milk: how far have we come with civil rights?

I have been working diligently on writing my thesis question. The trick is to find something that within one sentence outlines a real world puzzle to be solved. I have found that it is an interesting way of framing the the things you think about every day.

Take for example, Oscar nominated movies. I watched Milk last night. About a San Francisco city supervisor who was working against the debilitating Briggs Initiative of 1978. The initiative was unsuccessful in its goal: to structurally legitimize discrimination based on sexuality by banning homosexuals and their supporters from working in public schools. It brings tears to my eyes to think of how close California was to revoking the rights of its citizens over something so harmless as sexuality.

Thank God that every year the human race progresses, thinks more, learns more, develops more, and hurts less.

And here is our puzzle to drive our thoughtful dissertation- if the above statement is anywhere close to accurate, how is it that Proposition 8 passed not 30 years later in California, changing the constitution to structurally discriminate and withhold civil freedoms? How is this progress?

Why can't we just let people live in peace with their rights intact? Let God be the judge of all of us for our lifestyles. We will see which sin is truly greater in the end- homosexuality, or purposely creating economic and social hardship for our brothers and sisters based on our own meager judgments.