Judge Walker, Texas Ranger

So in other news I've been dying to write about, that pile of crap Proposition 8 was overturned in California! This is awesome in many ways. First, and most obvious, yay for equality! The fact that Prop 8 was passed in the first place was a grave injustice, and I am thrilled to see that injustice being corrected. Also, since the ruling itself actually stated that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, we are closer than ever to getting a Supreme Court decision on the matter and hopefully putting it to rest once and for all.

Second, the ruling itself (which you can read here) was methodical, factual and thorough. It is in every way a victory for logic and rationality in government. Judge Vaughn R. Walker completely destroyed the gay bogeymen erected by the proponents of Prop 8 and the supposed "harmful consequences" of gay marriage by critically examining the case, witnesses and testimony. He found it severely lacking, and I commend him for his use of pure reason in handling such an emotionally charged topic. Dude kicks ass, is all m'sayin'. There's a really good summary of Judge Walker's findings here.

I was seriously psyched by this decision. It gave me a little bit more hope for humanity and the ability of rationality to triumph over fear and prejudice. So when I went home to visit family and my step-dad started spouting his usual mix of anger and bigotry, I didn't let it get to me. 'No sir, you are not the one in power here!' I thought. 'A new age is upon us, and my generation will make things right! Bully!' When my youngest brother started parroting him and talking about how 'gross' it was for two guys to kiss, I got a little phased. When random strangers walking past me at the mall echoed that sentiment I was actually pretty bummed by it. 'There is so much ignorance out there, and we have so far to go', I thought. 'Balls.' My other little brother (I'm the oldest of seven. There are a lot of us.) restored my hope considerably, though. He actually initiated a conversation with me about how awesome the overturning of Prop 8 was, totally of his own accord. You rock, little bro.

My experiences back home did ground me somewhere back in reality. Yeah, we're making progress. That's awesome and should be celebrated. There's still a lot of hate and ignorance to be overcome, though.