Okay, so the mandatory intro is that last week millions of people celebrated Barack Obama’s victory. My former students in Egypt sent me emails saying, “Congratulations for the best election.” My partner, celebrating in New York City, was accosted on the street by a bawling man who proclaimed, “It was a vote by the people and their voice was heard — their voice was heard!”

And indeed the voice — and the celebration of millions of voices all over the world — was a raucous one. The significance of an Obama presidency can not be over-emphasized. But I can’t help thinking of what else the people voted for. The sound of those Californian voices who voted yes on Proposition 8 keep ringing in my head and drowning out the exuberant ones.

There are those who tempered their celebration by stressing about how much Obama has on his plate: two wars, an increasing threat in Iran, a failing economy, plus all the other promises he made in his campaign that have been derided as “empty.” I wasn’t concerned, last Wednesday, about all this: I’d like to give the man a little breather before his every move becomes disputed and analyzed under a microscope, which it undoubtedly will.

There are those who have lionized our president-elect and this election as America “solving racism.” Racism, however, does not have an algorithm. But even if America figured out this mythical algorithm and somehow made up for all of its racist policies since, well, 1492, we were still smacked in the face with another egregious wrong: homophobia.

This election showed significant sentiment way beyond Obama, way beyond the power of one man, in another realm of injustice outside of race. The passage of Prop 8 in California (and similar bills in Arizona, Florida, and Arkansas: just as noteworthy but not as surprising) signifies that our nation has a hell of a long journey towards equality. The passage of Prop 8 in California signifies that some people in our nation still think that they have the corner on what is right, wrong, or holy. The passing of Prop 8 in California signifies that we still live in a country afflicted by a neurological disorder of “otherness,” in which my neighbor’s private lifestyle somehow threatens my own, compelling me to de-legitimatize her rights.

And now, the fingers start a-waggin’. Some are blaming the “yes” on Prop 8 on higher turnout among socially conservative black voters. Others are blaming the result on the amount of money the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (a.k.a. the Mormons) poured into the campaign. A plane literally displayed “YES ON PROP 8” in the sky.

In the spirit of “props,” I’ve gotta say props to those pilots. They’ve gotta be pretty brave to take “prop”-agandizing to such literal new heights. Oh, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Oh, the land where the majority can so easily dis-enfranchize the (substantial!) minority. As Elizabeth Manapsal aptly headlined her Cornellsun.com blog post two days ago, “Liberty and Justice for Some?”

Some of my friends, still hopeful, will say that there are 3 million absentee ballots still crying out to be counted. Some will say that even if this passes, the 11,000 same-sex couples that have been married in California since last May would be “grandfathered in,” that even if this is held to be constitutional, the Supreme Court of California could not retroactively nullify people’s marriage.

It’s a scary, scary day when citizens trust in a state to enforce their rights, and that same state turns on them within a course of hours. But, of course, there is no use of blaming the State of California. The proposition was voted on by ordinary people. So in the midst of a historic vote that elected our first black president, voices also cried out in favor of a reversal of human rights. What is it — we fulfilled our quota of justice for the year? Too much equality and our nation would spontaneously combust?

Sigh. For all of us who thought that we were making “progress,” it’s time to wake up and smell them wretched roses.

Ariela Rutkin-Becker is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. Contact her at arbecker@cornellsun.com. Dude, Where’s My Karma? usually appears alternate Tuesdays.