Ed Watson, Diagnosed with Alzheimer's Dies While Awaiting 9th Circuit Decision re: Prop 8

Spencer Hamilton on Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 10:25pm

Hello Everyone,

While I wished that my next note would be Part 3 to my Spencer Pilot Story (it's coming soon and you all can critique it) I have some sad news. A face, a person, a real live human being has passed away while the 9th Circuit Court is deciding the Prop 8 case. At issue are: Should the tapes be revealed? Yes, I feel it would be a blow to transparency in the Justice System not to do so and Should Judge Walker's ruling be vacated/overturned? No, the fact that he is one of the affected individuals doesn't weigh in on his impartiality, unless one can prove it through the court records and tapes. Next, should the tapes be released? I feel that if Cooper wants to prove he wasn't impartial then the tapes would be the best way to show it.

The Human Cost

After hearing and researching Prop 8, I became intensely engrossed in the fight for gay rights in CA, one of my Youtube subscriptions from there is Sean Chapin, whom I've come to respect and if you don't subscribe, you should. I've also  gained the aquaintence of Gabriela Equality Valedepena, who has a lesbian daughter so the issue of Prop 8 is not only an ISSUE, but Prop 8 hits close to both of their homes. GayFamily Values are a couple on Youtube called Depfox--short for Deputy Foxworthy Jay's a police officer and Bryan is a stay at home Dad, they and their two adorable children make up the Leffew Family. In the wake of Prop 8 they made the GayFamily Values episodes along with their many other videos.

Seeing the tears come down after Prop 8 was upheld and their marriages still intact, it hit me. These are real people, (I admit researching Prop 8 and other unfair laws has depressed me and then pissed me off) real lives, people who have friends and family, who love gay and lesbian couples who can no longer marry. There were appointments after Nov 4th that were probably cancelled or carried on in protest.

One man Ed Watson in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=H8nTy0e8mj4 has passed away in the midst of this prolonged legal fight, going after judges because they're gay, pulling out EVERY SINGLE STOP THEY CAN, to make sure someone else is unequal under the law.

History will treat them as murderers for they have murdered children who have taken their own lives because of their active work promoting bigorty, I have no sympathy for anything terrible that will happen to them and I have no sympathy for bigots anymore. James Forrester, your legacy is an anti gay amendment that I hope is shot down or overturned...your legacy is toilet paper, I say the same of Ruben Diaz and Sally Kern, no one will remember you or the legacy you hope to pass on because it will die with you.

Ed Watson was right to wonder if he would live to see the court rule so he and his partner Derence could have the option every straight couple has nationwide. After 4 decades, they would've been married already, but now due to prejudice and judicial witch hunts, one more person has been lost in the waiting game in California. I am pissed, I am all kinds of frustrated that someone just couldn't hang on, but when your soul is weary, it is time to take your rest. I hate hearing of bigots using the system--initiatives and laws and even refusing to repeal sodomy laws, to continue to hold us under the thumb of people who would otherwise be free of that unlawful constraint. Even with sodomy laws overturned, their implications for having them on the books means that certain parts of those laws can still be enforced and loopholes exploited.

More people are being harmed while people are waiting. Yes, we have to, because progress doesn't happen overnight. I guess I just want this to be over with as well as a lot of CA couples, I want the mini DOMAs to be overturned, and GENDAs enforced nationwide so our trans brothers and sisters aren't looked at as freaks and we'll have a leg to stand on in court. I'm sick of GOP and Turncoat Democrats feeling as if they can vote away the rights of a minority, and then claim that they hate the courts because they validate our equality under the law, yet boast that different states have not. I'm hopeful that Watson's story will reach the State Legislatures from coast to coast and soften a few hearts to push for our equality, and for some they will harden some and think: Good, a dead homo. I hope they learn what it is to wait like we have for their rights to be validated.