"To those who say the struggle for marriage equality has been 'Too much, too fast, too soon,'" the assemblyman said, "we say 'Enough!'
"Enough of Democratic leaders buying into Karl Rove's cynical, handcrafted game plan. By doing so they are increasing the store and stock of homophobia in this country. Homophobia is on the rise; even in California, 91 percent of college students report hearing slurs about sexual identity on campus. ... Don't think that homophobia isn't impactful. Each of us is responsible for our own actions, but homophobia is connected to the rise in HIV. When you have a community disparaged and labeled by the nation as inferior, not worthy of equality, self-destructive behavior in the young of that community results. And half the new HIV infections are among those 25 years of age and younger.
"I will not let the gay, lesbian, bi, transgender community become the whipping child for America.
"I will not let Rove and those Democratic leaders who buy into his phobic talk scapegoat us -- and scapegoat leaders like Gavin Newsom, Ted Kennedy and Phil Angelides, who stand up for equality -- and blame us for what's wrong in the nation and for what went wrong for the Democrats in the election."
Leno puts it neatly when he puts it personally: "I am a gay man, worthy of election to public office. I am able to preside over and legalize the marriages of heterosexual couples, but there's something about me that the state has defined, which prohibits me from marrying my most intimate and committed partner? There's a huge flaw in the law and that's how the debate must be framed. Are some law-abiding, taxpaying Americans inferior because of the way they love and choose to form families?"
