Apparently, there are some members of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in California who can’t understand why gay and lesbian people are still upset over the passage of Proposition 8 that outlawed same-sex marriage in the state.
Sherrie Derriko, a longtime Saddleback Church member and hair salon owner from Mission Viejo, said she was bothered that protesters had targeted houses of worship. As she drove by, she rolled down her window to offer some advice.
“Read the Bible. God made man and woman, and that’s what a marriage is,” she called from inside her SUV.
Derriko recounted the incident after attending services. “When we saw them out there, we thought, ‘Why are they not over this? Do they think they’re going to change anything, or are they just stirring up trouble at our church?’ “
I imagine Sherrie, in her overflowing Christian compassion, would have told Gandhi to “get over it” when the British took control of India. Or she would have counseled Martin Luther King Jr. to “get over it” when Bull Connor came after civil rights demonstrators with hoses and dogs. And she certainly would have told women to “get over it” when their right to vote was denied.
Apparently, according to Sherrie, now that full rights have been denied, gay people should just go home, redecorate, and forget about this silly marriage thing. The “Good People” ™ of California have spoken and gay and lesbian people should slink back to their closets like good whipped queers.
It reminds me of a heartless boss I worked for years ago. A co-worker lost her husband to illness and just weeks after the death, my co-worker was understandably (to sane people, anyway) still very upset. My boss saw her moping in the break room one day and asked her, “Aren’t you over that yet?”
The loss on Proposition 8 is just like a death for gay and lesbian people, who have witnessed their civil rights murdered at the polls in too many states. Far from getting over it, the grieving for the gay and lesbian community is just beginning.
Sherrie goes on to ask, “Do they think they’re going to change anything?”
News flash, Sherrie: Yes, that’s exactly what they think. Certainly, in the minds of many people like Sherrie, black people, women, gays and lesbians and other minorities will never be good enough to enjoy full participation in society and people like Sherrie will continue to resent the “special privileges” given to anyone who dares to look, act, or be different than the Sherries of the world think they should be.
Gay and lesbian people will officially “get over it” when they can freely enter into the civil contract of marriage and enjoy all of its benefits—just like Sherrie can.
