Shappy

I'm shappy.

I was overjoyed. Last night as I watched the results come in, I could not believe my eyes. The West Coast polls closed, and they called it for Obama. I still couldn't believe it. I screamed, "change it to Fox!" And there it was - even Fox news had called it for Obama. Barack Obama is President elect of the United States of America. We cheered, we cried, we stomped our feet. We popped a bottle of champagne and passed it around. We ran into the street to hear the victory cries of others. We joined the movement onto the streets and into the bars to celebrate.

This morning I stepped outside, breathed in the fresh fall air, and smelled hope.

I tried to by a copy of the New York Times - I want to have the front page that announces our first African-American President - but they were all sold out. I felt jubilant going into the office.

And then I checked Facebook:

Jenny cried when Jessie Jackson did but is mad as hell about prop 8 in california.

No. I checked the LATimes. Yes. California passed Proposition 8, banning gay marriage. Florida and Arizona passed similar bans, and Arkansas one-uped them all by banning adoption and foster parenting by unmarried couples (guess whom that will disproportionately affect?).

And so I'm shappy. I'm sad + happy. I think the election of Barack Obama as the next President has enormous consequences for this country and the global community, and I am excited to feel proud to be an American for the first time in a long, long, loooooooooong time. But I am so disenheartened by these attacks on the civil liberties of American citizens. It's like voters - especially those that were pro-Obama and pro-Prop 8 - are saying, "we let the black guy in, we're not letting the gays get what they want, too." Why must we trade one type of bigotry for another? The number of proposed bans on ballots was down this year, but now that states know see these bans passing and being enacted initiatives to fight against the rights of gay couples will probably have renewed vigor.

I'm trying to focus on the positive, but I'm shappy. To my gay friends on the West coast, the Northeast would love to have you (at least gay marriage is still legal in MA and CT).