Notes from the Same-Old Era

Thank you for asking. Yes, Fosco is feeling a little more emotionally stable than in his earlier post.

Of course, this doesn't change the fact that, as Gawker noted today: Changed America Still Hates the Gays.

Part of Fosco's pain is the irony that, at least in California, Obama's landslide directly resulted in the passage of Prop 8. As an article in The Guardian notes:

For months, pro-gay marriage campaigners fretted that a big turnout for Obama would tip the scales in favour of Proposition 8 because it would bring out record numbers of African-Americans, who tend to hold more conservative social views. A CNN poll seems to suggest that's exactly what happened, with African-Americans voting 69 to 31 in favour.

Was it worth it? Was an Obama victory worth losing the right to marry? Yes, probably. But forgive me for hating that choice. And forgive me for resenting that gay people were the only members of Obama's coalition who had to make such a sacrifice.

Aaron Hicklin, the author of the article, goes on to point out (quite reasonably):

It goes without saying that we wouldn't be seeing the election of a black American today had the civil rights battles of the 1960s been decided by public referenda - a message we would do well to play up more.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure the US Supreme Court is going to help us on this one. At least not yet.

Also weighing in was the frequently annoying and occasionally sensible blogwhore Andrew Sullivan, who wrote a lovely piece that is helping Fosco to deal with today's news. As Sullivan notes, we have to take this setback seriously:

It cannot be denied that this feels like a punch in the gut. It is. I'm not going to pretend that the wound isn't deep and personal, like an attack on my own family. It was meant to be.

And perhaps we also need to temper our Obama enthusiasm just a tad:

Many Obama supporters voted against our rights, and Obama himself opposes our full civil equality.

But in the end, Sullivan's message is that we need to fight:

So we get back to work, arguing, talking. speaking, debating, writing, blogging, and struggling to change more minds.

And, just like that, by the end of the day on November 5, the gays are fighting again--this time with another lawsuit aimed at the CA Supreme Court. Fosco is (at least a little) heartened.