Across this country, Americans are experiencing a resurgence of pride in their country. They look to the horizon and see, to borrow from our President-elect’s vernacular, a future of hope and change for our people. They consider the election of Barack Obama to be a turn of the page in the great American history book.
While this victory is certainly promising for the future of this nation, too many of us are turning a blind eye to the other, darker victories from this past Election Day. In Florida, Arizona, and even solidly “blue” California, ballot initiatives defining marriage as a union between only one man and woman were passed. Even more troubling was the initiative passed in Arkansas preventing any couple outside of wedlock from adopting or taking in foster children, aimed squarely at gay couples. This is not the pathway to the brighter future we as Americans have worked so hard to bring closer to reality. This is a regression into primitive politics, where our fundamental rights, granted in the Constitution, are being taken away in favor of promoting what closed-minded people consider to be “traditional” lifestyles. That is not the mindset that this country was built upon, and it is not the mindset in which to move our country forward.
The simple fact that these measures have aimed to strip homosexual American citizens of their right to have their ultimate commitment to their partners recognized is in blatant violation of every equal protection clause in the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions nationwide. Courts across the country have ruled accordingly in every high-profile challenge of existing marriage statutes, and are the reason that states like Massachusetts, Connecticut, and, until recently, California had opened their doors to welcome all couples. From a legal standpoint, there is no legitimate reason to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples. This election only reinforces the fact that, despite the progression this country has shown itself capable of in recent months, many Americans still refuse to recognize that the fundamental rights our country was founded upon extend to every American, not just heterosexuals.
People opposed to these measures are now finding themselves wondering where the story goes from here. We as a nation have recently proven the power of community organization through the grassroots supporter network that helped elect Obama. This kind of power is not limited to putting people into our nation’s highest office. Get your friends and relatives together and contact your elected officials to call for an end to this unjust discrimination. After all, America did not get to where it is today by sitting around waiting for change to happen. We made it happen.
Editor’s Note: Columns granted by the Editorial Board to the three political groups on campus—the College Republicans, College Libertarians, and Progressive Student Alliance—rotate weekly in the opinion section of
The Polytechnic.
