Continue reading at Splashpage.MTV.com …

The decision ratifying Prop 8 runs in stark contrast to the apparent temperature of much of the United States, with what seems to be a domino effect of same-sex marriage legalization: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Iowa have all legalized same-sex marriage, Vermont's law will take effect in September, and New York is (hopefully) not far behind.

The bright side of this dark decision comes twofold today. One, Judge Sonia Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama to the highest court in the land, the United States Supreme Court. A month ago, I wrote a piece for Fox Forum predicting Sotomayor to be the best choice for the position. I argued that she fulfilled Obama's call for change, as her appointment would be a historical one (she'd be the first Latino on the Court), and her experience with community building and pro-socal work is extensive. Further, she was named a U.S. District Court judge by George H.W. Bush in 1992 and elevated to her current seat on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by Bill Clinton, giving her a bi-partisan background. She's a liberal judge, but Obama claims that she will "interpret" laws rather than make them.

In terms of LGBT rights, Sotomayor will hopefully fall on the left. She is a self-described liberal judge who, perhaps, will take the temperature of the country and enact Obama's message of change by bringing equal rights to the LGBT community. I look forward to watching her with a hopeful but cautious eye.

As for Proposition 8, we lost that battle. However, if I was a betting woman, I'd say that in November 2010 the people of California will strike down Prop 8 and bring gay marriage back to California. I always said that while of course I'd like to have same-sex marriage legal sooner rather than later, there is something powerful about the people overturning a law, and exercising democracy in its most honorable form.

Campaign finance laws are tricky things. Protect Marriage, an anti-gay marriage group that has led the fight for Proposition 8 as well as the fight against disclosing personal information about donors, is arguing that the release of these names has led to death threats, vandalism and harassment of those who supported the amendment. People have even allegedly been getting envelopes containing white powder. How cliché! Come on, guys, we have better methods of getting our message across!

That said, we live in a democracy, and as U.S. District Judge Morrison England told the San Francisco Chronicle, "If there ever needs to be sunshine on a particular issue, it's a ballot measure."

Why is it so important for names of donors to be released? When someone (or especially a company) donates a hefty sum to a certain campaign in an attempt to influence our vote, the voters deserve the right to know about it. In the case of company donations, consumers and investors should be able to find out if their money will wind up going to a cause they don't believe in.

But does that need for transparency apply to other individuals? Lawyers for Prop 8 supporters want the court to overturn the law that allows donors of as little as $100 are publicly disclosed.

Does an individual's right to privacy trump the cause of democracy? Even the LGBT community is divided over this issue.

"I really think putting this information out there is dangerous for the gay community as a whole," activist Amy Wicker told me. "All it takes is one lunatic to commit some heinous violent act against a Prop 8 supporter to set our movement back. Think about how they would spin it. Think about the backlash."

Judge England told the Chronicle that while certain forms of backlash may be "repugnant and despicable acts," they can be reported to law enforcement and are not reasons to betray our campaign finance laws.

Erica Anderson, who writes the blog Erica-America.com (and is a former MTV Street Teamer), sees this donor disclosure as a step forward in activism. "With EightMaps, the gays are fighting back, and I say good for them, good for us," she told me. "This tool is a perfect example of democracy meeting Web 2.0 — in a thoughtful, productive way."

Perhaps one of the most interesting things about EightMaps is the fact that the person who created it wishes to remain anonymous. This person isn't donating money for a public campaign, but he/she is creating a resource that promotes transparency in the Prop 8 fight. Sort of ironic, no?

There was something different about yesterday's "coming out" moment, beyond the fact that I was staring at my parents, who were surrounded by thousands of gay people (a first for them, undoubtedly). This time, I was coming out for a tangible, structured, pro-social, and active reason.

Yesterday, 4,000 people gathered in front of City Hall to protest the passing of Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California. Having been asked to speak, I gathered some enthusiastic and supportive friends, including our own John Norris, for brunch in Tribeca to brainstorm some ideas and to discuss the current obstacles we faced beyond Prop 8, such as the Defense of Marriage Act, Don't Ask Don't Tell and ... yeah, Katy Perry.

By the time I was called to step onstage and approach the podium, I was calm and collected, exhilarated from the energy of the masses before me. For the next six minutes, I described my frustrations with the ignorant enclaves of society, the way a sexual orientation has been adopted and exploited for Perry's "feel-good hit of the summer" and how my lifestyle is safe and even entertaining to people — as long as I stay inside their TV screens. More strongly, though, I expressed my hope and faith in the furthering of the gay-rights movement. If people 65 years of age and over had not voted, Prop 8 would not have passed. And contrary to the story that has penetrated the media for weeks now — that Latino and black voters were responsible for Prop 8's passage — I told the audience that a strong majority of African-Americans under age 30 voted against the proposition. I also asked everyone whom they had invited to the rally, and who would be standing with them now, had they been invited. I had spent the last two days trying to decide if I should invite my parents, and if they would even come. I made the decision to invite them yesterday, and so they showed up to their very first gay-rights rally, excited and proud.

As a member of a community that has undergone a significant setback on an Election Day that emanated "hope" and "change," I have learned that we cannot assume who will be with us or against us, and that we should not ignore those who have voted against us in the past. Barack Obama is the president-elect because his campaign talked to everybody and assumed nothing. The LGBT community needs to take those same steps. Perhaps, with that in mind, our constitution can be a rule of law that protects our rights rather than takes them away.

I came home last night to find my friend Kyle on the phone, coming out to his brother — something he had been meaning to do since he realized he was gay. His brother asked him if he'd seen any of the Giants games recently, so Kyle seized the moment and exclaimed, "No, but maybe that's because I'm gay." (That's perhaps one of the best ways I've ever heard of someone coming out.) Hanging up the phone, Kyle told me that it was the line in my speech that asked, "Who have you not yet come out to that you could?" that inspired him to tell his brother last night.

Prop 8 has been passed, and that battle has been lost, but the solidarity, confidence, bravery and inspiration that has now infused itself into people like Kyle could lead to the victory of the greater war.

Election '08 marked a dark day for gay rights. Since several states passed ballot initiatives limiting the rights of same-sex couples — including Proposition 8 in California — protests have erupted from coast to coast. Celebrities have been quite vocal about the issue, from Christina Aguilera telling MTV News, "I think [Prop 8] is discrimination," to Joe Trohman of Fall Out Boy saying, "It's interesting how forward-thinking we come off by electing Barack Obama, but then how in the dark we still are by voting 'yes' on Prop 8." Pete Wentz, Whoopi Goldberg, Keith Olbermann and even Spencer Pratt have all weighed in on the issue.

The effect that the large African-American voter turnout in California had on the passing of Proposition 8 continues to be debated throughout the media. A report from The Associated Press states that seven in 10 black voters in California supported the prop, along with 52 percent of Latinos. Other reporters and bloggers have been more reticent to indict any one racial group, saying the divide was more generational. The Web site FiveThirtyEight writes, "If nobody over the age of 65 had voted, Prop 8 would have failed by a vote or two."

MTV News hit the streets in California, talking to African-American and Latino voters who favored Prop 8. Here's a sampling of what they had to say:

"I like to describe myself as a fiscal Democrat and a social conservative," says Meron Begashawa, a black American. "I find the economy and health care and the war more important than social issues, so I voted for Obama on that, and I voted 'yes' on Prop 8."

"I come from a very traditional Hispanic family, so marriage is very sacred to us," said Nicole Ponton. "It definitely was a difficult vote for me, just knowing that I have friends who will be affected by this vote, but definitely my religion and my family, culture and history came into major play."

Kai Kelley said, "I voted 'yes' because I feel like it's going to affect the kids in some way, and I believe [marriage] should stay tradition, like man and woman."

No doubt in the ensuing days we'll continue to hear from people in the public eye about the issue (MTV News' own Kim Stolz will be speaking at a rally in New York City on Saturday, as a part of a nationwide day of protests), but what about you? How do you feel about Proposition 8, and why do you think the vote turned out the way it did?