# One step forward, two steps back. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 5, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364 "2008-11-05T22:36:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Collaborator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Collaborator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Collaborator)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/1 "2008-11-05T22:36:44Z")
Isn’t it amazing how far we’ve come? That we now have a President-Elect of another race. And not just that, but one with a very multi-cultural background as well. It’s hard to believe, but I was damn proud of my country yesterday, and I say that as a white guy that rides the fence politically. But, on the other hand, you have all these propositions that passed that, to me, really show how hypocritical the American public can be. Banning gay marriage? It’s hard to think of people stooping to a level lower than forcefully imposing their religious beliefs on others. And yes, that’s exactly what it is. That you feel threatened by something so completely insignificant and irrelevant to life in general shows nothing less than total cowardice and paranoia on your part. One step forward, two steps back. To those of you that allowed these propositions to pass, I am extremely embarrassed and ashamed of you. I have no doubt in my mind that in the near future, this kind of intolerance, and indeed hatred, will no longer be socially acceptable. Until then, consider yourself pitted for being jackasses of a paramount level CA, AR, AZ, and FL voters that allowed these to pass. ---
**Author:** ![Professor\_So\_And\_So](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Professor\_So\_And\_So](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Professor_So_And_So)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/2 "2008-11-05T22:40:27Z")
I definitely agree, **Collaborator**. I don’t see why a person’s sexual preference should have anything to do with who they are allowed to legally marry. In my opinion, homosexuals deserve every right to be as miserable as heterosexuals, should they so choose. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/3 "2008-11-05T22:52:38Z")
I’m in California and I’m really disheartened. Especially since I know a bunch of fundamentally really good people who voted for this thing (mostly because the Church told them to.) I think every gay couple in the state should get together and hold a mass Moonie style wedding on the Statehouse lawn. (Not blame the Governor, he didn’t support it.) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/4 "2008-11-05T23:23:14Z")
I agree with the general feeling, but the thread title should be “TWO steps forward, one step back,” because, as an old guy who remembers the Bad Old Days of civil rights, be they rights of Blacks, women, or gays, getting Obama elected was REALLY FUCKIN’ BIG! ETA: I like that Moonie Wedding idea! ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/5 "2008-11-05T23:37:39Z")
I’d call it more two steps forward, one step back. I was just thinking that the timing was really unfortunate, particularly in CA. There are lots of youngish leftist-ish people like me who supported Obama and strongly opposed Prop 8, but I suspect that the vast majority of our time and money went into the pro-Obama campaign rather than the anti-prop-8 campaign. And I think that was the right choice. Gay marriage is coming. Just look at the breakdowns by age. 20 years from now, a pro-gay-marriage amendment will pass easily. But the 2008 election was a once-in-a-generation moment when we absolutely positively needed to turn the country around. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/6 "2008-11-05T23:44:30Z")
Look, the fucking truth is that America has not punished the GOP for what they did but for having failed. America has voted for the democrat candidate because of the economy. If the economy were good America would continue to support the war, the torture, the curtailment of civil liberties and all other crimes committed by the Bush government. So, it is not like America has seen the light in everything except one thing. No. Most Americans have still not seen the light in a wide range of issues of which this is only one. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/7 "2008-11-05T23:47:32Z")
I don’t think the fight over CA’s Prop 8 is over yet. And **sailor** , you’re wrong. Obama was always in the lead, except shortly after the RNC when McCain got a bump. If the economy hadn’t gone into the shitter, he still would have won, just not by as much. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/8 "2008-11-05T23:57:04Z")
Its a drag, and disheartening, but its only a setback. The nation is changing, and for the better. Now, this is only my own observation, and I only have as much information as any other straight man with no special insight into gayitude. But it seems to me that spate of gay marriages a while back, with pictures all over everwhere…I think that did a lot for the cause. The people in those pictures were normal as all git out, they could be your Aunt Esther or your Uncle Frank, they emphasized the fundamental reality: that the only thing really different about these people is who they would prefer to fuck. And that ain’t much, as differences go. We’ll get there. Haven’t the least doubt. We’re on our way. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/9 "2008-11-06T01:14:08Z")
> [@](#): > > To those of you that allowed these propositions to pass, I am extremely embarrassed and ashamed of you It appears from the exit poll numbers that black voters favored the idea of a gay marriage ban by the highest margin of any racial group. If you’re committed to the idea that O’s election is a new chapter for black people in politics, you should be PROUD that black voters’ voices were heard! ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/10 "2008-11-06T02:05:28Z")
Don’t blame me, I’m from Massachusetts. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/11 "2008-11-06T02:13:22Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > It appears from the exit poll numbers that black voters favored the idea of a gay marriage ban by the highest margin of any racial group. If you’re committed to the idea that O’s election is a new chapter for black people in politics, you should be PROUD that black voters’ voices were heard! It is entirely possible to be pleased with one decision and disappointed with another decision made by the same person. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/12 "2008-11-06T08:09:29Z")
Whatever. My home state did this years ago. This year, the cunning social-conservative plan was an amendment to require all state business to be done in English. Passed by a 9-1 ratio.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/13 "2008-11-06T08:13:48Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > The people in those pictures were normal as all git out, they could be your Aunt Esther or your Uncle Frank, they emphasized the fundamental reality: that the only thing really different about these people is who they would prefer to fuck. And that ain’t much, as differences go. I for one was so turned off by the homely ordinariness of the wedding homosexuals that I am now soured on the idea of gaymarriage forever. I expected hordes of young glamourous professionals. Where’s the romance? Where’s the fabulousness? Hollywood has conditioned me to expect hotness! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/14 "2008-11-06T09:22:10Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Whatever. My home state did this years ago. > > This year, the cunning social-conservative plan was an amendment to require all state business to be done in English. Passed by a 9-1 ratio.:rolleyes: Would this happen to be Missouri’s Amendment 1 (or is there another one somewhere)? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/15 "2008-11-06T10:52:05Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Would this happen to be Missouri’s Amendment 1 (or is there another one somewhere)? Yep. Although come to think of it, the 9-1 ratio was just in my county in the southwest, which is a bit to the right of Ron Paul. So I misspoke. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/16 "2008-11-06T10:59:44Z")
Well, it’s not far off the mark: [86.3% Yes, 13.7% No](http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/ballotissueresults.asp?eid=256) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/17 "2008-11-07T22:30:05Z")
Yeah, only by 6-1, yay. Because it was so necessary. Those German-speakers in Freistadt were shutting us Anglos out, right?:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/471364/18 "2008-11-07T22:37:03Z")
(In case it’s not clear, I agree entirely that it’s pointless xenophobic idiocy. My previous comment was meant to be a sad “Well, actually, it is pretty close to a 90%-10% split, so you needn’t apologize for misspeaking”)