Proposition 8 and the election in general has brought out the worst side of us, as evidenced by overt racism at the McCain/Palin rallies and the growing tensions in California over marriage equality. Hate is finally out of the closet and on display for the whole world to see. In California, some Proposition 8 supporters compare gays and lesbians to Hitler, while others see us bringing about the end times. There seems to be no limit to what they will say or do.

I’ve put together a list of eight reasons why voting No on Prop 8 might not be such a terrible idea, particularly if you don’t want to be associated with the lot below. Here they are, in no particular order

1. People who want marriage equality are well, like, Hitler

Brad Dacus ([email protected], (916) 857-6900) a spokesman for Proposition 8, spoke passionately in Sacramento equating their struggle against gay marriage and saving the soul of America, to the people of faith in Germany who left the soul of their country to Hitler.  Really?

2. The Mormons

By far the largest financial contributors to Proposition 8, Mormons have a long history of veiled hate and intolerance. Their church mobilized against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 70s. Blacks were not allowed into the temple until 1978, frowned on interracial marriage, and expelled gays and lesbians from their church who are unable to go straight. Sounds like an inclusive group to me.

3. 2012 Letter from Focus on the Family

Focus on the Family, one of Prop 8’s largest contributors, have released a fictional letter written by a Christian circa 2012, telling the story of what’s gone wrong with America in the first 4 years of an Obama presidency. Notable highlights include gay scoutmasters will be able to sleep in tents with young boys, schools can teach homosexuality as a personal choice, counselors and social workers can nolonger discriminate against homosexuals, and gays will target Christian book publishers, through defacement and censorship,  including cyber attacks against those booksellers carrrying their books. Are you kidding me?

4. The Call

Organized by religious leaders across the country, the Call brings together people to pray for the passage of Proposition 8 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego this weekend. James Dobson of Focus on the Family has decided at the last minute to join event, at the urging of Rev. Jim Garlow, who later goes on to say that he fears the end of western civilization if Prop 8 doesn’t pass.

Don’t these folks have something better to pray for? Like world peace? Or food for the millions starving across the globe. Or cures for the sick? This is how they choose to spend there time?

5. Yes on Proposition 8 Sends out Blackmail Letters

Last week the fine folks behind Proposition 8 sent out blackmail letters to many businesses that had made No on 8 donations, threatening to “out” them if they didn’t make a matching donation to Yes on 8. Truly tasteless.

6. Cyber attack of No on Prop 8 Website

After sending out an urgent call for donations to match Yes on 8’s recent funding surge, the No on Prop 8 site was attacked by hackers, denying contributors from making donations for several hours. Hackers can be bigots too I guess.

7. Tom McClintock

Tom McClintock who is running for Congress in Southern California is quoted as saying:

“Lincoln asked, ‘If you call a tail a leg, how many legs has a dog? The answer is four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it one,'” McClintock said in a statement. “And calling a homosexual partnership a marriage doesn’t make it one.”

McClintock is no friend of the gay community.
 
8. Orange County, California

Yes,  the whole county. There’s nothing orange about it, it’s red, through and through. A bastion of support for Proposition 8, Yes on 8 signs are everywhere, from neighborhood lawns to billboards. Some of Proposition 8’s biggest contributors are from Orange County. Donors skew heavily conservative, religious, and Mormon. I suspect gays and lesbians are, well, unwelcome.

So, if you are planning to vote Yes on Prop 8, then you are associating yourself with the fine class of people mentioned in the examples above.  Is that what you really want?

Several months ago Barack Obama came out against Proposition 8 but hasn’t said much in the way since. Until tonight.

On the 10/30/08 edition of NBC’s Nightly News, Brian Williams asked Obama about his approach to picking Supreme Court justices in lieu of a litmus test. Half way through the answer, and unprompted, Obama brings up marriage and the right to privacy.

“The right to marry who you please, isn’t in the constitution. But I think all of us assume, a state decided to pass a law saying Brian, you can’t marry the woman you love, that you would think that was unconstitutional. Well, where does the come from? I think it comes from a right to privacy.”

See the clip below.

Maybe I’m reaching here but I think this a not-so-subtle nod to Prop 8 in California, and the proposed bans in Florida and Arizona.

While I would prefer something more forthright, I’ll take what I can get. What do you think? Am I totally off base here?

It appears that that No on Prop 8 website, and Florida’s No On 2 site (another anti-gay marriage initiative) were both victims of hackers yesterday evening in a coordinated denial of service attack at the height of fundraising efforts.

The No on Prop 8 campaign released the following statement:

“Today the NO on Prop 8 campaign’s Web site (http://www.noonprop8.com/) was the victim of what appears to be a coordinated attack designed to bring the system down. According to http://www.calitics.com/, the denial-of-service attack (DoS) on the NO on Prop 8 website occurred before 11:30pm, Wednesday, October 29th and coincides with a similar attack on Florida’s NO on 2 campaign, the Constitutional Amendment Against Marriage Equality. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, an attacker attempts to prevent legitimate users from accessing information or services. By targeting a computer and its network connection, or the computers and network of the sites, an attacker may be able to prevent someone from accessing email, web sites, online accounts (banking, etc.), or other services that rely on the affected computer. The most common and obvious type of DoS attack occurs when an attacker ‘floods’ a network with information.”

When attempting to make a donation last night we noticed how how sluggish the No on Prop 8 website was, but attributed it to an increase intraffic due to donations and not anything sinister.

Sometimes the site still feels sluggish today. If you are unable to get through to make a donation, you can also donate through ActBlue or at Equality California. The No on Prop 8 campaign needs $3 million in donations by midnight Friday to counter the opposition’s recent surge in donations to purchase airtime for ads between now and election day. The campaign fears we may lose without this support.

While I am not surprised by the intellectual dishonesty of No on Prop 8’s opponents, I am a little surprised with the intellectual capability of it’s supporters to put together such an attack.

I guess hackers come in all stripes, even bigots.

Today, October 20, is the last day people can register to vote in California. I’m not going to go and on about civic duty, but this may be the most important election of our lifetime, and it’s so important to participate in that. We also have a tremendous opportunity here in California… not only to elect a president who has the vision to move us forward into the 21st century (8 years late I might add), but to extend and maintain equal rights to ALL the citizens of California. I am course referring to Proposition 8, which will strip away civil rights to same-sex couples, denying them the right to marry the person they love.

There’s so much at stake in November. So please be sure sure to register. Today. And make sure all your friends and family are registered. Today.

To register or verify your registration to vote, visit any of the following sites:

• Just Vote
• Vote for Change
• Rock the Vote

For more on Proposition 8, visit NoOnProp8.com

I’ll leave you with a couple of clips to chew on…

Gavin Newsom on Energy 92.7 speaking on the importance of Proposition 8.

Sarah Palin voices her support for a Federal Marriage Amendment.