Bittersweet

I knew I would be staying up all last night to watch the US election returns come in. There was no way I would have been able to sleep, so eagerly have I been anticipating a democratic revolution.

Midnight here is 7pm Eastern, when the first swathe of voting states close. I was at the ready, with the TV set to the newsstations and the laptop beside me, trying to monitor all whispers and prognostications.

It's been said that no Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio. At 2.36 hrs here, CNN called Ohio as Obama's. I bounced around on the couch and tried not to shout with glee. At 3.22 hrs, a CNN reporter mentioned a private email from senior Republican advisors who said they ,' see no path to victory at this point.' Permagrin set in.

On another channel, BBC had a broadcast with a panel of 'experts' including John Bolton, US's ex-ambassador to the United Nations. He's an awful man, spreading fear about democrats even to the very end. The BBC newscaster, David Dimbleby let him ramble on for a bit, then pulled him up short, brushing away the non-answer Bolton gave. It seemed hysterically funny to me in the wee small hours.

Montana took forever to come in. In fact, when I went to bed, I still couldn't find anyone offering final stats on how it fared, the race was that tight. I saw my state at 52 % Dem, then 54%, before it began to decrease to 52% again and 51% when I finally quit. OMG, how wiggly did I get when it was at 54%?!!! LOL! Montana is SO republican, to think it even had a chance of flipping was incredible and left me covered in goosebumps.

I texted my daughter right before McCain gave his concession speech. Surprised I was still up, she laughed at me before admitting she was watching the returns herself. We texted eachother all the way through McCain and Obama's speeches. It felt like we were together, sharing a momentous occasion.

I am so proud of my country.

I am disheartened by California though. No one seems to want to call the results on Prop 8 there, but the LA Times is giving it passage by 52%. My birth state looks like it is going to take away the rights of an estimated 18,000 couples and make their weddings invalid.

Gay people are once again codified into a discriminated minority. In spite of the Constitution of the US and the Constitution of the state of California both saying that all men are created equal, and requiring equal treatment for all, gay people are excluded. They are going to amend their state constitution to specifically ALLOW discrimination.

I'm no scholar. I don't know constitutional law. But HOW the hell can this be really happening? My only guess is that the ones who voted for passage of Prop 8 still consider us among the criminal/ psychologically impaired groups... and therefore have no rights?

But we aren't. The American Medical Association doesn't consider homosexuality a deviancy or impairment. The Supreme Court said in Lawrence vs Texas that the govt has no right intruding on our bedrooms so even the old sodomy laws that used to be used agains gays are no longer valid.

But still the states make laws to make us less than. Less than equal, less than protected, less than legally provided for. Not just us but our children as well.

I wish everyone who voted for Prop 8 would sit and think of one way in which they might be considered a minority. Could be by skin color, by choice of religion, by size, eye color, accent, ANYTHING. If laws were passed to exclude YOU from equal rights.. how would you feel? Is that fair?

There must be a way by which amending such a negative thing into any constitution can be called illegal. Somebody with a giant brain needs to figure this out. Not just for gays, but for all of us.

Really, who's rights will be next to go?

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent;I was not a
communist.
When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent;I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out;I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews, I remained silent;I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

Pastor Martin Niemöller