Post Election, Elation Deflation
Wed 11:51pm
Here is my latest blog found at blog.myspace.com

Last night when I went to bed, I still had some slim, but fading, hope that late returns would turn the tide for Prop 8. When I woke, I found that the great joy and pride that I felt for America was mitigated by the hypocrisy, dishonesty, and mean-spirited glee with which half of the state of California (as well as Florida) stripped another minority of a fundamental right.

Later in the day, I received this blog from my cousin's daughter:

My Republican husband, Jason, said this to me:
"The bottom line is that yesterday, we as a non-minority group denied a fundamental civil right to a minority group. It's disgraceful and un-American. For all our talk about tolerance and freedom and justice, we couldn't extend a basic civil right we take for granted to a smaller and politically weaker group of people with slightly different beliefs. So that two days ago, when a gay couple who truly love each other went to bed, they could have dreamed about some day getting married. Today when they woke up, our state had destroyed that dream.
And why did we do it? Was it really God's work? If Jesus was standing next to me, would he have given me the knowing look of how proud of me he was that we did this? Would he have approved the denial of civil rights? Or would he preach tolerance and love for those of different beliefs? No, this was nothing more than petty fear, intolerance, and hatred of those that are different. It was political bullying of people who live differently than us."

I am very proud of my Republican friends who understand the real implications of this travesty. Two of my former students, now MySpace "friends," blogged about the injustice done to homosexuals by this vote. One is a Catholic who teaches in a Catholic school. Her explanation of how she could be a Catholic and still support gay marriage was wise and articulate. My other former student was a recently, medically discharged member of the Air Force now living in the east. She writes a fairly conservative blog about the military and about supporting our troops; her dismay at the people of her native state trampling on the rights of gays was also heartfelt and moving. Jason's observations are dead on, and the closeness of the vote leads me to believe that sooner than later, as symbolized by the election of a black man to the highest office in the land, we will put this kind of mindless, divisive bigotry behind us. As I said in my song, "Only One Way (The AC/DC Sock-It-To-Me Talkin' Blues),"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF7QuUqNdHY

"When these voyeuristic busybodies finally relent
And sex is no longer a political event,
I hope things have changed to this extent:
We respect the privacy of mutual consent."
©1977 Tim McMullen
All Rights Reserved

By the way, what a great speech John McCain gave last night. It was tragic that his handlers had him stoop so low during this campaign—you could tell that he bristled under it even as he begrudgingly engaged in the degradation; it was like Bush's, Rove's, Rumsfeld's, and Cheney's destruction of the credibility of Colin Powell (Powell went a long way toward rehabilitating himself with his heartfelt and articulate defense and endorsement of Obama). Last night in his concession speech John McCain spoke like a true American hero for the first time in nearly two years, and I can't praise him heartily enough. Now we all need to work for "change we can believe in," and along with economic recovery, universal health care, a rational foreign policy, and a rebuilding of American idealism, the end to homophobic bigotry has got to be one of our primary goals.

The greatest threat to democracy is hypocrisy! Seek truth! Speak truth!
Tim McMullen