Dearest Californians,

I am deeply ashamed of you; or 52 percent of you anyway. How is it that we can muster up an overwhelming majority vote to protect the rights of edible farm animals, but not even 50 percent of you felt compelled to support the rights of people to get married?

The passing of Proposition 8 is unconscionable and downright disgusting and I cannot believe that it happened here. I hope that you are proud to make this a state where the vote shows that we care more about some fucking chickens than people. Or do more than half of you consider same-sex couples to be less than human? It would not surprise me to hear this is true. I am very sad to see the Golden State botch an opportunity to be a leader in civil rights. Instead, we turned back the clock thirty years and showed the rest of the nation that it is okay to change their Constitutions to discriminate against people.

It should have been painfully obvious that Prop 8 was pushed through and supported by psychopathic Mormons, far-right Christian wingnuts and other out-of-state fundamental crazies. I suppose that we should soon reinstate anti-sodomy laws, start teaching creationism in schools instead of science, ban abortion and make it a crime to work during the Sabbath if we are going to let out-of-state interests control how we live in California.

I hate to use the slippery slope argument, but this shows that we can let it happen. And with all of the “concern” that we will start teaching kindergarteners about gay marriage and turning them all into raging homos, it shows that those who voted for 8 would rather teach hate and intolerance. Schools should also make sure to get the fags their own water fountains and bathrooms before they start spreading the gay around to your precious snowflakes.

And yes, I am making the comparison to the African American civil rights movement. The level of discrimination against gays is not nearly as blatantly bigoted as it has been against blacks and others, but with the passing of Prop 8, it is getting there. I would love for someone to write me and tell me rationally—without using bullshit religious reasoning, using children as fear-tools, or the fallacy of tradition—why we should not allow same-sex couples to get married and how it is different from historical bans on interracial marriage.

Please, make a rational argument and send it to me and I will publish it here, if you can back it up with your real name and city of residence. And if you say it’s an argument over the use of a word—that’s just a blatant cop-out.

While you are at it, please tell me what the hell it is that you are protecting. California has an astounding divorce rate of 62 percent for first marriages and over 80 percent on the second try. Are you trying to protect that? More men and women aren’t getting married until they are in their late twenties and thirties as marriage becomes less and less important in having a fulfilling life. Is that what you want to protect? Will marriage mean less to you if gay people are doing it too? Does that mean buying your first house will mean less? Will having your first child be tainted because same-sex couples are doing that too? Once I come to understand what about marriage is being protected by not allowing a group of people to do it, maybe I can come to terms with the passage of prop 8. Until then, I will just have to believe that half the state is populated by ignorant, hateful people that allow irrational fears to rule their lives.

That being said, congratulations to Barack Obama for the landslide victory, and to California for helping seal the deal. With any luck, there will be some actual change in this country and the way we are viewed around the world, not just because we elected a black president, but a rational one. I wish the best to Obama and this country over the next eight years. Even though we care about chickens more than people, my hopes are high that we will be prosperous anyway.