Dear Pat Robertson,

I thought I’d write you this letter as you must be crestfallen and quite befuddled about Proposition 8 being overturned recently in California; when I heard the news, I immediately thought of you. Ok, I didn’t, but I did begin to think of you shortly after the announcement was made—because of what you had to say on the subject.

Pat, from your lips to God’s ear to my fingertips:

“Ladies and gentlemen, what are we facing? The homosexuals want to destroy the church, and they want to destroy marriage. That’s what it amounts to. It doesn’t matter how sacred an institution is and how important it is to society, as long as there can be a confirmation that this lifestyle is acceptable. That’s what they want. Oh man, pray for this country.” Read the full story

It was a cloudless day in L.A., commonplace for the City of Angels, and I was enjoying a stroll through one of the many canyons that divide L.A. proper from the San Fernando Valley.  When what to my wandering eye should appear but hundreds upon hundreds of white 81/2 x 11 papers littering the trail for at least 50 meters ahead of me.

If you remember only one thing about me, it’s that I HATE LITTERERS!!!!!  Seeing the papers tossed everywhere made me mad and my first impulse was to pick them up.  So, I crouched down and started with one paper.  I looked at it carefully.  There was typing on it, which upon further inspection, turned out to be a page from a script.  I wasn’t surprised, I was in L.A. afterall.

Immediately I conjured up a story in my mind.  A frustrated writer had been shopping around his script and no one was biting.  It had taken him years of perfecting his masterpiece, but door after door was being slammed in his face.  One final refusal pushed him over the edge, and while walking defeated through this canyon trail, he angrily tossed his life’s work into the air, letting the breeze carry the sheets where ever they may.  Onward he trudged towards the nearest bar to drink himself into a stupor.

I picked up another sheet; dialogue, camera angles, fades in and out.  Definitely a script.  Curious, I walked over to where a stack of the papers were still bound together and brought it home for some light entertaining reading.

Fast forward to last week.  I was watching a preview for a movie on T.V..  Cameron Diaz and James Marsden star in the movie ‘The Box’.  As I’m watching the preview, it’s like I knew where the story was going.  But how?  Deja vu?  I sat there and thought about it.  Did I read the book?  No.  What was it?  And then, a vision!  A vision of hundreds and hundreds of papers strewn about a Californian canyon 5 years ago!  And here it is, come to life in ‘The Box’!

Why, in a civil society that supposedly values equality, liberty and freedom for all, would you allow the majority to vote for the rights of a minority?

Today, the California Supreme Court ruled to uphold Proposition 8. That means that the majority of Californians got to vote on the rights and freedoms of a minority. It staggers the mind if you really take some time to think about it. What if White America voted for the rights of African Americans back in the 50s and 60s? In an indirect way they did by voting for certain leaders, but it was never put to public vote. But I digress. California is a small part of a much bigger problem: the fact that in many places around the world, queers are considered “less than” or sub-human.

Look at the state-sponsored violence against gays and lesbians in places like Russia and Eastern Europe. South America has a terrible problem with systemic homophobia and gays are practically killed for sport in countries like Jamaica.

We are human beings, too.

While protests, civil disobedience and lobbying will continue to help change laws, I think the real challenge on a global scale is to make people understand that we are human beings and not all of the horrible labels that are attached to us by the ignorant, angry and scared.

Proposition 8 passed because voters gave into their lesser selves. They believed the lies told by their churches and synagogues and mosques. They succumbed to the poison of politicians who have forgotten what they pledged to protect. They gave in to the fear mongering of the ignorant and hate-filled.

Maybe someday we can help relieve them of the burden of homophobia and hatred they now carry and live knowing that we have reasonable expectation of safety, sanctity and respect in our world.

All of us, everywhere.