"I was reading last night of the aspiration of the old Persian poet, Omar Khayyam. It appealed to me as the highest that I can vision. I wish it was in my heart, and I wish it was in the hearts of all.

So I be written in the Book of Love,

I do not care about that Book above.

Erase my name or write it as you will,

So I be written in the Book of Love."

Personally, I have never believed in marriage. Why would I believe in an institution we enter into, planning for it's end, with a 50% chance of survival - and whom not all people in our society can participate in? I joked in the days leading up to the election about how when this proposition did not pass, I would have to find another reason for not wanting to ever get married. But in the back of my head I began to become comfortable with the idea of marriage, to support it, to maybe even desire it. And then, on November 4th my desire was shattered, my comfort was stripped away from me with BARELY even half of voting Californians deciding that my state was going to deny a basic human right to people simply because they were different. My support grew exponentially.

Keith refers to interracial marriages being denied, or even black marriages being denied, back in the darkest days of our history. We refer to those times with disgust and shame - I wonder how our grandchildren will look back and describe November 4th!

Our history is littered with the denials of basic human rights - and people fighting to achieve them. Most notably for me is the woman's suffrage movement, and the ratification of the 19th Amendment to include women in the right to vote - an amendment I thank God for every election day. For it's only been 88 years now that women have been able to vote - and there are people alive today who remember when they could not. Women fought for and won their right to vote in the War of Roses - members of Congress and supporters of suffrage wore yellow roses to show their support, and the opposition wore red roses to show theirs. I would like to take a note from those brave women's hands.

A group of friends any myself have purchased yellow rose rings:

link to picture of rose ring

Which we will wear on our "wedding" fingers in protest of the passing of Proposition 8. It is my way of saying that until EVERYONE can get married - I will not. The religious right won this battle by fooling people into thinking that allowing people to marry would somehow ruin the sanctity of marriage (as if divorce doesn't - don't get me started) - but the sanctity of marriage only continues if we, the people, continue to acknowledge it. I have married friends who have taken black electrical tape, and are taping over their wedding bands to acknowledge the black hole this proposition had turned marriage into. Please join us!

It doesn't matter if you live in California, if you are old enough to vote, or even if you voted Yes and have since changed your mind. This is not about being gay - this is about allowing people to love one another. We have just seen what great things a grass roots movement can do - it can get a inspirational and hope-filled black man elected President - don't let that be our ending point.

As President-elect Obama said in his acceptance speech, "This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were." Let us continue this fight. Together.

"The young women of today - free to study, to speak, to write, to choose their occupation - should remember that every inch of this freedom was bought for them at a great price... the debt that each generation owes to the past, it must pay to the future." ~Abigail Scott Dunaway