"I have chosen to stay and fight"

This is my response to Proposition 8 and every other gay marriage ban.

To those that say I am "the Other,"

Congratulations! You're winning. you have achieved with great valor one of your highest objectives. you have fought long and hard against a formidable opponent and have succeeded. So, for this, i say congratulations on winning yet another battle.

However, this quest for human rights and dignity is not a battle to be won or lost. In fact, it cannot be put in terms of war at all. This is a degradation, an oppression, a one of a kind -ism from you to me. You claim to fight to protect, to preserve and maintain the sanctity of your most precious values against the abominable and the dirty. You fight against me, and no I do not accept your challenge. My rights are not privileges and therefore not subject to your opinion.

But don't you worry. I'm still here and will still fight for you. Just as my birthright should never come to be questioned, neither should yours. I will never deny you of your happiness and of who you are, regardless of who tries to take the same away from me. I am here and you are here, and that is all I need to know because that means we are here together.

So for now, in this world, I am a second class citizen. But I like to say that a bit different. I am simply a force to be reckoned with. I will stay and fight in your battle against me, but I will fight for the both of us. Because if you succeed in your crusade against me, then someone will succeed against you and your fundamental right to being. So, thank you for your challenge, and again no, I do not accept it. But I will fight. For you, for me, and for everyone else.