Part of the reason I'm happy Obama won is that it gives me hope that other historically oppressed groups can rise up within my lifetime as well. I wasn't a Hillary supporter, but I think a woman president would be a great for this country, and I think I will live to see it. But what about a gay president? I wonder how long that will take.
The California vote to ban gay marriage was saddening. I even dreamed about protesting it. But it made me wonder: who decided that an issue like gay marriage, which to me seems clearly to be a civil rights issue, should be put on the ballot and given to the voters to decide? And why should a civil rights issue be decided on a state-by-state basis anyway? I think it should be the government's job to ensure the rights of all citizens, not the people's job to choose who gets rights and who doesn't.
I hope President Obama changes his mind on this issue. In his 2004 Convention Speech, he had powerful words about how if the civil liberties of any one citizen or group were violated, that threatened the civil liberties of all Americans. It was heartwarming that he gave a shout-out to gays in both the '04 speech and his acceptance speech. But the next step is to legalize gay marriage without exception. (It's fascinating that many people feel the institution of marriage could lose its meaning if it were extended to gays - I feel that it lacks meaning until it is extended to everyone!!)
-camille
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