Hm. Chickens or human rights?

Wow. What a night and day after. I think I'm still in shock...the high was incredible! Then I read the news and was abruptly brought back down to earth.

In one of our nation's biggest elections ever, a young black man was elected president - while in California, voters passed Prop 8. Shatter one ceiling while building another. Talk about two steps forward, one step back. So now, in the state of California (supposedly one of the more progressive), all those gay and lesbian couples who celebrated their love by getting married are now in a state of limbo. I cannot imagine having a court suddenly tell me that no matter how much I love someone, no matter the fact that the State Supreme Court said it was ok, no matter that it's nobody else's damn business who someone loves...that my marriage was no longer valid. That my significant other would no longer be protected by law in the event something happened to me. And in another state, that even if I could marry, I would not be able to adopt children. What century is this again?!?

What really peeves me about this whole thing is that a majority of the money to push this absurd proposition came from an entirely different state! What the hell is Utah doing getting involved in California's laws? What, the Mormons aren't satisfied with running their own state - they have to run another one as well? Don't get me wrong - I respect the Mormon religion as a whole and have several Mormon friends. But I don't believe that it is right for money to be funneled into a state ballot measure from another state...another state that is run by a Church.

I don't know anyone personally affected by this. But I can point to a famous example: Ellen DeGeneres. The few pictures I saw of her wedding to Portia showed not two lesbians putting one over on the state, but two women blissfully in love and thrilled at the opportunity to demonstrate that love in the time-honored fashion. I can only imagine the devastation they, and thousands of other gay and lesbian couples, must have felt this morning.

We have overcome the color barrier - when are we going to overcome the gay barrier? When are we finally going to realize that people are people, no matter their orientation? That *everyone* deserves the same right to happiness as the local bigot hanging out down the street.

I'll say the same thing about gay marriage as I do about abortions: You don't like it, then don't do it. But don't force your beliefs or your rigid ideologies onto everyone else. We all, as a nation, deserve better than that.

But! On the plus side - the chickens in California now have more rights than half the human population. Now THAT is progress!

What about the children?

Several states have some very controversial things on their ballots this election...two of the biggest, of course, involve abortions and gay marriages. In fact, in California, Proposition 8 (banning gay marriage) is in for a *very* close race. Another state is attempting to outlaw any single parent or non-married couple from adopting children (aimed primarily at...you guessed it - gay couples).

So, I don't get it. Beyond the fact that people are people and should be able to love whom they wish and make whatever choices about their body that they wish...where are the kids going to go? You know the kids...the hundreds of thousands of children in this country with no families and no homes?

Here's my thinking...there are already so many children waiting to be placed in their own "forever homes", and so many more already in foster care, that the system is already overburdened trying to keep track of, and take care of, them all. So, let's presume abortion is outlawed. You are now creating a situation where there will be thousands more of unwanted babies - many of them possibly special needs (Down's Syndrome, etc.). Because even if the child has significant health problems, abortion is not longer an option. Where are they going to go? Who is going to take care of them? The already over-burdened system? The same system where kids can just fall through the cracks until they are found chained to a bedpost, or beaten, or starved almost to death?

Then take the gay couples, married or not. Many of these couples want a family. They're not going to raise children to be gay. They're not going to raise them up as satanists. They just want to have children for the same reasons as other folks - to love them, to hold them, to be there for them and help them grow. Now, many of these gay couples adopt children from the foster-care system, thereby giving these previously unwanted children a home and parents who love them.

So, you're outlawing abortions and creating a potential crisis with the adoption system, and then you're taking away the rights of some people to adopt these children. Talk about stuck between a rock and a hard place! Now we have more children with no homes and no family and fewer people able to adopt them. Hm. Sounds like a terrific idea, doesn't it?

Then, while you're at it, we can decriminalize prostitution (Nope. Not kidding. See *California* above) and put a whole new meaning to "endangering the health of the mother" in the abortion clause...