With Liberty and Justice for Some

Blogger and activist James Spurgeon is a frequent contributor to the Human Rights Campaign's St. Louis website and Facebook page.

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Upon this day, a monumental set-back for the quality of the LGBT community in the state of California has occurred.  With hate and bigotry – and even confusion amongst the voting populace – Prop 8, banning gay marriage within the state, passed in November of 2008, thus making California the first state to strip away a minority’s rights with a simple majority rule.

How is it legal for a majority of people to simply be able to vote away the rights of a minority simply because they don’t agree with it?  Where would our nation be today if we should keep up this trend?  Would slavery still be legal?  Would women still not have the right to vote and thus not be involved in the democratic process?  We had to take on the enormous responsibility of correcting those wrongs, and yet now, in 2009, we still continue to make such mistakes in our judgments and our actions with the same excuses that were used before.  Our opponents have not come to realize that in the grand scheme of things, their arguments didn’t work back then, and they won’t hold up now.  What can possibly be gained by reducing a minority group of Americans to second-class citizens?

We stand today united in shock that the California Supreme Court upheld discrimination in its own state constitution.  But rest assured that this small victory for our opponents will be the last for quite some time, for we are now mobilized and prepared for a fight.  We do not consecrate the ground upon which we stand today.  Instead we rally upon it and let our voices be heard.   We have the ability before us now to start anew without having to chastise or demean our opponents as they constantly do us, but rather approach the nature of our side with logic and rationalization to best educate the people to what is really at stake….freedom.  Abraham Lincoln said in his Second Inaugural Address, “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in…”   We know that we are in the right, and our work is far from done.  So let us all push on together with one voice and one goal….freedom and justice for all.  This is our quest, and this is our moment.  The momentum that took a small set-back today will be regained as it unites us even more than before, and we will fight on with the ferocity and tenacity that our opponents have never seen.  It is our time, and the future is ours to write.

James Spurgeon

May 26, 2009