How Soon We Forget

America has been on the edge of war for awhile now. Now not a war that involves guns, air strikes, and tanks. Instead this is a war of wills and wants. Though not official it seems that Proposition 8, a proposition taking away rights from the gay community, has passed. Homosexuals and religion have lived side by side as far back as we know, and for most of it they have kept themselves separate, afraid of the other. But in the 70’s gays began becoming more vocal at their unfair treatment. As a nation we had overcome race (at least to a tolerable level), so why couldn’t we overcome this? These last forty years the homosexual community has slowly been boiling, waiting either till their voices were justly heard or until they couldn’t take it any longer.

California and the battle for defeating Prop 8 have drawn the lines of battle. Many religious associations joined together, with their pastors, priests, and imams leading the charge like generals in a war, rallying their troops to a cause. Unfortunately this cause was oppression. What happens when the United States of America, the home of equality and freedom, goes against its very roots?

To those Christian organizations that voted yes on Prop 8, do you forget why we ended up in America in the first place? To escape religious persecution in England, and yet here we are all these years later becoming the very monstrosity of hate we were trying to flee from.

To those women who voted yes on Prop 8, have you already forgotten what the Suffragettes fought so hard for? They fought for the equality of women and yet you have turned your back to everything those women fought so hard for.

To all others who have been or are currently oppressed who voted yes on Prop 8, have you forgotten the pain that you or your ancestors went through? Did we forget the ultimate lesson from such tyranny…equality for all?

Why is it that once a group has finally won equality, they forget those around them? Why can’t we remember what we had to go through in order to get where we are? And why would we wish that on anyone else?

Religion (on a whole) had the chance to repair relations with the gay community. They had a chance to show love and compassion (the highest commandment of any religion). To make up for unwarranted hate in the past but instead they stuck to tradition, to what they think is right.

The lines have been drawn and sides are forming. A people who have stayed pleasant despite countless years of frustration are not going to stay silent any longer. Like the French in the late 1700’s, there is only so much a group of people are willing to endure before they turn to drastic methods to get their voices heard. Everyone has their breaking point and unfortunately the gay community has been pushed right to the edge.