Ellen DeGeneres has reacted to the passing of California’s Proposition 8 which bans gay marriage. She’s clearly upset about it, and you can tell she’s very conflicted by the joy she feels over Barack Obama’s election contrasted with the sadness over Prop 8.
The California-voter ban on Tuesday – by some 52 percent – of same-sex marriage has left Ellen DeGeneres “saddened beyond belief,” she says. In a statement posted on her show’s Web site Wednesday, the talk host, who married partner Portia de Rossi in August, said, “This morning, when it was clear that Proposition 8 had passed in California, I can’t explain the feeling I had. I was saddened beyond belief.
“Here we just had a giant step toward equality [with the election of Barack Obama] and then on the very next day, we took a giant step away.” Opponents of same-sex marriage in Florida and Arizona (where, in 2006, such a ban was rejected by voters) were also victorious on Tuesday, and by wider margins than in California. In all, 30 states have enacted bans on same-sex marriages.
Also on Tuesday, the Arkansas electorate passed a measure meant to prohibit gay men and lesbians from adopting children. In her message, DeGeneres, 50, concluded by saying, “I believe one day a ‘ban on gay marriage’ will sound totally ridiculous. In the meantime, I will continue to speak out for equality for all of us.”
[From People]
I was really shocked that this measure passed. I was also surprised by how quiet celebrities were about it. It didn’t seem like it got any national attention until Brad Pitt donated $100,000 against the proposition. I found it so preposterous – and I thought California was so liberal – that it didn’t occur to me that it could pass.
It’s deeply, deeply saddening that so much progress can be taken away so quickly. We are hopefully at a crossroads, and if we’re lucky a time of great change is ahead of us. That should include equality for everyone. If someone feels two women getting married threatens their own marriage, then I’m sorry their marriage is so easily threatened. But no one else should be denied equality and a happy, legal marriage because of it.
Here’s Ellen and Portia at the Yes! on Prop 2, Stop Animal Cruelty fundraiser in Bel Air on September 28, 2008. Images thanks to Bauer-Griffin.
I can’t believe they are banning people from adopting because of sexual orientation. Since it’s already banned internationally, homosexuals can pretty much only adopt domestically. I guess Arkansas has so many people willing to adopt kids from the system that they can stop people who want to from creating a family.
it was a sad day here in california.
I was also shocked that it passed. Depressing. 🙁
Separate but equal.
Move to the back of the bus.
Ignorance prevailed.
You cannot put the rights of a minority into the hands of the majority and expect anything different. This will now continue forward in the courts and continue to waste thousands upon thousands of dollars. Sad.
We just have to keep trying.
Very sad 🙁 .
I am shocked that this proposition passed. It’s a disgrace.
Not to promote visiting another site, but I read through a few of the comments on UsWeekly’s site earlier today and I was absolutely saddened. So many people are speaking out against gay marriage, saying it is immoral and a choice/decision to be gay. Some of them were hateful, some of them weren’t hateful at all. Overall, I just find it so sad. It’s sad that we don’t realize inequality when it is so blatantly staring us in the face. It’s sad that we hide behind God when it’s actually fear and discomfort that prevents them from an open mind. i couldn’t imagine someone coming to me tomorrow and saying my marriage is no longer valid because the rest of the people in the state voted it so. wasn’t our country founded on principles of protecting the rights of the minority??
It sounds so ridiculous that in this day and age two people who love each other can’t get married. My friends who have a baby together were thinking about going to CA and getting married. I mean one stays at home and she has no rights for insurance or if something was to happen to her partner she’d get nothing. These are two women to are active in the community, just helped build a school, and were in the Peace Corps. It just makes me sick.
Banning love. Way to go. I´m speechless.
oh well to bad…now pass the ketchup!
i actively campaigned against prop 8. i was so frustrated when it passed. the ignorance i encountered daily made me sick. at one point i even cried. it was sad that a lot of my resistance came from my own mother and sister. i love them, but they let their religious views cloud what was fair vs unfair. i have been having the most ridiculous debates with people about it.
i wrote an essay on it and posted it on myspace and facebook. this is the facebook link if you guys want to read it and see the comments it drew.
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/note.php?note_id=45680843400
It makes no sense to deny needy children a loving home, and the fact that a bigoted law further fetters couples from adopting by disallowing them to be joined in a legal marriage is ludicrous. 😐
I’m appalled by it. It is 2008? Why is everyone so scared by things that have no personal affect on them?
If someone wants to get married because they love each other… it isn’t ruining what “marriage” is. It isn’t ruining my marriage. It isn’t a horrible, immoral thing. What is horrible and immoral is denying those that love each other the right to marry if they so wish.
God didn’t invent marriage. Why should I be allowed to be married, but my mother’s best friend of over 31 years, whom happens to be a lesbian and has been in a long-term relationship since I was born, cannot? Why? WHY do I deserve to be married more than her? I’ve been with my husband since 2004 – she has been with hers since the 80s… and they CAN’T MARRY EACH OTHER.
Unbelievable.
As an almost lifelong resident of California I want to point out that this state isn’t liberal as everyone thinks. Los Angeles and San Francisco, yes, but not so much the rest of the state.
well i love my dog and my dog loves me so now i want the right to be married to my bitch!
-coming soon in 2048
@hlhannigan: So – you are equating the right of same-sex couples to marry to marriage to an animal?
Wow, no wonder it passed, with viewpoints like THAT…
Twisted, indeed.
“well i love my dog and my dog loves me…”
Right. And your dog can enter into contracts, too, I suppose?
Here in Canada, gay and lesbian folks can marry legally.
Their right to do so hasn’t caused the destruction of hetereosexual marriages.
After the Obama travesty, I am glad to see there are still some sane voters left in this country.
No one is being denied the “right” to marry. Everyone can still get married, as long as it is to a member of the opposite sex.
@ MD: Horrible, yet typical.
you know, even if I CHOOSE to be gay i shouldn’t be discriminated against. why is the concept of separation of church and state so hard for people to understand. I think if they want to keep denying civil liberties to us gays we should also be exempt from things like taxes. if they aren’t going to treat us like citizens why should we pay to be citizens? why should we pay for a country that doesn’t recognize us as equal? 😡
Well, at least my wonderful home state of Taxachusetts voted FOR gay marriage… and the decriminalization of marijuana. Thanks, Massachusetts, for raising me in an environment of sane people! Actually, the first time I met someone who voted for Bush was when I moves to CA, so that tells you all you need to know about the supposed liberalism.
Interesting tidbit: I just saw on CNN the breakdown of voters who supported the ban in California. They were largely minority voters – 70 percent of African Americans who voted were opposed to gay marriage. Asian voters also were heavily in favor of the ban. Only 43% of white voters supported the ban.
It isn’t fair that the gay’s aren’t allowed to be as miserable as the rest of us are in marriage!
Anyone who would like to be proactive, there’s a website that has a petition to Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) and end the unequal treatment of same-sex couples by our immigration system.
If you’re against it than 1950 called and they want thier ignorance back.
I wonder what these people think about humans that are born with both male and female sex organs, or are transgender? Do they deserve the same treatment? Or because it’s medical than it’s different. Who has the audacity to say that our brains chemically don’t react the same way our bodies do? Next I’ll hear I chose red hair and green eyes for myself.
I sat back and watched my aunt get asked to leave the church she’d been a member of for 25 years-because she finally came out and started living the life she should had been from the beginning. She helped BUILD that church! Religion comands us not to judge-but they decide who they let in thier doors…uh isn’t that judging?
Peace out.
I found the link:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5036/t/1978/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=42
Support and sign up!
Fascinating that blacks wanted their longtime struggle acknowledged and pushed Obama over the top and into office, but when it came to giving another also-discriminated-against group, they were quick to give them the smack-down.
Equality is over-rated, it’s every group for himself.
Isn’t America a great place?
That’s so sad, people should be able to love who they want and make it official if that’s what they decide. And how can they say they gay marriage is ruining marriage, if anything is ruining it, its people who go get a quicky marriage barely knowing each other and then have it annulled right after.
@hlhannigan: Well I love my dog and my dog loves me so now i want the right to be married to my bitch!
Is there some alien planet where arrogant stupid people who really believe this are bred? Because I’d like carpet bomb it into ashes.
Considering the Bible says God permitted Noah’s wife and daughters to commit incest with their father and brothers in order to repopulate the human race after the Great Flood, you haven’t a leg to stand on.
Also bearing in mind that the divorce rate nationally is hovering around 60%- would you care to explain to us again this alleged ‘sanctity’ of marriage you so desperately cling to ?
I honestly just don’t understand why people feel they need to vehemently oppose gay marriage. What right is it of anyone to tell another person who they can and can’t love? It sounds insane to me…even more insane that, apparently, this is the majority opinion.
This is the BEST! I totally agree with Melissa Etheridge’s POV on this.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-11-06/you-can-forget-my-taxes/
@MD, what an smug, idiotic thing to say. I don’t understand why gay people marrying threatens hetro marriages. Worse still, while banning marriage, no provision was given to help gay partners legally, which is a big part of the gay marriage debate, in my mind anyway. Gay partners will again be relegated as insignificant others.
It’s really unfortunate that Prop 8 passed, but social change does not happen overnight, as anyone involved in the civil rights movement can tell you.
At the very least, California still has full civil union rights for same-sex couples. I think it’s the word ‘marriage’ that gets people all tied up in knots.
The problem is that it is a moral issue. It is something of a choice. Not so much the feelings that you’re born with, but the choice to act upon those feelings. There are many people who think that that is not a choice at all. It is, just a much harder choice for some to make. i don’t care what people do in the privacy of there homes. It’s not my business. It IS my business when I am forced to accept the behavior as being good for a natural part of society. I’m sorry, but I don’t agree. It is no more a natural part of society as bigamists, swingers and other like segments. Should we ban those behaviors? No. But it is not something that should be flaunted either.
Wow. Just wow.
I think half the people voting against gay marriage, have closeted homosexual feelings themselves, and they vote to ruin other people’s lives in an attempt to vanquish those feelings.
The others are just self righteous idiots in a marriage so unhappy & unstable that it would be ruined by someone else’s happiness.
Interesting figures, MSat, and sad that on a day of such a symbolic victory for a portion of the population (African-Americans), they couldn’t support another group getting a human right that would in no way infringe on theirs.
😥
@hlhannigan
Tell me, is your dog capable of giving legal consent? She IS? Wow! Amazing!
You gays have to get over this! I’m sure many of you are great people, but you just don’t understand how creeped out other people get when you start wanting to breed children into even more gay people!!
hlhannigan, you don’t need to revise the marriage laws to continue with your “peanut-butter-to-tempt-puppy” routine every night. You need to revise the beastiality laws, I think.
I’m not necessarily for gay MARRIAGE though, and it’s not why you think. If we’re all going to go the “separation of church and state” route, then how is it our business to tell religions to reword the definition of marriage? It’s like when they have sewing nights at major league baseball games (stitch and pitch night). No. If you like baseball, great. Why should baseball have to change to make you like it or pay to go to it? I don’t think so. It is what it is. And unfortunately, ignornace has decided that marriage (which IS a religious institution, and should have never recieved legal/govermental attention or rights in the first place under my logic) is between a man and a woman. But do I think laws need to be revised? Yes. Do gay people need to have access to the same rights as straight people if they’re under the same law? Yes. But does that mean goverment should intervene and change christian’s institution? No, not unless we want to open a whole other can of worms.
I hope my words don’t get taken out of context.
The funny part is, if gay people got “creeped out” over straight people, can you imagin the ruckus it would cause? If you dont like gay people, dont look at them. Simple as that.
@ yer mom – I think most gay people are actually the product of heterosexual relationships. Or asexual reproduction; I keep forgetting which.
@Yer mom: but you just don’t understand how creeped out other people get when you start wanting to breed children into even more gay people!!
A new record for the dumbest thing I’ve ever read on here.
Uh, you probably aren’t aware of this but two men together or two women together can’t have children. That still requires a male and a female component. So it’s the ‘straight’ couples that are breeding all the gay children. Sorry you flunked biology 101.
Thumbelina, you are so, so wrong. SF and LA are not the liberal areas. LA county voted YES on it, while areas South of Lake Tahoe and on the North Coast voted NO on it. Equality minded people stick to the coast:
http://vote.sos.ca.gov/Returns/props/map190000000008.htm
Bottom line is, the MAJORITY is voting to take away the rights of the MINORITY. Of course that minority group is going to lose. That’s why you don’t VOTE on minority issues, you just give them the equal rights they deserve.
And I hate using the religion attack, but seriously Mormons? You think it’s OK to be part of a religion that started off advocating having multiple wives, but it’s not OK for those two wives to break off and have a marriage of their own? It’s only OK if a man is thrown into the mix?
I believe this country was founded on freedom of religion and we should continue to allow people that freedom. But that freedom doesn’t include inflicting your religious beliefs on me. I am newly married and religion had nothing to do with it. Just a pure and powerful love between me and my husband.
“If we’re all going to go the “separation of church and state” route, then how is it our business to tell religions to reword the definition of marriage? ”
holdup– it’s not merely about the semantics. It’s about the legal protections and rights (and accountability) that go along with a state-defined marital union, everything from health insurance to next-of-kin status in an emergency situation to filing joint tax returns to protections for children that may be a part of the family should something happen to one parent.
It’s far more a practical issue than a moral one or a matter of principle, but the haters are making it thus.
Wow, it is things like this that make me feel so blessed to live in Canada where at least same-gender marriages are valid and recognized by the state even if lots of people oppose it. Frankly, the attitude by “straight” people over same-gender marriages is exactly like what was done in the past to people not of Caucasian skin colour. Hello, does anyone remember that blacks were not allowed to use the same water fountains, same washrooms, eat in the same restaurants, or even sit in the same seats on buses, never mind the whole schooling stuff and a civil war. Now we’re all, omg, we were stupid, how did we ever do that back then? It took like 50 years for the African-Americans (after their civil rights movement). It is going to take another 50 years for the GLBTs. I just hope that before I pass over into a new life that I will see same-gender marriages legal all over North America, not just Canada, but also Mexico. Let me think, I’m 32 now, so I guess I wll be 82 when this happens. 😯
God created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, so that she can become his EQUAL partner. He did not create her from a hair on his head (coz that would mean she’d be superior) nor from a bone in his foot (coz that’d mean she’d be trodden on). So why is there such a high percentage of heterosexual divorce in our society and why there’s a rise in gay couples? Coz we heterosexuals forgot God’s concept in the first place and start treating each other as if we were superior/inferior to our spouse. So coz we’re hurt, we turn and found love and acceptance by being gay (which in my opinion can mostly be ‘learned’ and tend not to be ‘born’ with it). So for all those heterosexual couples out there, let’s show that we can be an example and treat our spouse as equal so that maybe in turn our children can have a more ‘healthy’ love life and we can all return back to the original man/woman concept….
Ribs, really…sounds painful.
@ Elisha I am in SF and I voted “no.” Last time I checked So Lake Tahoe (where I grew up is far from coastal babe…SF and LA are very coastal…just a little geography for ya.
The problem was the polls drew in minority (religious) voters. In a typical election (not a presidential, but say congressional)prop 8 would not have passed.
Also, Can anyone say Bradley Effect? Clear example of that. Too bad. I thought my gay friends could fianlly be treated as the good, loving friends they are…who happen to want to marry like the rest of us.
and Mimi are you SERIOUS?!? Read a book besides the bible.
KPC, you have to click on the map I provided to understand what I was talking about.
I am fully versed in geography. I am in Sonoma County and also voted NO, I don’t know what you being in SF and voting no has anything to do with it. If you’re going to verse me in geography you should at least read my entire comment… including the links provided. Obviously Alameda and Contra Costa Counties are not on the coast either, but they voted no. Again, you have to click the link, “babe.”
In fact, Solano was the only county in the 9-county San Francisco Bay Area to vote YES. Los Angeles County voted YES as well… even Sac Co did… as did every other inland county in the state except for Modoc and Alpine.
Pardon my ignorance…how is it that just a short while ago marriage between same sex couples was ok, so George Takei got married, Ellen got married and so on and so forth. Now it’s been banned again? I’ve probably been living in a cave, but can someone explain it to me. Thanks, Confused!
Don’t give up Ellen…
Maybe in 43 years we (i.e., the U.S.) will elect our first lesbian president!
vdantev: You are my hero:
You wrote:
“A new record for the dumbest thing I’ve ever read on here.
Uh, you probably aren’t aware of this but two men together or two women together can’t have children. That still requires a male and a female component. So it’s the ’straight’ couples that are breeding all the gay children. Sorry you flunked biology 101.”
That is the best and truest thing I have read on here in a long time. Just so well said. Thank you.
Everyone, PLEASE don’t think that all religious people are this stupid and narrow minded. I’m a Christian, and to me that means acceptance and love, not divisiveness and exclusion.
I don’t see how a gay couple getting married hurts me and my heterosexual marriage in any way. How can people loving each other and wanting to build a life together be a bad thing? I’m not gay, but if I were and I fell in love with a woman, how would it hurt society if we got married?
I am generally conservative, but I just don’t see how this is really anyone’s business. Who am I to tell someone that it’s wrong to marry the person they love? I don’t understand that mentality. Love is supposed to be a GOOD thing.
vdantev, normally I avoid you like the plague because you’re so sharp and witty that I’m afraid of you turning that edge on me, but MAN OH MAN you made me laugh so hard today with the above post. Loooooooooordy that was funny. Thanks.
We do what we can; If I’ve seriously offended you I apologize. 🙁
I personally think this is sad and I totally support gay marriage, but I would like to make a point – marriage is not solely a Christian institution, and to present it as such is ignorant (please understand I am not calling anyone ignorant, only pointing out that such a statement implies ignorance to other religions. Marriage is a part of Jewish, Hindu, Christian, Wiccan, and other religions. The point is moot in my opinion, as it seems to me the issue is granting equal, legal rights. The ban silly and based in fear. Call it whatever you want – civil unions, gay marriage… it’s still a civil rights issue. The blatant willful ignorance of some people in this day and age is truly shocking and disgusting.
You know — I strongly support gay rights and gay marriage (welcome to the crap, I say) but I do have an ongoing issue with people trying to equate the black struggle with the gay rights struggle. People, they are not the same thing. Gay people have not been enslaved, disenfranchised, and systematically discriminated against for hundreds of years (when were you made to ride on the back of the bus and drink from a different water fountain?). So many groups have had the struggle, but in my opinion, it really harms the gay rights cause to try to equate it with the black civil rights cause. Fight your battle and continue to struggle for your freedoms (with the support of people like me, I might add) but stop saying that its exactly the same thing because its not.
In Martin Luther King’s letter from the Birmingham jail, he defined an unjust law as a law imposed on a minority by a majority. He was referring to legal segregation, but it doesn’t sound so different from what homosexuals are facing now. It’s a shame that we haven’t learned as much from the past as we should have.
I just don’t understand the thinking of those voting to ban gay marriage. I’m guessing most of them are citing the Bible as their reference. Well, maybe now they’ll do a little research into the American government and the whole idea of separation of church and state.
Great, Christians believe in what the Bible teaches. But not everyone does, and that’s THEIR right. Not everyone should have to live by YOUR religion–we have this other thing in America called freedom of religion.
Can someone please give me ONE non-religious reason why homosexuals can’t be married? Seriously, without turning to your Bibles? I mean I get it, your church bans it. So don’t allow it in YOUR church. But what does that have to do with the government?
Who does gay marriage hurt? Really, besides YOUR definition of morality, it hurts no one.
Bottom line: Sure, in the Bible, one man + one woman is what constitutes marriage. As far as I’m concerned, the Bible is the basis for the laws of the church. The American Constitution, which is supposed to be FREE from religion, allows EVERYONE equality under the law. The LAW! So your religious reasons mean NOTHING to the rest of us, as they should, since America is supposed to have a SEPARATION of Church and State!
Oh please, Vdantev. Nobody said their suffering was a “pinprick”. I said, stop trying to leverage the gay rights struggle against that of the black civil rights movement. The gay rights movement has its own history to call upon and the continued comparison to the black civil rights mvt has done little to advance the gay rights mvt and it certainly does not resonate with black American voters. As a black American, I dont try to tie my struggle to that of Nazi Jews and the Holocaust. There has been enough persecution to go around and the “whats happening to me is just like what happened to them” argument is ineffective.
But since you mention it — plenty of gays have historically lived in anonymity and have therefore avoided persecution at the hands of the church and other groups. Not so easy when your skin is a certain color. Most people cant choose to hide or disclose their racial minority status.
for those that want to use religion and morality as their reasoning for opposition i have just one question?
if God wanted us all to be the same, why would he make us all so different?
and if we’re quoting the bible i do believe there’s a quote in there: “He without sin cast the first stone”. i think it may apply to just a few who voted no
There has been enough persecution to go around and the “whats happening to me is just like what happened to them” argument is ineffective.
You just contradicted yourself. If there’s enough persecution to go around, then all persecution is equally bad.
I have to comment on this one. I just dont understand why ANYONE as a sane and rational person can possibly think two other peoples union is any of their business. There is simply no other way to look at it than stating that simple fact. You are all going to think Im way off the deep end here, but marry your stupid dog if you want to…its none of my business! It has no effect on me and my fiance!! The hate discusts me. When is the United States going to let go of the Puritan hand me downs from hundreds of years ago? I am not gay, and this topic hurts me deeply. Keep the faith all of you…we will turn it around as the younger more tolerant generations grow to decision making age.
Only in George W. Bush’s America do we vote to take away someone’s civil rights. Nice job, money well spent Mormon and Catholic churches. You are now officially on record as fear-driven, small-minded bigots.
WOW, everytime I read these comments I’m glad I don’t live in the U.S Seems like most of you are a bunch of uneducated hicks. Listen to urselves, Some moron made a comment and now you people are comparing Gay rights to that of the civil rights movement? How stupid are u Americans? As long as people are in loving relationships I don’t see what the problem is. Put ur bibles down and open your eyes.
Quote: I just dont understand why ANYONE as a sane and rational person can possibly think two other peoples union is any of their business.
Doesn’t changing the definition of marriage make it society’s business? Like it or not, there are implications beyond the personal when you try to re-define an institution. Comment after comment on this page contains sweeping generalizations, not to mention a lack of perspective. Anybody that disagrees with you is branded as insane, irrational, ignorant, racist or a religious zealot. Way to have a dialog.
Like it or not, gay marriage is not about “acceptance”. It is about redefining a a societal institution.
sparkle, why do minority groups have to fight their respective fights alone? read some bell hooks and you might agree that oppressed minorities would gain a lot by joining together.
what is a black lesbian woman supposed to do? whose corner does she belong in?
oppression against one minority should immediately signal to the others that they can be next.
Coming from a straight person: I always have and always will hold an immense amount of respect and love for all gays. They are so vivid, honest, great and loving people. They are the most artistic and creative individuals on this planet. Look at the fashion industry, the creators. Look at historical artist and painters, the innovators. I was saddened by the passing of Prop 8 because these great wonderful people whom are EQUAL to everyone else the right to love.
I have many gay friends, they are probably the most honest and loving people I have ever had in my life 🙂
hello i am african american woman who voted no on 8. so dont take this the wrong way in the gay community STOP COMPARING YOUR SITUATION WITH THE BLACKS. FOR THE MOST PART IT IRRITATES THE MAJORITY OF US. Do the math there is no comparison. Never heard of gay person having to sit on the back of the bus. Even violence against has never compared to that of blacks.
Well Tina, I am completely thankful to hear you voted no. However, I disagree (respectfully) with your opinion. There is always a comparison. Granted, the two are different, but the concept of discrimination is experienced and felt around the board. As an African American, it’s obvious that you feel more strongly towards the pain your own group has felt. However, that doesn’t lessen the pain of a mother whose child was shot for being gay. Whether the pain is bigger or smaller, there will always be a comparison, simply because everyone who experiences bigotry has a connection. It is painful, and you can’t say one minority deserves more than another, because that is hypocritical. Referring to one of my favorite quotes, “The concept of freedom is an absolute.”. So let’s not played the who-suffered-more-than-who game, because regardless, the prejudiced and suffering needs to stop.