Supreme Court Hears on Prop 8

On Thursday March 5th I got a chance to witness history in the making. On this day, the Supreme Court of San Francisco heard arguments of opposing sides regarding prop 8. Opponents of prop 8 got a chance to speak out on how the minority deserves their rights just like anyone else in this country. Their view was that the majority of the people that had voted on marriage as ONLY between a man and a woman, should not take away the rights of their minority population that is pushing for same-sex marriage. "Why are you discriminating?" was all I heard shouted at me and other American River College students standing in the crowd in front of the Supreme Court. hmmm interesting... so these people have all the rights of citizens as I do in this country AND they have the RIGHT to marry also just as I do to a man or a woman of the opposite sex... and they say we as supporters of healthy, normal marriage (man + woman) are discriminating?? Sad.

That morning, a large group of the Slavic community on large buses as well as cars drove into San Francisco to attend this exciting first day and to wave signs of support for proposition 8. Our group from Sacramento was very diverse. Children, teens, adults, and senior citizens all came out into the crowd of amazed Sodomites with huge prop 8 signs. We "dominated the landscape" (as one of the Mormon men who I spoke to, put it upon seeing us coming into the crowd and our signs being distributed among us.) The leaders of our groups made some amazing signs that were HUGE!!! These signs were put on tall sticks and if you looked across the street from the court and near the court, all you could see is huge white signs with "Traditional Marriage" and a check mark in red. In addition we had "ARC supports prop 8", "Celebrate prop 8", and numerous other signs.

As I mentioned earlier, I got to speak to a man who is Mormon. He shared with me how surprised he was to see so much Slavic folks and more prop 8 supporters come out that day. He pointed out that by the amount of our prop 8 signs, it looked as if a majority of the people were prop 8 supporters (and I believe that's how it was). He asked me a question that I keep on remembering to this day. He said, "What did the Russian people in the Soviet Union see or go through, that makes them so passionate and active in these issues that we are dealing with?" If only he knew, what our past generations and parents went through in the Soviet Union. Through the persecutions, we as a people become strengthened in our faith, and we are strengthened even more in our faith in this fight for normal marriage that was fairly voted on by the majority of the citizens in California this past year.

The day was filled with shouting and chants. Opposers of prop 8 marched up and down shouting "no on hate!" Drag queens in very disturbing appearance sashayed through the crowd. Through all the shouting and activity, I reflected back onto the story in the Bible of Lot and his family when the Sodomite citizens shouted and threatened for him to give up the visitors (angels) in his home. It sounded so vaguely familiar while I was standing near the steps of the court in San Francisco. I believe that God's anger is on the verge of being released just like it was on Sodom. Meanwhile, for now the court has 90 days to decide the fate of prop 8. It will either be upheld or deemed unconstitutional by the supreme court. I ask you to pray about this issue.

Well, since I don't want to end this story with a bad note (cuz I like stories with happy endings:) I did get to witness an awesome "Kodak moment" that just put a smile on my face. The SF supreme court is next to the city hall and the crowds of people were mulling around across the street with signs and out of the city hall came out a couple that obviously just got married. She was in a white dress and he was in a suit and they descended the steps hand in hand. Now that is what I want my children and future generations to see! A happy couple, man and woman joined together in marriage. This is what we as the people of the United States should be fighting for and I know that the fight isn't over, but I know that the time has come for you and me to determine if we should stand in the shadows or come out and fight to be that light in the darkness that Jesus wants us to be.