In the wake of the election, I coasted on some good feelings. Obama! Jeff Merkley! Kay Hagan! But there were some flies in the ointment to be sure. My worst fears about Prop 8 and other measures supporting institutionalized bigotry came to pass, and while I KNOW that they won't last--in time my generation will surpass older ones in voting numbers and the bigotry will fall away--I cannot help but be sad for the millions of people who were told that their love was somehow LESS than that of other people. Of course, as is often the case, my sadness is mixed with a very real anger. I know I'm not the only one.
My sadness will pass, but I suspect that my anger will not. It reminds me of many of the reasons why I wanted to go to law school in the first place. This is an example of law used for Evil. Like the Dred Scott v. Sanders or Plessy v. Ferguson, it's an easy example of how the majority can fail to protect the minority, in matters that challenge ingrained prejudice. For now, law is the bad guy in the story, but one of these days, a court somewhere (maybe even in CA, soon, for Prop 8...) will do what it's supposed to, and stand between majority prejudice and minority rights, like they did with Loving v. Virginia.
So I'll leaven my anger with a little hope, since that's the other message of Nov. 4th: that dedicated people can put their hands on the arc of history and bend it toward a better day.
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