Now I'm hesitant to post, Z, because your anger is white-hot here, and I want to be careful. (Let me acknowledge that I'm not playing the videos yet because it's 6 a.m. and the baby's asleep and I will do NOTHING to endanger that. But that I'm soaking up as much coverage of the El Coyote protest as possible, otherwise.) Let me see if I can walk through this carefully, acknowledging up front that my feelings and beliefs about Prop 8 and marriage are quite different from yours:

• I of course deplore any vandalism or violence done to any churches. I understand such incidents have been rare -- that is, you wouldn't want to use them to paint a whole movement, Z, much as you protested using the crazy words of McCain-Palin rally attendees to represent all McCain-Palin supporters -- but any incident is one incident too many. This is a debate that can be had without such tactics.

• Your reference to Obama's win is nonsensical and illogical. ("Gosh, I was denied my rights, but a Democrat was elected president. Nevermind.")

• If Marjorie Christoffersen has become fearful, I am sorry for that. But her donation in support of Prop 8 was not a private act (like, say, a vote) but a public act -- speech, I believe is what you conservatives call it -- in support of Prop 8. (I'm not aware of any movement to make secret donations to political campaigns, but in any case that's certainly not the case now.) Now the speech in response has been massive to the point of overkill, and I think it's certainly wrong for the protesters to be directing vulgarities at anybody involved. But it's often said that the correct response to bad speech is more speech, and that's what appears to be the case here. And it would appear, Z, that your response to that counterspeech is yet more speech -- which, though I disagree with you, seems right and proper to me.

• It seems that part of what's frustrating you here, Z, is that the anti-Prop 8 protesters won't just accept their loss at the polls and shut the hell up. You suggest that's what conservatives would do if they'd lost. I disagree.

See, gay folks and their allies believe they're being denied a fundamental right here -- not that they simply came out on the wrong side of a losing battle. If a referendum was held in California saying you couldn't own guns or criticize President Obama, would you let it sit there? Let me just say I hope you wouldn't be that blithe about the rights that you care deeply about.

The reason conservatives wouldn't be protesting if they'd lost the Prop 8 battle, Z, is because they wouldn't have individually lost a thing (except the generalized power to regulate the behavior of others). Their marriages would still be intact. Nobody'd be making them gay marry. Nobody would be denying them the right to heterosexually marry. They wouldn't have been denied their rights. So while they might've lamented -- and a few might've carried on quixotic protests -- the sense of mission and individual grievances to motivate protests simply wouldn't have been there.

Is it ok to be against gay marriage in America? Sure. But that doesn't buy you immunity from criticism -- even if that criticism is loud and hurtful, even if it's disproportionate. Unless, of course, you want the First Amendment to apply only to election winners. I don't think either of us wants that.