Proposition Hate: Father Knows Best

by tristero

By now, nearly everyone knows that Proposition 8 (hereafter, Prop Hate), the anti-marriage iniitiative in California is in serious danger of passing. The true extent of the extremism of the people behind this idiocy, however, may not be apparent. This is one of a series of a posts that will highlight that extremism.

If you make the mistake of clicking on the Yes On 8 website, you come across this weird image of a typical happy family at the top (the pictures up there rotate so you may have to refresh a few times):

Father towering over and protecting his charges, including the mother and two children. The chauvinism is unmistakeable and deeply ugly. But it’s par for the course for this crew of creepy donors opposed to marriage rights. Notice Howard Ahmanson’s name, for example. This BFF of extreme christianist R. J. Rushdoony – who called for gays to be killed – was also one of the early supporters of “intelligent design” creationism and a lot more rightwing nuttiness. He tossed in nearly a million bucks to prevent people who love each other from marrying. (Future posts will profile other Prop Hate donors.)

There has been some highlevel financial pushback on Prop Hate, including Apple and Google who have rightly defined this as a civil rights issue more than a political one. I”d also like to suggest that this is a church/state issue, that this is an attempt by christianists and Mormons to establish a religious definition for marriage as California law.

It is important that all Californians who care about civil rights support marriage equality and vote NO on Prop Hate.