California Gay Marriage Banned

Despite the monumental election of the first African American president of the United States of America, this election season was a step backwards for the American acceptant of others. I was disappointed by California passing proposition 8 hereby banning gay marriage within the state. My disapproval of this proposition has very little to do with my personal feelings about gay marriage and is more planted within the ideal that we cannot take rights away from others, taking away their right to marry is not very different from taking away a woman’s right to vote or the right to marry whom we choose regardless of race. I don’t believe any of these things will occur yet I cannot help but feel remorse for our lack of progression as a people. During a school debate last year I was given the task of arguing against legalizing gay marriage and throughout all of my research found that the entirety of the issue is vocabulary and definition. I am unsure about how a simple vote can strip others of their rights. I understand that the vote was done by a majority and has passed fairly, but I have always been under the understanding that the votes passed where to better the lives of citizens. How the marriage of others had any negative repercussions is beyond me, making this vote seem to be obsolete. I would appreciate any argument made for proposition 8 beyond “gay marriage is wrong”. The argument that it is being taught within the school system is only representation that the teachers are teaching children the rights they could need to know. Banning gay marriage will not just make homosexuals go away. The bottom line is that if these rights can be stripped then there is little evidence that our country has not come as far as we would like to believe in those strong civil rights.