2008 Election a Triumph for Equal Rights? Not Really.

How proud we in America can be for finally electing a man of African American lineage to be President. How proud that we could look past race and see the man for his strengths and weaknesses and judge him on those alone.

Yet at the same time, how ashamed we should be for allowing constitutional amendments in three more states that dictate a singular religious belief (that homosexuality is bad) as the 'will of the people' in banning gay marriage.

This is what we consider following the mandate of our forefathers that "all men are created equal"? In a year when we finally see a new generation closing the divide between the races, we still find ourselves this far apart because of a person's sexual orientation?

I, for one, am ashamed. Ashamed that after a hundred years of struggle to redefine "equal rights" to include women and non-white men, that we are still so thick-headed as a country that we feel it's okay to give or take away rights from someone based on who they decide they want to sleep with.

Now, if you disagree fine, but don't try to move away from the equal rights debate by talking about marriage as some special unique thing. Keep your "special" word marriage, I see no reason why a civil union is not just as good, provided it confers every single right that a 'marriage' does. I don't care what you call the decision by two gay men or women to share their lives and property, but you damn well better give them every right that a man and a woman who choose to share their lives and property get.

These laws and amendments, in over 25 states now, have the same tone as the laws that upheld racial segregation. It was no longer appropriate to call African Americans inferior or property, but it was fine to not give them the same access to things other people had. Am I the only one who sees the parallels now when it's no longer acceptable to deny someone a job, or housing, or entry somewhere based on sexual orientation, yet it's still acceptable, even acceptable to legislate, the access they get to equal rights as a couple?!

I do not understand the audacious belief that just because you (or your religion of choice) hold a belief, that you think that belief should be passed on to everyone else. I am even more confused when I hear people rail against "bigger government" interfering in their lives, yet have no problem with government regulating the lives of others, just because it doesn't affect them.

So be proud America, you made a great stride towards racial equality on November 4th, but do not delude yourself into thinking that we are any closer to our "more perfect union" the politicians talk about. When it comes to true equal rights in this country, it's one step forward, three steps back.