Pledge to Repeal Prop. 8

Some election outcomes made me (cautiously) hopeful regarding the direction of the USA. I am not one of those who sees Obama as some kind of rock-star, but he at least seems to be using his brain, which is more than I'd be willing to grant the Bush administration.

Others, however, felt like a kick in the face to civil rights.

A (married, straight) friend of mine said, in the election's aftermath:

"I woke up this morning, checked the results, and for the first time actually did feel like my marriage has been undermined. Because now what I have, and what was granted to everyone is being taken away from people for no good reason. I feel like I'm a member of a white's-only club, you know? I'm so angry about this."

I am currently somewhat embarrassed on behalf of my state, and for what it's worth, I'm sorry I didn't do more to help curb the bigotry that resulted in Proposition 8's passage this week.

I actually expected better of my neighbors, and I hope that eventually the folks who voted "Yes" will come to appreciate the gravity of what it means to write discrimination into law, into California's constitution, via a measure that specifically stated its purpose was to "eliminate [a] right".

But, it's not a time to moan and whine so much as figure out what to do about the situation. I'm not sure exactly what avenues are best yet, but via Dale C., here's a place where you can sign the pledge to repeal Prop 8.

Obviously it's going to take more than just signing a pledge to actually accomplish anything, but one has to start somewhere. We have all this great technology (computers! internet! blogs!) -- let's put it to good use in helping communicate that bigotry will not be allowed to write itself into law again.