Are you one of my friends or family members who has been taken aback by my sudden and uncharacteristic political activism?  You aren’t alone.  A friend asked why, and here was my answer, political incorrectitudes and all.  (Well, I censored one name in order not to shame the guilty.)

Dear J—:

It shouldn’t surprise you that this would hit such a nerve in me.  This summer I damaged my most important friendship in 2008 in defense of my views on individual marriage freedoms.  Anyone who has written their own marriage vows should understand that marriage is an individual commitment and the parameters should never be dictated by anyone else, much less written into a document designed to run a government.  (It’s not a fucking opinion poll, it’s the Constitution.)

Discrimination and the imposition of religious beliefs as law are both deeply un-American — exactly what the pilgrims came here to escape, exactly what Jefferson and the founding fathers were trying to prevent, and exactly what we’re fighting against in the middle east.  You can never give the Religious Right an inch — they’ll take a mile, every time, and land us in deeply hypocritical territory, every time.

I’m embarrassed.  California has a reputation for being progressive, and I’ve always been comfortable being a bit smug and elitist about that.  And, well… yeah.

And yes, I’m angry. I’m infuriated that the black community could not see past their historic social conservatism to recognize Prop 8 as the exact same laws they needed to overturn in order to marry who they want.  I’m enraged by the sleazy lies the Church propagated in order to gain support for it, and for the interference of out-of-state churches.  And for the hypocrisy of the Mormon church.  I’m angry at people like my friend J—- S——- who would have voted with me but has a longstanding refusal to vote.

And I want do-overs.