And now, for a bit of outrage....

I am sickened that I live in a country where ELEVEN states voted for constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. I am angry that there are millions of people in my own country who think it is their right, much less their business, to tell anyone whom they can love. I am ashamed that more than 20 years after we first began to worry about AIDS, it's still a taboo subject, money for research is still scarce, and people of all races and both sexes continue to die.

I am the daughter of a gay man. My dad was a really good guy. He had a smile that made me feel like I was the center of his world. He was easy going, liked his scotch and listening to opera, and watching college football. He loved animals. He was kind to everyone. He lived happily with another man for the last 12 years of his life. I had the privilege of being part of their lives, and witnessing how much they cared for each other, how much kindness they showed each other. We should all be so lucky.

My dad has been gone for 12 years. My heart aches as I write those words. Twelve years, and not much closer to recognizing the good, loving family that he had made for himself.

My sister and my brother and I are all straight. My brother is engaged, my sister was married, and I am in a long-term, committed relationship with a man who fears marriage, otherwise we would have already done it. We all have principles and morals and values that we got from both of our parents, and from the other people that they brought to our lives. We didn't turn out warped. We weren't tainted by our exposure to a home inhabited by two gay men.

So I guess my question is, to those who would vote for such a hideous intrusion into another person's private life, what are you so afraid of? Are your own values and principles so shaky? Do you honestly think that you are making the world a better place? Are you really instilling in your children the values that you think will earn you the e-ticket to Heaven?