vote YES on prop 8

so for those of you not living in my state currently -- fyi, we have this thing in california called prop 8. basically it's a revival of prop 22 (which passed by 61% of votes in 2000 for the exact same thing, in case you were wondering) which seeks to maintain the traditional definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman.

first of all, i think it's ridiculous that even though something passed just eight years ago, california's supreme court decided to overrule it and make it a bill again. maybe it's just me, but if a bill gets passed i like to think it's going to stay passed.

secondly. let's just get it out in the open. i don't hate gay people. i have a friends who are gay and i know plenty of people who choose to have "alternative lifestyles." i will admit that morally i don't agree with their choices, but they're still people and still deserve basic rights. but just because they choose to live that way, i do NOT think that means we need to completely redefine marriage, making it between two adult parties instead of between a man and a woman.

if this bill fails, everything will change. my kids will be taught in school that being gay is okay, that it's socially ordained to have two moms or two dads -- when i, personally, feel that this is a moral issue that should be taught in the home, NOT at school. don't believe me? things like that are already happening in states who have already legalized same sex marriage. not to mention this is just one step in slamming free speech for all of us. allow liberal viewpoints to win one victory like this and it's all downhill from here. tolerance for other ways of life, mine included, will continue to be targeted until everything is screwed up.

and have we forgotten that it's clinically proven by just about every family psychologist out there that the healthiest environment for children is one in a home with a mother and a father? who are we as a society to deny children the right to be born and live in a home with both their mother and father?

an op ed in the la times put it better than i can: "changing the meaning of marriage to accommodate homosexual orientation further and perhaps definitively undermines for all of us the very thing -- the gift, the birthright -- that is marriage's most distinctive contribution to human society." read the rest of the article here.

i'm feeling a little fired up about all this right now because b & i have been involved in campaigning efforts in our area. we knocked on doors and have been calling people to find fellow "yes" voters to join in our cause. tonight i made some more calls (yes, even from georgia -- i'm that hardcore) and only got one hostile man.
i should warn you now that i totally hate confrontation...i burst into tears any time anyone raises their voice at me. (not lying...ask brandon. i'm "sensitive.")

so anyway, the guy started calling me a "hater" as soon as he found out why i was calling. i calmly tried to explain that we don't hate anyone, that we just want to maintain the traditional definition of marriage, the one that has existed since the beginning of time for the sake of OUR families, but he didn't care. after a few minutes of bantering i could see i was getting nowhere, so i thanked him for his time and prepared to hang up. his last words to me were "thank you for letting me know you're a HATER." i hung up and cried a little.

but now i'm just mad. don't you see, crazy guy? i'm NOT a hater. this is turning all of YOU into haters, people who are so angry at those of us who conservatively stand up for our beliefs that you're just fighting for the sake of fighting. i'm doing this because i believe in families, in parenthood, in marriage -- and yes, the traditional version of each. god sent us here to be part of a family. i believe that, and i'm not forcing it on anyone. they choose to be alternative; they should have an alternative option for marriage, thus not changing it for the rest of us.

all right, that's my soapbox. for more info, visit http://www.preservingmarriage.org/ or http://www.whatisprop8.com/. or ask me about it. just don't raise your voice at me ;)

for those of you living in california, please vote yes on prop 8 next month. your kids (and mine) will thank you.