The New Civil Rights Movement

A Blog by Kyle Forry


On November 5th 2008 Californians voted to revoke the right for gay marriage on a proposition known as Prop 8 that would make a formal amendment to the California Constitution that bans gay marriage. Before I go any further I would like to state I understand that this isn’t something that just happened in recent months but as long as the struggle for equal rights continues, and it is, then this issue is still relevant. Not only that but it is important to realize an rather terrifying precedent that has been set; civil rights being put up to a popular vote.

What if tomorrow you found out that your right to own property had been taken away? That an issue was on the ballot and the majority of people decided that you were no longer allowed to own anything. Is our constitution not supposed to protect the rights of the minority from the power of the majority?

The decision following it to up-hold the vote on May 27th 2009 was approved by the same panel of judges that originally struck down the ban as unconstitutional. The decision came as a blow to Gay and Lesbian Rights organizations across not just California but across the country.

According to cbs5.com “Spending for and against a ballot initiative that would outlaw same-sex marriage in California has surpassed $73 million, almost twice the total that was spent in the 24 states where similar measures were put to voters since 2004, campaign finance records show “

In many ways the Gay and Lesbian rights movement can be likened to that of other civil rights movements; the women’s rights movement of 1848 to 1920, the African American civil rights movement of 1955 to 1968, and many more. The struggle for equality is not a new one, and certainly not one that will go away. All roads to civil rights are always a struggle. This has been most obvious in the African American civil rights movement. As with all the aforementioned struggles the right to equality eventually won out. The parallels that can be drawn are quite astounding.






It seems strange to me then that in 2009 there are still groups of American citizens that struggle for equality. With so many different groups of people being victimized at one time or another that now have the authority to make a change it would seem to this blogger that they could empathize with the struggle for Gay and Lesbian rights that is currently ongoing. And yet the exit polls show that overwhelmingly African Americans supported the issue as well as women. What then drives the issue?

Religion is a main reason that drives many of the decisions that people make when deciding on so-called moral issues. Exit polls concerning this very subject show that among people that identified themselves as religious, they overwhelmingly supported the issue. The fundamental separation of church and state in this country seems somewhat irrelevant when you see how deeply intertwined they have already become.

Others cited the need to protect the sanctity of marriage, or protect the children from the dangers of being taught equal rights. A popular youtube.com video, which can be found below, points out the discretions of this argument, as if allowing someone else to commit themselves to the person they are in love with somehow effects a straight marriage. A second video I have also included demonstrates accurately, albeit rather hilariously, how ludicrous the second part of that idea is as well.





As with all of the civil rights movements of the past there too will come a time when we look back on this part of history with shock that such an unequal time even existed. In modern day life it seems completely outlandish that there should have ever been a time when women weren’t allowed to vote, or that African Americans were looked at as property. So too will come the time when gay rights are commonplace, when they too will enjoy the same rights that we all enjoy. Proposition 8 was a set-back, but it is nothing more than a stumbling block on a path that will and must continue. I quote now the Declaration of Independence when I say “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”