Our Top 5 Celebrity Quotes Bashing Prop 8

Judge Judy Sheindlin was on Larry King last night (we didn't watch, but the YouTube clip is here), and among the items she discussed included Proposition 8.  The Advocate has the video up on their Web site, and there's a couple good, juicy nuggets coming from one of the most famous judges in the U.S. about how Prop 8 harms society.  Which got us thinking this afternoon, "Hmm, a number of celebrities have spoken out against Prop 8.  What are our favorites?"  And like magic, a blog post is born.  See below for our top 5 favorite quotes on Proposition 8 from the world of celebs.  We'll start it off with one from Judge Judy on last night's LK.

Judge Judy: "We've got a lot of trouble in this country...in this world.  Why a state should be interested in proscribing the word marriage from people who love each other, who are responsible tax-paying, productive people who have created a family (sometimes two people, sometimes two people in children).  Why the state would have any interest in proscribing that kind of conduct, I don't understand ... Religious people can feel whatever they want to feel, but it wasn't so many decades ago that people of different races couldn't marry in this country.  And President Obama is going to have the opportunity relatively soon to put his [approval] on whether gay couples that work for the federal government are entitled to health insurance.  He should be particularly sensitive to that, because there was a time when members of his race couldn't marry members of another race."

Sean Penn: (The famous Oscar speech!) "I think it is a good time for those who voted for [Proposition 8] to sit and reflect on their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes…we’ve got to have equal rights for everyone."

Wanda Sykes: "When California passed Prop 8, Arkansas same-sex couples [passed a ban on adoption], Florida banned gay marriage...I felt like I was being attacked, personally attacked.  Our community was attacked.  We shouldn't have to be demanding something we should automatically have as citizens of this country....When my wife and i leave California, I want to have my marriage recognized in Nevada, Arizona, all the way to New York.  How can you stop people from loving each other?  How can you get upset about loving?"

Tom Hanks: "...a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen. There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them. I do not like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states in America..."  (Hanks later clarified his comments because of boobs at Fox News, but the intent behind them is unquestionable.)

Whoopi Goldberg: "If you're not sure how you feel [about same-sex marriage], go and meet some of the families and see what they're looking for.  Once you take it out of the caricature of what gay people are and what gay marriage is, and put it in the reality of family and what these folks are fighting for, it's really amazing..."

(And a bonus one!)

Christina Aguilera: "I think [Prop. 8] is discrimination and I don't understand how people can be so closed-minded and so judgmental. We chose an African-American president, and it means so much ... [it's] a time in history of great change and open-mindedness. Why is this any different? It just doesn't make sense to me. Why you would put so much money behind something [aimed at] stopping people from loving each other and bonding together?"