Lessons Learned: Fear, Tyranny and a Reason to Hope

I had hoped that my post election day entry would be one of triumph and celebration. But alas, we lost. And even though I am excited about Obama's victory, it feels a bit hollow to me. It is so ironic that on the same day we elected our first black president, many states in our country also voted to eliminate the civil rights of gay people, effectively relegating them to the "back of the bus". Obama's election was a huge step forward. But as a nation, we have taken two steps back.

These last couple of weeks have been quite interesting, and I've learned a great deal. On the personal side, I've learned that it feels good to take a stand and speak out. I've learned that there are many people--both in and out of religion--who think like I do. And I've learned that there are many who think I'm on Satan's payroll. I've also learned that you cannot argue with people who believe God is on their side. God is the trump card and logic doesn't stand a chance.

But perhaps the most important thing I've learned is the truth behind FDR's statement: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." As I reflect on how Prop 8 went from being significantly behind in the polls only a couple of months ago to a win on Tuesday, it's clear that it was due to a well orchestrated campaign to propagate fear (that and quite a bit of money). Bertrand Russell said, “Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” The strategist behind Prop 8's ad campaign obviously understood this all too well. I keep thinking about the civil rights movement in the 60s and the fear-inducing rhetoric that its opponents spewed forth. A local Memphis paper reported that MLK's famous "I Am A Man" march brought "unleashed animalistic destruction" from "Africa's bush country" to Memphis. It seems crazy 50 years later, but consider what an organization called the Traditional Values Coalition states on their website: that the real agenda behind same-sex marriage is to find "a way of destroying the concept of marriage altogether-and of introducing polygamy and polyamory (group sex) as 'families'". It's no wonder people are so afraid...that even scares me!! I feel confident that had Prop 8 been defeated, in five years we would have looked back and seen how unsubstantiated these fears were. Field trips to same-sex weddings would not have become mandatory; churches would not have been forced to marry gay people; and (addressing what is probably the biggest fear) kids would not start "turning" gay in record numbers. While there may be valid reasons to resist social change, I just don't believe fear is one of them.

Another lesson I've learned is that, at least in the state of California, it is possible for the "tyranny of the majority" to go unchecked. Because Prop 8 was put on the ballot as an amendment to the constitution, the state supreme court cannot overturn it. John Stuart Mill's famous essay on liberty talks about the "tyranny of the majority" and the threat that it poses to our freedom:

"Society can and does execute its own mandates; and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling, against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them."

I would ask then, what is protecting us from the tyranny of the current "prevailing opinion and feeling" that gay people are not entitled to the same rights as the rest of us? I thought it was the CA Supreme Court. I am confounded by the fact that our constitution was amended with only 52% of the vote. Just because the majority thinks something is right, doesn't make it so, and there are countless examples in history to prove it. Hitler's tyrannical regime is the first to come to mind. He was elected by the majority...and then he went on to kill six million jews with their support. Californians may not be killing gays, but they are stripping away their constitutional rights and destroying their families. If this isn't tyranny, I don't know what is.

And finally, there is a reason to hope. Activist and writer Anne Lamott writes, “Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.” There is evidence the dawn is coming. I find it hopeful that in only eight years, we gained so much ground, seeing opposition to the proposition rise from 38% to 48%. But the thing that gives me the most hope is the generation of middle and high school kids who are just a few short years away from being able to vote. On Tuesday, we were working the polling place at University High, a large, diverse school in West LA. When school let out for the day, we were quickly enveloped by a swarm of teenagers, begging us for stickers and signs. Studies have shown that these "generation nexters" feel that homosexuality is a way of life and should be accepted by society. In other words, fighting to keep two gay people from marrying each other is not going to be on their list of priorities. I have heard people refer to this generation as nothing more than entitled, self-serving, thrill-seekers who thrive on praise and instant gratification. That may be true. But they also don't see the world as black and white, gay or straight. Entitled? Maybe. Enlightened? Absolutely!

When I created this blog, I knew I was sticking my neck out by circulating it among my many conservative, Christian friends. I tried to dissent respectfully to those in favor of Prop 8 without bashing religion. But I wanted to leave no doubt that I was clearly on the side of social justice and equality for all. Hopefully, I succeeded on both counts.

I love this quote by Martin Niemoeller, a prominent, German, anti-nazi theologian: “First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”

In 2008, when they came for the gays, this straight girl spoke out. And she won't be shutting up any time soon...