Inner Activist Awakes

Last night I decided to head downtown to the rally to protest the recent ruling about Prop 8. I have to say, I was disappointed by the size of the turn out. I'm hoping that was mostly due to poor notification about the rally, not lack of outrage about this issue.

I do believe that I shall see gay marriage in my lifetime. Not just on a state by state basis, but on the federal level. I've become very hopefully after the outrage over Prop 8 across the country & state like Iowa granting same sex marriage. Still, I want to see this level of outrage & activism in my home state. I want Oregon to be among the leading states on this issue. When the ban on same sex marriage was passed back in 2004, I was so ashamed to call myself on Oregonian. At the time I was living in China & sadly didn't get to vote. (Did the absentee ballot, but it arrived a little over 2 weeks after election day)

While listening to the speakers at the event, I realized it was time for me to stop being a passive observer. I care deeply about this issue not just as a queer person, but as a human being. Objections to same sex marriage that use religious definitions of marriage have no place in this debate. We either need to remove marriage completely from the government (& only have civil unions) or we need to let anyone marry regardless of their sexual orientation. The logic of 'separate but equal' was proven faulty before & I can only hope that it will again.

Today I emailed Basic Rights Oregon to volunteer. Last night I also signed up to donate to the ACLU. Its time for me to be part of the change I want to see in this country.