In California, we have a proposition on the ballot that would amend the constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. This is Proposition 8.

There is no easy way to say this. So, I’ll just be blunt.

Anyone who would vote yes on Proposition 8 is a bigot.

Plain and simple.

As a straight man, married for thirteen years in a “traditional union between a man and a woman,” I can say without reservation there is no way a same-sex union has any bearing whatsoever on my marriage. There is no sane person who could believe otherwise. The issue, like the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s is about equality for all individuals.

The same rationale being used to deny the rights of same-sex couples as was used to deny the rights of blacks in the past. Words like tolerance, concepts like separate but equal, and overall fear of the outcome are used as levers to goad the innate bigotry in the public to come to the surface. On an advertisement on KCBS this morning the rationale to vote for Prop 8 was that “decent people can be arrested for acting in a way consistent with their morality, churches can lose their tax exempt status, it’s no longer about tolerance, you have to accept it, and our children will be taught about gay marriage like they did in Massachusetts.”

It seems to me, if two people are committed to one another, they should be able to celebrate that union legally regardless of their color, creed, or sexual orientation.

Let’s be clear, a vote for Proposition 8 doesn’t protect your family, it doesn’t honor your marriage, it doesn’t make any material difference in your life. It does deny basic human rights to others and it proclaims you to be a bigot.

Don’t be a bigot, vote no on Prop 8.