Local protests prove Prop 8 won’t last
What happens when a majority of voters denies equal rights to a minority? It took decades for interracial marriage to be legal in every state. Now, we will have a biracial president.
Why should we believe that the passage of California Proposition 8 will permanently deny marriage to all consenting adults? It is only a matter of time and hard work on the part of those who understand what truly is at stake to win equality for all.
Why do I know that this change to the California constitution will not stand? I know because of the 100 people who assembled at the corner of Main and Broadway in Santa Maria to urge people to vote NO on proposition 8. They were black, white, Latino, young, old, middle-aged, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, students and families and were all there to say “don’t take rights away from others. Don’t make gays, lesbians and transgender Californians second-class citizens.”
We are all equal! That will be the final verdict of history. No amount of money, religious dogma, lies and fears can defeat the truth. I believe that we, as a people, will finally grant every person an equal right to marry because mutual respect for all human beings is the essence of who we are as a people.
Gale McNeeley
Santa Maria resident
Cal Poly should take responsibility for incident
I am appalled that administrators justify their failure to discipline students who displayed hate symbols at the crop house by citing the students’ rights to free speech. Evidently, administrators are afraid of legal action in response to expulsion of the students responsible for the display of hate symbols at the crop house.
In my opinion, if fighting legal action is the consequence of removing from the Cal Poly community the students responsible for the display of hate symbols at the crop house, even temporarily, then it is worthwhile to fight that ultimately futile legal battle. Cal Poly owes you the dignity of fighting that battle. The display of hate symbols was allowed to happen on campus, and Cal Poly as an institution of higher learning must take responsibility for its negligence, even if that responsibility includes spending time and money in court.
I suspect the language I used in that last sentence (“allowed to happen”) will be questioned. Given the amount of time it likely took to design and produce a painting of a confederate flag on a table, it appears that the intolerant culture as expressed in the recent display of hate symbols is long standing and was expected to persist indefinitely.
Like the students responsible for the display of hate symbols at the crop house, Cal Poly must be held responsible for allowing a culture of hate to flourish in university housing.
Antonio F. García
associate professor of geology