I’m fortunate to have subscriptions to three magazines (Time, Newsweek, and my favorite, The New Yorker). Since I rarely watch television, these magazines keep me current on what’s going on in the world. I need that perspective because prison boundaries isolate me from the national dialogue, and keeping up with current events is part of my preparation for release and of my continuing education. Today, I received my three weeklies at mail call, and I read an article in The New Yorker that educated me on California Proposition 8.
Proposition 8 concerns legislation that voters passed in 2008. It prohibits gay couples from marrying, and in so doing, discriminates against them. Because they cannot marry, gay couples cannot enjoy many benefits that married people take for granted. The prohibition against marriage hurts gay people financially, but perhaps even more substantially, it hurts them emotionally and psychologically.
Two powerful lawyers, Ted Olson and David Boles, have sued to overturn Proposition 8, and I hope they succeed. As a prisoner, I’ve become much more tolerant of other people’s choices and rights, and much less tolerant of discrimination and prejudice. If two people love each other, neither the government nor other citizens should interfere with their choice to marry.
As I read the informative article on Proposition 8, I was struck by what I considered a blatant hypocrisy of the conservatives who oppose gay rights. Conservatives like to trumpet their commitment to small government, individual liberties, and freedom. Yet they cling to this notion that the government should interfere in this most personal matter of love and marriage. I don’t see how two people’s choice to marry, regardless of their gender, has anything to do with the government or with any other citizen.
This lawsuit has advanced to a trial in a California courtroom, and experts anticipate that litigation will continue to the Supreme Court. A couple of years may pass before it’s resolved, but in the end, I’m hopeful that five justices will rule that people have the right to choose spouses without government interference.
I’m glad that my magazine subscriptions inform me on these decisions that influence the advancement of our society. Without them, I’d live as a prisoner in mind as well as body.
This morning I ran 10 miles and I followed the run with 400 pushups.
[Consecutive running log: 3,576 miles in 403 days]
[Pushups in 2010: 6,200]
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
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