So, the Internet is all a buzz over the 9th Circuit Court ruling overturning Prop 8 in California. So much is being written about its details and specifics that I don’t think I need to add anything to it.
This is such a bittersweet moment. I'm happy and I'm sad at the same time.
The talks, discussions, arguments and yes, even the insane, bigoted, demonizing rants from some active LDS members and other religious fundamentalists that I've witnessed, and had to endure, over the last few days on Facebook, all pretty much fit in with the predictable pattern of human behavior that is based on extreme religious fundamentalism such as Mormonism as they go through culture changes. Even drawing from my own experience as an angry and raging ex-Mormon homosexual who has been continually wronged by the hateful domination of my religious peers, and speaking hateful like language on my own blog towards the religions they've committed their loyalty to, I'm not completely innocent in my own rants. But what is setting me apart in this is that I’m now aware of my own reality.
I can understand where they are and I know what drives their fears, and I’m not trying to prevent them from living their religion, even if I find it misguided and hateful. I’m also aware that I used to be one of them. But now I’ve seen and experienced both sides, and I know that their fear is unfounded. But they only know the shadows on the cave wall, which now look even more threatening to them than ever before.
We may have won this little fight, but the backlash, bullying, and violence are going to swell because of this. The twisted, fear-crazed, religious fundamentalists, which includes much of the active LDS membership, right along with other fundamentalist around the nation, most of them in the south and mid-west, are going to be expressing their fear, hate, and rage in ways we've never seen before. I fully expect to see an acceleration of the continual upsurge of violence toward LGBT people as this so-called "culture war" escalates.
I know I'm considered a pessimist in this but sadly, this is just the way it is; this is reality.
It will be several decades before it's even close to being over. Even if the Supreme Court granted full national marriage rights in 2014, there will always be several generations of hateful and dangerous bigots to contend with.
It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
