A Final Note to California Voters

Posted on November 3, 2008    Posted by John Scalzi      1 Comment

I’ve written many times about Proposition 8 here on Whatever, so I don’t need to go into detail again why I think the moral choice is to vote “no” on it. At this point, all I really want to say to California voters is that this is one of those times and one of those votes where you are asked to make a moral choice, a choice that not only affects how you live your life, but how others — in your state, in your hometown, perhaps in your circle of friends, family and acquaintances — are allowed to live theirs. You are being put into a position to pass judgment on an entire group of your fellow citizens, and on whether they deserve the rights every other Californian enjoys without so much as a second thought.

I hope you will do the right thing, the just thing, and the moral thing when you vote, and that is to cast your vote against discrimination, against bigotry and against prejudice. You don’t have to approve of same-sex marriage to recognize that voting to take away a right already won is unjust and unfair. This vote matters, possibly more than other votes you have made so far. In times to come you’ll want to be able to say to your children that when you were asked to judge whether your fellow men and women deserved the same rights as others — rights they already had but which were in your power to take away — that you stood with them rather than against them, and in standing with them affirmed there was no “them,” only us.

There was no greater day in my life than the day I was married, when I stood facing my bride, and she me,  and in front of our families both born into and made, promised to love and support each other every day going forward. All good things I have in my life today come from that day. I have a California marriage license, and I can genuinely say it brings me joy to know that the state in which my married life was born allows all those who love another person to see that relationship celebrated and protected by the law.

I can no longer vote in California, but you can. I hope you will vote for marriage and for what is fair, just and right for your fellow citizens, for their lives together, for their marriages that exist and their marriages to come. I hope with all my heart you will vote No on 8.

I have finished saying what I need to say. The rest is up to you.