Very happy, yet sad as well

Yesterday is a day I will remember forever. It is a day I will tell my future children about. Barack Obama, a brilliant African American senator from Illinois, was elected President of the United States. I am still in disbelief that the candidate I voted for won the election and that so many other voters helped Obama win his bid for the White House. This country really needs change after eight years of embarrassment from our executive branch and Obama is the man to help lead us to that change. I can't wait to see how the next four years go and to see Obama's plans in action.

On the flip side, proposition 8 banning same sex marriage passed, diminishing much of my joy from the results of this election. The passing of this proposition really saddens me because it proves that religion plays too large of a role in our society. Even though there is a separation of church and state, many voters relied on their religious beliefs when choosing yes on prop 8. I could never use religion or any other reason as a rationale for preventing two people who love each other from a civil marriage. G and I were married in a civil ceremony, so does that mean that our marriage is also something to be looked down upon? I just think that it is really selffish for people to vote to prevent something that does not affect their lives. Obviously homosexuality is not going away with the passing of this prop, so why worry so much about preventing this group of people from the pleasure of claiming a spouse? Some proponents claimed that gay marriage will be taught in school if the prop had failed, which is one of the biggest bullshit excuses I have heard of for bigotry. I was never taught about marriage in school, whether it be straight or gay, and sex ed only taught us about making babies, which is not a requirement of marriage. Of course, children will learn about homosexuality at some point in their lives, but what is the harm in that? I hope that one day people will realize how much their bigotry or religious convictions really harm others' desires to legally marry the person they love.