Losing to win

Sometimes, to lose is to win.

I say this because I’m secretly hoping that tomorrow, when the California Supreme Court releases its decision on same sex marriage, that we lose.

I know. Shocking for me to say, isn’t it? But it’s true. I hope the court lets Proposition 8 stand.

Go ahead, call me a traitor if you like. Not like that’s never happened before. But I have what I think are some pretty good reasons. Two of them, if you’re looking for details.

First, in the event of an adverse ruling, the same-sex marriage folks in California will do the same thing the Prop 8 people have done – they’ll put a ballot initiative up every year, over and over again, until it wins. And it will win. The river progress is with us on this. It’s only a matter of time. We’d just trade immediate gratification for – in my view – a more secure decision later.

Which brings me to reason No. 2. We’re dealing with some very unstable people here. A significant number of the anti-same-sex marriage crowd is not dealing with a full deck on this or very many other issues.

They sincerely believe that allowing gay men and lesbians to marry would be the end of civilization as we know it. In a way, they’re right – but they’re predicting a decline into depravity and wanton sin, while I’m seeing a more holistic society that fully values every member. Two completely different views that have absolutely nothing in common.

Because they see nothing good ever coming from same-sex marriage, they’re pretty much prepared to do anything they have to in order to prevent that from ever happening.

Anything.

If they lose, it won’t be because their proposition violated the California constitution. It’ll be because liberal activist judges nullified the will of the people. It will piss them off. A lot. It will make them crazier than they already are. Dave Neiwart at Orcinus:

And you can bet that right-wing True Believers across the country are going to be looking for targets to take out their frustration on. As I’ve written recently, they already think this government is not their own, and are moving into opposition to it. They really believe that the continued greatness of America is at stake, and they are the last line of defense against complete moral chaos. If this happens, God will withdraw his blessing from the US, and America will lose everything. They will not let that happen. Passing a gay marriage law in California -- the biggest and most influential state of all -- will be their Harper's Ferry, their Pearl Harbor. After that -- the deluge.

And there are more of them than you think. Not enough to win. But enough to inflict serious damage on this country – already reeling from the moral, legal and economic disaster that was the Bush administration.

And worse yet is the potential damage they could inflict on us. They don’t see us as human, not we gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered folk and not you “normal” folk who support us. We’re the enemy. We’re what’s keeping them from God’s kingdom. And God, that jealous, vengeful and spiteful deity, has no use for us.

We’re expendable.

The country is strong enough to withstand this demagoguery. It would suffer a blow, perhaps even a devastating one that brings us to our knees. But it won’t kill us as a country.

It could kill us as a people, as innocent humans doing nothing more than living our lives as we have a right to do.

So, I hope we lose. We don’t need to be in such a hurry, not at the price we could be forced to pay for victory. California is too big – it’s not Vermont, or New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut or Massachusetts. For the right wing to lose there push those among them already too close to the edge over that lip and into the abyss of complete insanity.

The potential for violence is undeniable. And frankly, I’d rather see us avoid a bloodbath and wait just a little longer. I know I’d feel safer. And I'd feel better about the rest of you, too.

We'll win this one. If not now, later, but it will happen. I'd just like to see us do it with no loss of life.


AWOP Political Contributing Editor

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Peace Y'all