Agreed, personally I think this idea of inalienable rights and civil liberties is absurd. Does anyone else think we need to go back to only letting white males vote?

No Jews or Catholics either. I can't stand those cunts.

Yes. I have lived there and I can say from first-hand experience that your assessment is pretty accurate.

I thought that was rather surprising myself. For some reason I assumed that any world famous tourist hot spot would automatically be more cosmopolitan and therefore liberal. I certainly didn't expect it to be so overtly anti-gay.

Also, I think maybe Californians got some undeserved flak for the Prop 8 thing. It's good to remember that the vote was simply whether or not the officially recognized relationship of same-sex couples should be included in the institution of marriage, not whether or not same-sex couples should have the same rights as married couples, which they already do under Californian domestic partnership law, one of the most extensive in the country. Some states explicitly prohibit same-sex couples from being given the same rights and benefits as married heterosexual couples. :\

Not saying much...

Um, yes it actually is. For purposes of Californian law, they are effectively equated to married couples. All that's missing is the name, which, granted, is very important, but considering they didn't have anything only 10 years ago, I'd say that's still a pretty amazing development. California also has very extensive protection against sexual orientation discrimination, which includes gender discrimination, also very progressive. So yeah, I still think California is a bright spot on the U.S. (and world) human rights map...there's lots for you to be proud of...:)

Certainly compared to rest of the world and where we were 10 years ago, but it's still not enough. Plus other states don't recognize civil unions.

Have I been living under a rock? what....

Sorry, it pays to read past the first page of a thread.

Well yeah, I agree it's not enough, I'm just trying to say that it will take perhaps a bit more time, but things are definitely moving in the right direction. ;)

Also, under the Federal Defense of Marriage Act other states aren't obligated to recognize any form of same-sex relationship that's treated as marriage, including marriage...so it wouldn't matter much for the rest of the country anyway.