Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud

The astonishing sensation of Barack Obama winning the presidency has most American feeling euphoric and optimistic, but it wasn't all good news.

In California, Arizona, and Florida, conservatives made some headway into 'social issues' with their constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage.

It's caused enormous consternation in California, especially since more that 18,000 gay couples have tied the knot since same-sex marriage was legalized in June.

Already, conservatives are launching legal bids to have those marriages annulled.

Personally, I'm disgusted.

Coming from Europe, the idea of discriminating against people because of their sexuality is as abhorrent to me as discriminating against people based on their race, or gender.

Yet in California, straight-faced conservatives argue that it's not about bigotry. It's about 'freedoms.' Like how banning gay marriage would preserve their 'religious freedom' to refuse to rent their church halls and accommodation to same-sex couples, just like those same conservatives had fought for similar 'freedoms' to exclude black people during the days of segregation.

I really don't see what their problem is. This is 21st century America. If two people of the same sex want to have a committed, monogamous relationship, what problem does that cause?

Why does their gender give conservatives the right to refuse them the most basic of constitutional rights - the right to marry who you want to? The right to the same goods and services as everybody else?

It's not just the term 'marriage' that they're fighting over, either.

In Britain, people overcame the bigots by reclassifying same-sex marriage as a 'Civil Union,' which meant two people could make a commitment that shared all the same legal and social rights and duties of a traditional marriage, just avoided the religious ones.

Rights like being able to file a joint tax return, or share a spouse's benefits and become the beneficiary of their life insurance if they die. Basic stuff...

But Californians refused them that right - basically saying: "No, your relationships are not equal to ours."

I think it's disgusting.

It's gets better/worse, though. In Arkansas, the voters passed a law banning unmarried couples from adopting children. This is a blanket ruling, which covers common-law heterosexual couples, but is clearly aimed at lesbians and gays. Basically, unless you are in a traditional, Christian marriage, you're unfit to be parents.

It's so stupid, it makes my head hurt.

The statistical 'evidence' they have to support this hypothesis is so blindingly one-sided, it astonishes me.

Yes, according to your figures, middle-class, white, married heterosexual couples are more stable and secure.

Yet by those same statistics, middle-class, white, homosexual couples actually fair better than, for example, middle-class African-American married couples.

So if you're working on the idea that human achievement is limited purely to demographics, the good people of Arkansas should have just out-and-out admitted their old-school racism and banned black people from adopting kids as well as the gays and unmarried couples.

But, of course, that would be morally reprehensible. Thankfully, even they realize that your ability to be a parent isn't defined by statistics. It's defined by you.

So, instead, regardless of demographic origin, couples are allowed to prove to an Adoption Board that they will make good foster or adoptive parents, as is absolutely right and appropriate.

Whether you're black, white or purple, your ability to be a parent should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, not on the color of your skin.

But gay couples and the unmarried can't take that test. Why? Because there's the conservative fear that they might go right ahead prove themselves suitable or even excellent potential parents.

It's disgusting. Redneck conservatives in Arkansas complain bitterly about abortion, yet then go and limit the number of financially secure, committed couples who can adopt kids.

"We have a thousand children still waiting to be adopted," said Julie Munsell, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, which oversees adoptions and foster parenting. "We will have to target our recruitment efforts to those folks who are eligible under the law."

Like in all matters relating even remotely to abortion, the conservatives are the first to throw practical solutions towards reducing abortion under the bus, just so they can push their retarded, bigoted agenda.

GOOD JOB, you IDIOTS!

On a day that has given so many Americans hope for a better future, these conservative victories serve as a chilling reminder that the shadow of bigotry didn't die when we elected our first African American president.