California has lost its cool - How could we have passed Proposition 8?

On an election day that will be remembered for all the right reasons, California ended up on the wrong side of history. We chose the correct candidate in the race for the White House, but when it came to Proposition 8, the most important statewide ballot question in the country, we blew it. There’s no other way to look at it. The net effect of our collective decision to turn bigotry into law is that the hippest state in the union now looks less progressive than places like North Carolina and Virginia. And we have nobody but ourselves to blame because we, as a state, were tricked into believing lies.

Unless you had your TV turned off for weeks before the election, you saw the same ads I saw. The one in heaviest rotation featured a little girl who comes home from school with a book entitled, "King and King" and tells her mom that she learned a prince married a prince and that she can "marry a princess."

Then someone named Richard Peterson, who is supposed to be a professor at Pepperdine Law, comes on and says, "Think it can’t happen? It’s already happened. When Massachusetts legalized gay marriage, schools began teaching second graders that boys can marry boys. The courts ruled that parents had no right to object." Then a voice-over says, "under California law, public schools instruct kids about marriage. Teaching children about gay marriage will happen here unless we pass Proposition 8." These are the lies I’m talking about.

To clear up any confusion, the Massachusetts court ruling didn’t say parents couldn’t object, it said that parents can’t sue to prevent certain subjects from being taught to their kids. California’s education code (you know, the law that actually covers schools) says health and sex-ed curriculum should "teach respect for marriage and committed relationships."

School districts can decide against teaching health and sex education, and parents can pull their kids out of these (or any) classes on sensitive subjects. The Yes On 8 crowd wanted us to believe that parents’ rights were being infringed upon on a statewide level, but these decisions are handled by school districts, not the state.

If you’ve ever been to a school board meeting, you know there are few things more powerful than a group of concerned parents — and their rights are never, and were never, in any jeopardy.

In figuring out who has an interest in misleading California voters, all you have to do is follow the money. Of the almost $36 million spent in support of passing Prop. 8, 40 percent came from the former polygamist-preaching Mormon Church while this particular ad was paid for, in part, by Focus on the Family.

If an evangelical Christian group working together with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sounds like an odd pairing, that’s because it is. In 2004, Mormons were specifically excluded from F.O.F.’s national day of prayer because their theology was supposedly incompatible with Christian beliefs and in many churches, Mormonism is thought to be more of a cult than a religion. But their working together to take a fundamental right away from millions of Californians because of how they have sex shows they share a common bigotry. I know politics makes strange bedfellows, but this is ridiculous.

The real problem for all of us is that the gay community is tough, organized, and economically powerful. When gay bashing became a problem in Boston’s very gayfriendly South End, street patrols were put together when the police wouldn’t respond, with the protection provided by a posse called the Pink Panthers. I’m not making that up. I’m not that good of a writer.

But with marriage in our state now defined as between a man and a woman (thanks to a group of people who believe that marriage can be between a man and as many women as are willing to serve him), we can say good bye to some desperately needed economic stimulation.

Most same-sex couples are D.I.N.K.’s (dual income, no kids) and have lots of disposable income to spend on each other. If you voted in support of Proposition 8, you’re partly responsible for costing California the windfall that would have come from the impending boom in gay weddings and honeymoons all over our state.

The next time we have a budget deficit, think of all the revenue that would have come from these "Bridezilla" meets "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" meets "My Super Sweet 16" tastefully over-the-top, once-in-alifetime events.

Then ask yourself how smart it is to sacrifice money that could be used to improve our schools so the idea that people of the same sex can get married isn’t taught in our schools.