Keith Olbermann Issues Special Comment on Passing of Prop. 8

This is not a topic that I usually cover, but I think Olbermann does a great job here. I was especially impressed with his emotion.

Here is the clip from Youtube.

November 12, 2008

Keith Olbermann Issues Special Comment on Passing of Prop. 8

In a week that has seen everyone from Ellen DeGeneres to Drew Barrymore speak out against California’s passing of Prop. 8 -- the ban on same-sex marriage -- MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann issued a passionate commentary on the passing of Prop. 8, asking supporters, “Why does this matter to you?”

Olbermann promised last week that he would be issuing a "special comment" on the passing of Prop. 8. Staying true to his word, on his show last night, he prefaced his report by saying that he has no personal stake in the issue of same-sex marriage. He said he was even hard-pressed to find one family member who is gay.

“To me, this vote is horrible…horrible,” Olbermann said. “Because this isn’t about yelling and this isn’t about politics. This is about the human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it.”

Later in his report, Olbermann pointed to the many times throughout history in which America has had to redefine marriage in accordance with achieving civil rights.

“I keep hearing this term ‘redefining marriage.’ If this country hadn’t redefined marriage, black people still couldn’t marry white people. Sixteen states had laws on the books which made that illegal in 1967... 1967. The parents of the president-elect of the United States could not have married in nearly one third of the states in the country their son grew up to lead.”

Since Prop. 8 passed by a narrow majority last Tuesday, rallies have been held around the state protesting the voters’ decision. On Saturday some 12,500 people marched through Los Angeles's Silver Lake district protesting the same-sex marriage ban. (The Advocate)