Gay Marriage Ban Succeeding in California

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I’m really unhappy that my home state looks like it will pass a gay marriage ban next month. (California’s Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, is ahead in the polls.) This serves as a reminder that no matter how badly Barack Obama beats John McCain and no matter how many Senate seats the Democrats pick up, this is not a fundamentally progressive country. This is a country fed up with Republicans. I mean for christ’s sake, this is California, the one place you would think voters would embrace gay marriage!

The success of Prop 8 supports a theory I have and that I’m sure many share: electing a black man named Barack Hussein Obama was only possible because of just how screwed we are as a country. Let’s keep in mind, during the post-election pats on the back we’re all going award ourselves because we elected the nation’s first black president, that in a test of our tolerance conducted in a vacuum, one of our most progressive states failed.

(Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. Maybe I’m overly-pessimistic. Whatever. I’m in a bad mood about this.)

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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