Hopefully ... waiting

Tuesday night I was in Constitutional Law, at about 8:00pm someone shouted "Barrack Obama just won!" The class applauded, except for me because I feel weird about applauding things that aren't happening live in front of me, sort of like when people applaud in the movie theater, don't they know that the actors aren't actually in the screen... anyway it was an amazing moment. One that I'm sure I will never forget. History was made and more importantly I felt hopeful and excited ... maybe our country won't turn to complete shit afterall?

While I was excited and happy that the right person will be running our country, a good person, I am still completely shocked about Proposition 8! I have always felt special living in California. I felt like I was part of this open and tolerant place, a place that was teased about being liberal and I was proud. How could so many people around the country vote for hope and change and at the same time, so many people in California also vote for discrimination and bigotry?

I struggle with the idea of celebrating too much about how we have elected our first African-American President and at the same time my state has now openly discriminated against an entire group of people. California voted to give chickens and cows more rights, which I believe they deserve, but at the same time, same-sex couples watched their rights get taken away. Do people really value chickens more than people? We are the first state to openly discriminate against an entire group of people.

I think I'm still stunned ... still stunned that Prop 8 passed and that I have a right to marry and my dad still would not. What makes the love that I have with Greg so much more superior than someone else?

I was excited to a part of history on Tuesday night, I never actually believed that I would live to see an African American President in the White House. Maybe my son will get to live to be able to see same-sex couples get the same rights as everyone else, but I hope it doesn't take quite as long ...

I found this quote on the No on 8 site to be very insightful:

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.” Anne Lamott

I think I waited and watched too silently, maybe I didn't work hard enough and in fact, maybe I gave up. Because maybe I was just too presumptuous and I just assumed that everyone thought like me, that we all deserve the same rights and that there was no way that Prop 8 would pass, how could it? I'm hopeful that the dawn will come and everyone will have the same rights as everyone else.