"No more Mr. Nice Gay!"

I've been making a point not to dwell on the disgrace that is Prop 8, but it's still a heated issue in the news, and many are protesting against it today. I happened to flip to CNN to see the oh-so-handsome-and-articulate Dan Savage on Larry King Live (he's the one who said the title of this post).

And yesterday I was curious about our First Lady-to-be, so I looked her up on youtube. Before you know it, I was comparing Michelle Obama's ability to dance on Ellen to Barack Obama's (Michelle wins).

And then I saw a clip of John McCain on Ellen, and they were discussing gay marriage. And when Ellen stated how not being able to get married makes her feel like a second-class citizen, he just said something to the effect of, "We have a respectful disagreement." How is it respectful to put hetero unions at the top?

And THEN I ended up looking at a clip of Ellen announcing her wedding when California legalized gay marriage. I felt sad and pissed off. BUT, my viewing of Larry King Live was fruitful; I learned that the gay couples who got married in California prior to Prop 8's hateful passing are still married.

I do not totally understand how one can "agree to disagree" or "respectfully disagree" on this issue. Sure, you can have a calm debate about it, but either you're for marriage equality, or you're not. And if you're not, then you are belittling a sexual minority; that's why McCain didn't really have an argument.

The only grey area is civil unions, and while those grant some legal rights, they still aren't equal to heterosexual marriage. Helllo! Equal is the key word here!

I also cannot fully validate the idea that America simply isn't ready for marriage equality. I know that there needs to be a degree of readiness, preparation, and incentive for change to occur in a sustainable way. But at the same time, Prop 8 passed because it could pass on a simple majority. If it passed by 2/3's (and if Mormons from Utah hadn't interfered), then perhaps one could argue that California really isn't ready.

But every law granting minorities their entitled freedoms has been met with a reluctant opposition (freeing slaves, desegregation, etc) and a challenging transitional period. Change is hard, even if you're ready for it. Sometimes you just need to dive in and force the small-minded people to just fucking deal with it. Oppressed minorities have had to do it; why can't the oppressors give it a try?