The Nov. 4 elections were monumental for many reasons.A country that spent centuries denying basic rights and freedoms to blacks elected its first black president. Women, who once had to stand in front of the White House demanding the right to vote, saw one of their own almost win a party’s nomination as president and another win the right to be vice-president. It was an amazing election.Sadly, not all groups were so lucky.The state of California passed Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to restrict the definition of marriage as an act between a man and a woman. The act overrode a 2007 California Supreme Court decision that recognized same sex marriages as a fundamental right.Now, I am neither a reactionary nor a civil libertarian.When most throw temper tantrums over things like wiretaps or torture, it doesn’t bother me. If Uncle Sam wants to listen to me on the phone, he can have my phone number, though I believe he would be exceptionally bored. If non-citizens fire a weapon at members of the United States armed forces, I don’t think they deserve the benefit of laws they do not support.That being said, Proposition 8 struck a nerve with me.Homosexuals are not people  who have done anything wrong or people who deserve to have their rights limited. This has already happened in the United States with horrible results.Following the Civil War, the U.S. had a tremendous opportunity to correct past mistakes, and during the Reconstruction period, it almost did. Freedmen were allowed to vote and participate in government. In states like South Carolina, blacks held the majority in the state legislature. It was, in many ways, an amazing time in American history.The United States also passed three amendments to the Constitution designed to level the playing field.The 13th Amendment freed slaves, and the 15th guaranteed them the right to vote. The 14th Amendment was the most important of all three. While it was written in the aftermath of the Civil War, it guarantees that all citizens will receive privileges and immunities, due process, and most importantly equal protection from the law.  This all ended with a retreat from Reconstruction.Starting in Mississippi in 1890 and continuing through 1910, southern states passed laws to systematically eliminate blacks from participation in government. Mississippi set out to write a new constitution in 1890 since they couldn’t write laws to limit voting.The results of the new constitution were tragic.Mississippi initiated poll taxes, literacy and comprehension tests, and residency requirements for the rights to vote. All of these laws were aimed at newly freed slaves. They also limited the rights of poor whites.There was a simple solution to this hardship. The southern Democratic leaders passed what were called Grandfather Clauses. If your grandfather had voted prior to 1860, then you were largely exempt from these new laws. As most black people were slaves prior to 1860, they were deprived of the legal loophole available to whites.With the right to vote removed from their lives, black citizens had few rights. They could not serve on juries and were denied the right to hold public office. They could not influence state legislatures or influence the way these bodies voted. Those schools established during Reconstruction for blacks were continuously underfunded and inadequate.While America faces a different problem today, there are alarming similarities. Following Reconstruction, state governments restricted the freedoms of their citizens not because of any laws broken but because of who someone was at birth.  Today, Californians are proposing to do the same thing to its gay and lesbian citizens.Proposition 8 is a frightening possible amendment to the California constitution. While no one can tell religious institutions how to uphold their faith, marriage is not just a contract before God. It is a contract with the state with legal ramifications. Individuals do not have to approve of homosexuality. Though individuals may disapprove, the state and federal governments must not and cannot.Gay and lesbian couples are entitled as tax-paying and law-abiding citizens to the same equal protection before the law — guaranteed by the 14th Amendment — freed men and women were granted over a century ago. To deny them of that sense of happiness and equality — not because of any laws they have broken, but because of who they are at the core of their being — is deplorable and supporting it is a disgrace.—-Contact Matt McEntire at [email protected]