were pro-segregation. Although we have a long way to go, already it's fairly unacceptable to be openly racist, sexist, or homophobic. I'd like to see the people who expressed their hate in the privacy of the voting booth face my friends and inform them that they have no right to love each other. Bastards.