Fiery with anger.

I'm about to get all political again.

Prop 8.

If you live in California, there's no way that you don't know what Prop 8 is, unless you've been living under a rock in the desert, completely cut off from television, radio, and any form of communication.

Messages for and against Prop 8 have flooded our radios and televisions, and as the election grows closer, the "Yes on 8" messages have gotten increasingly aggressive, increasingly outrageous.

And I have gotten increasingly angry. Angry that this proposition even exists. Angry that there are people out there who want to remove a person's right to legally declare their love and commitment to another. To shout out to the world that this is the person they choose to spend the rest of their life with.

60 years ago, the California Supreme Court overturned a law and became the first state to strike down race restrictions for marriage. The US Supreme Court took an additional 19 YEARS to do the same. And in that California case (Perez v. Sharp, 1948), the California Supreme Court stated that "the right to marry is the right to join in marriage with the person of one's choice."

Did you get that? "THE RIGHT TO MARRY IS THE RIGHT TO JOIN IN MARRIAGE WITH THE PERSON OF ONE'S CHOICE."

Choice.

This proposition passing wouldn't stop people from being homosexual. It wouldn't stop people from being in loving, healthy relationships. It wouldn't stop homosexuals from wanting the same things that heterosexuals want - a wedding, a family, a future together. It wouldn't "protect" marriage - it would take away the basic, civil right to marry the person of one's choice.

And on the flip side, allowing gay marriage isn't going to make a mockery of marriage. It isn't going to lead to people wanting to marry their dogs. It isn't going to lead to schools "teaching" gay marriage. The ridiculousness of these claims is astounding.

Voting NO on 8 would lead to equality. To tolerance. To increased revenue for the State of California at a time when the economy needs anything it can get. To teaching our children that even though people might be different, they should still be treated with fairness and respect. Does that sound familiar? Isn't that what we teach about race? How could anyone possibly argue against teaching our children tolerance and respect? You don't have to support gay marriage to support people having the right to marry whomever they want.

These days, we wouldn't even dream of not allowing an interracial couple to marry, and yet, here we are. Backwards-minded people letting their homophobia drive their desire to take away another person's basic right.

Marriage shouldn't be treated as some sort of exclusive clique, only available to some. Please, if you live in California, vote NO on Prop 8. Vote for equality for all. And if you live in Florida, Arizona, Connecticut or Arkansas, do the same. All of these states have similar measures on their ballots. Florida: NO on 2. Arizona: NO on 102. Connecticut: NO on Question 1. Arkansas: NO on Act 1.

We are at the forefront. We lead the way. We have the power to recognize what should have been recognized years ago - that everyone deserves the same right to decide who they want to marry.