I was born in California two years after sex acts between consenting adults became legal there.
I've lived to see U.S. sodomy laws sent to the dustbin of history and now, I have hope that LGBT youth will be embraced and loved, rather than scorned and reviled, driven to suicide or murdered.
I have hope that LGBT Americans will be allowed to serve in our military, as we join 25 other countries that allow them to do so.
I have hope that same-sex couples will be granted the special privileges heterosexual unions are given.
I have hope that people of all faiths will speak out against hatred, that we will live to realize that all are created equal, and that none will be free until all are free.
I can honestly say, today, that I believe all these things might be achieved in my lifetime. I've lived through the turn of a century and the dawn of a millennium. The first decade of the 21st Century is here.
I know I won't see in another century, but I rejoice at what lies ahead in this new one.
This is NOT the pause that refreshes.
We'll be in limbo for a while.
The judge in this case isn't particularly known as a friend of the GLBT cause. The following passage is taken directly from my one (and thus far, only) comment to the "Huffington Post" site regarding the yet-to-be determined trial against implementation of Proposition 8, California's restrictive law prohibiting same-sex marriage.Sidelight: interesting that the most frequent daily coverage of the trial, appearing first on Yahoo, was reportage from the Baptist Press organization. If they're watching that closely, they've got to be nervous. 
I'm surprised the plaintiffs' attorneys haven't raised the key issue, which I believe will be pivotal: under the California state constitution, two-thirds of the voters must approve any amendment, which Prop 8 was. However, Prop 8 "won" only 52 percent of the vote. Anyone can do the math: 52% is clearly, NOT the 66+% required for passage.
The present implementation of Proposition 8 is demonstrably unconstitutional on those grounds.
The plaintiffs' attorneys have presented eye-opening testimony about the oppression of gay and lesbian couples, the bias and ignorance of Proposition 8's creators, the damage done to gay/lesbian citizens (including the "conversion-therapy-by-genital-electrodes" torture of one young man).
I believe that, with their eyes opened by such evidence, the voters will be better informed when another ballot measure overturns Prop 8 - IF the compelling issue of its unconstitutionality isn't raised on appeal.
End note: ironically, "Marriage Equality," which would like Prop. 8 overturned, doesn't want to move toward another public ballot referendum until 2012. What are they waiting for? And what, I wonder, are they doing with the money they keep soliciting for support of the "crucial work?"
I was born in California two years after sex acts between consenting adults became legal there.
