Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Election Day post

Try as I have to remain stoic throughout this whole election thing, I keep getting sucked in.
So here it is, my election day post brought about by a comparison between Title IX and Proposition 8 by those opposed to the latter.
How did they possibility do that, you ask. Here's how:
...under California domestic partnership laws, same-sex couples already have all of the legal rights that heterosexual married couples do, just not the name "marriage." Unlike same-sex "marriage," women's suffrage did not change the definition of the word "vote." Title IX didn't change the definition of "sports." Same-sex "marriage," on the other hand, radically redefines the very term "marriage" -- what it means at its very core.
It's a lousy analogy, especially because 1) the definition of sport is always being debated and 2) because Title IX did have an effect on our understanding of sport--who gets to play and how and in what contexts. If did not change some of our fundamental understandings about sport--and gender--then it wouldn't be so threatening to so many. That is the connection between Prop 8 and Title IX: they both effect change many do not want to see because they want to keep certain institutions exclusive, in these cases marriage and sport respectively.
Okay, that's it. I have to go vote now.

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