Heterophobia?

Veteran actor, Sean Penn, won his second Oscar on Feb 22, for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, San Francisco's first openly gay city supervisor. Penn, who is also a political activist, partially used his acceptance speech to voice his opinion on the controversial passing of California's Proposition 8.
"I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban on gay marriage, to sit and reflect, and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes, if they continue that way of support. We got to have equal rights for everyone," he asserted.
The passing of Prop 8 on Nov 4, 2008, stirred much controversy and prompted several protests from gay-marriage supporters. Although media attention had drastically decreased since the initial response, Penn's proclamation has revitalized the Prop 8 controversy.
Currently the California Supreme Court is hearing a legal dispute over whether or not the proposition was unconstitutional; if determined to have been, it shall be overturned by early June. Moreover, a new petition that aims to reverse the Prop 8 decision by replacing every instance of the word "marriage" with "domestic partnership" in California Law, will qualify for the ballot if it acquires the signatures of 694,354 registered voters by Aug 6, 2009.
While gay marriage is a provocative issue to which every individual is entitled their own respective opinion on; Sean Penn is the latest high-profile advocate to attach false assumptions to the opposing side. By stating that opponents will bare shame in the future, he suggests that anyone who voted in favor of Prop 8, only did so out of an unapologetic disdain for and or an irrational fear of homosexuals. This has been a popular generalization used in the attempt to attack the credibility of opponents to same-sex marriage. It conveniently denies any possibility that an individual can actually believe that "marriage" as an institution, in its true and original denotation and connotation, can only exist between consenting members of opposite gender.

The notion that opposition to same-sex marriage is indicative of homophobia, is invalidated by the fact that even some homosexuals are against gay marriage. According to the CNN exit poll, 4% of homosexual voters were in favor of Prop 8. Elton John, perhaps the most prominent and well-respected openly gay artist, was adamant in expressing his disapproval of the gay marriage rally.
"We're not married. Let's get that right. We have a civil partnership," he shared, describing his relationship with longtime partner, David Furnish. "What is wrong with Proposition 8 [attackers] is that they went for marriage. Marriage is going to put a lot of people off, the word marriage," John concluded. "I don't want to be married. I'm very happy with a civil partnership. If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership. You get the same equal rights that we do when we have a civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships."
John acknowledges the significance of the word "marriage", and hints at the connotation that it was implemented exclusively for man and woman. Secondly, he expresses his graciousness for having a civil partnership, because he realizes how generously accommodating such unions are. Civil unions were first established in Denmark, 1989, for the sole purpose of affording some of the rights, benefits, and responsibilities designated for married couples, to homosexual couples. Though marital benefits were originally only intended for wedded straight couples, the specifications of civil unions in some countries provide the exact same benefits as those granted in marriages.
Despite the accommodating efforts of civil unions, some critics, such as activist, Dr Marilyn Waring, have highlighted the close similarity between civil unions and marriage, to argue that civil unions exemplify a "separate but equal" practice. Technically, however, this equality argument, which Penn echoed, does not correspond to the marriage issue. A straight man has the right to marry a woman with whom he has a consensual and mutual relationship; but at most he would have the right to create a civil union with another man. A gay man's rights would allow him the exact same options; therefore, this cannot be considered a division or separation of rights.
Another pertinent offense Penn made during his speech came in his reference to President Barack Obama. "I'm very, very proud to live in a country that is willing to elect an elegant man president," Penn added. By "elegant man", Penn of course meant a "qualified black man". This tactic of relating African Americans to homosexuals, and assimilating their respective struggles, has long been overtly misused by supporters of homosexuality. Seemingly whenever a "gay rights" issue arises, an advocate argues by substituting "gay" with "black", based on the belief that race relations have progressed farther than sexual relations. Nevertheless, this is an unbalanced comparison, due to the debate over whether or not sexual orientation is a choice. As a straight man, I could argue that I choose to be interested in women, as opposed to inheriting a yet to be scientifically-identified heterosexual genotype from birth. Contrarily, I could not debate over whether or not I was born black, because that is a fact.
In conclusion, the issue over gay marriage, and marriage in general, is highly controversial, and will likely continue to be provocative. Presently, same-sex marriage is not lawfully recognized anywhere in the United States except for Massachusetts, but that is subject to change. Regardless of what the future for American marriage holds, it must be understood that respectable stances can be taken on either side, and bigotry should never be an assumed motivation for either stance.