A couple weeks ago, I got on the bus. There's a guy I always see, in his regular seat. He's waving around a newspaper article, looking like a paper boy screaming “Extra Extra, read all about it!” But this guy is sickening angry, yelling out to everyone on the bus.

“You gotta read this article!”

At first, I want him to shut up. But then, I want to know what he's talking about. Maybe it's gas prices getting him so riled up. But that doesn't make sense, because mind you, he’s always on the bus. Then he passes me the article, and of course it's about same sex marriage. The guy keeps saying, “that’s not right, that’s not right.” I start dying laughing. Because all this time, I had been thinking this guy was gay.

That very same day, I see the ad for “Yes on Proposition 8” on the TV. You know the one I’m talking about. This little girl is all excited, saying she can marry a princess, because she learned in school a king can marry a king. Her mom looks like a horror movie victim.

Watching the ad, I feel lied to, by the mom, and by the professor who shows up on the commercial to convince me that second graders will decide to be gay after learning about gay marriage in school. When I was in second grade, we were learning times tables and reading about Frog and Toad. I never remember any lesson about marriage. So why are they going to start teaching about gay marriage in school? And for the record, I never “decided” to be gay, either.

People don’t choose to be gay, just like people don’t choose to be Black, White or Asian. So I wish we could learn from the prejudice of our past. Americans used to justify slavery in the name of God. And not even 50 years ago, people of color couldn’t use the same water fountains as White people. To me, Prop 8 is just another form of unfairness and inequality.

I don’t even know if I’m going to get married. But I asked my mom,“Are you voting no on Prop 8?” And she said, “That’s my business.” “Whatever!” I said. But what I thought was, “Please don’t let my mama vote yes on Prop 8.”

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