Bittersweet

[davidology]

I cheered. We all cheered as McCain conceded defeat.

It was a truly a surreal moment, however, at the Henry Fonda Theater when they introduced Obama as the next POTUS. I actually teared up as I watched and listened to our new President.

It was amazing. It was truly, truly amazing. In all of the elections in which I've participated, I've never been so ecstatic, so moved, and so inspired. He's a great orator. In the end though, the real victory is that his election is symbolic of and sends the message of a course change that is so woefully needed by this country.

After his speech though, my friend informed of Prop 8's status, which was just depressing. I remember how surprised I was when Prop 22 passed, but this is years later. Little has apparently changed. The fact is, I live in a state that right now cares more about the rights of chickens (prop 2) than it does of its own citizens.

I know the fight isn't over, but I'm drained. Why do I have to feel as if I need to fight for my rights every, single election?

I guess I should be happy our country took a new direction tonight. I'm really disappointed in my state right now though.

I always thought we were different. I spoke to a friend in the south who reminded me that we still have it much better off than they do. It still stings though. In some ways, to be honest, I think it stings more. I didn't realize so many in my own state felt the way they do.

Here's to Hope. For tonight, though, I'm going to take my Ambien and go to sleep before the Prop 8 bigots announce their temporary victory. Our fight continues tomorrow...

 

Comments

[mahka42.livejournal.com]

pretty much.

what i'm more surprised is how large the spread is in LA county...out of all the southland counties, I would expect SB and LA to be NO...I can only hope that the west side hasn't been counted yet.

[sisyphus238.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain. I used to live in Florida in the days when Anita Bryant was trying to beat us down and on my trip across the country to Oregon, the anti-gay sentiment seemed to follow me and sure enough, we've had to fight the bigots in nearly every election cycle since 1978. This is the first time, or so it seems, that we haven't had an anti-gay measure on our ballot. I'm saddened that California, of all states, had such an outrageous measure on yours.
One bright spot for me though, is that our new mayor is gay (he's also a friend of mine) and his sexuality was barely mentioned during his campaign.
The fight's not over in California though. I hope that, if it passes, some kind of economic demonstration of Gay Power will be forthcoming; if we're to be treated as second class citizens let's see what they think when it hits their pocketbooks.