On Election Night, November 4, California voters passed Proposition 8, which will amend the state Constitution to officially define marriage as an union between a man and a woman, effectively canceling out a state Supreme Court decision that recognized same-sex marriage as a Constitutional right in California. Other anti-gay initiatives were passed in other states that night, but the California measure struck many as a special betrayal; as Caitlin MacRae wrote last week, "News of its passing left many shaking their heads, wondering how a state like California could give its votes to Changey McHoperson and at the same time approve a socially regressive constitutional revision. But in spite of its hippie radical reputation, California's voting trends generally look a lot like the rest of the nation's: a wide red middle, book-ended by blue. And though change has been the watchword of recent months, we sometimes forget that with change comes an inevitable backlash from those who fear becoming displaced in society." (MacRae also wrote, "Still, Prop 8 is on the losing side of history. The sex-panic button regularly gets hit in response to social change, racial tension, economic instability and foreign wars. The majority gets majorly freaked out when other people win the rights that they already enjoy, as though rights are finite and should be stockpiled like so many cans of beans in case of nuclear fallout.") Among the many grossed out by this squalid display of petty bigotry was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in the past has toed the (Republican) party line against same-sex marriage, but now, like the hero of an action movie who, having come face to face with the suffering he has inadvertently caused, turns against his vile masters, urged supporters of same-sex marriage to "never give up. They should be on it and on it until they get it done." (Schwarzenegger also advised the California Supreme Court to see what it can do about overturning Prop 8 before he has to go down there himself and start some shit.) In the meantime, those pissed off have been making their voices and pocketbooks heard by levying boycotts against some of the people who donated vast sums to the campaign for Proposition 8, which has to be one of the stupidest ways anyone ever came up with to announce to the world that they have too much money. One of these worthies is Alan Stock, whose position as CEO of the Cinemark theater chain has made it possible for his new enemies to make him the center of a gesture so improbably perfect that even Schwarzenegger might have to let out a low, admiring whistle.
Read More...