Marriage Equality - a Busy Day

Lots today on the marriage equality front.

All the major GLBT "activist" organizations counsel against filing federal lawsuits on marriage equality.

David Boies and Ted Olsen (yes, that Ted Olsen) file suit to do just that, claiming Prop 8 violates the U.S. Constitution.

Meanwhile, more locally, some pastors announce plans for a referendum in DC on whether we will recognize same sex marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions.

Lots to digest. Meanwhile, there is a great discussion over at Pam's House Blend about the call for a moratorium on lawsuits by our "leaders" and the Olsen gambit. Don't just read the post, there's some great points made in the comments.

And, President Obama's spokesperson ducks and weaves on the issue. Perhaps he should consult a Constitutional law professor.

I'm mulling it all over. What do you think?

Same Sex Marriage: The Slide to Man on Dog

It's starting.

Opponents to same sex marriage have warned that recognition of same sex marriage was flouting God's law.

I'm already seeing the consequences in my aquarium.

This morning, I witnessed an unnatural crab-on-snail encounter. My hermit crab, Obi-Wan, had mounted one of the snails. "Uh-oh," I thought. "There goes the natural order of things." I watched in horror as Obi-Wan went for some hot slimy snail sex.

Actually, on second thought, I think he was just eating algae off the snail's shell.

Whew! A close call for the universe! But if the California Supreme Court overturns Prop 8 today, I'll be rushing back to my aquarium with great trepidation.

And if I get a hit on this page because someone googles "hot slimy snail sex" I am going to be very frightened.

Melissa Etheridge: The Choice

Sister Melissa writes this after she meets and talks to Rick Warren:

Brothers and sisters the choice is ours now. We have the world's attention.
We have the capability to create change, awesome change in this world, but
before we change minds we must change hearts. Sure, there are plenty of hateful
people who will always hold on to their bigotry like a child to a blanket. But
there are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise that are beginning
to listen. They don't hate us, they fear change. Maybe in our anger, as we
consider marches and boycotts, perhaps we can consider stretching out our hands.
Maybe instead of marching on his church, we can show up en mass and volunteer
for one of the many organizations affiliated with his church that work for
HIV/AIDS causes all around the world.

Maybe if they get to know us, they wont fear us.

I know, call me a dreamer, but I feel a new era is upon us.

Yes, we can.

Divorcing 18,000

This is downright hateful.

But Jerry Brown's response is heartening,

O Holy Night

I heard my favorite Christmas carol today, O Holy Night. It's a shame the third verse isn't sung very often as it's the most powerful...and the most revolutionary:

Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Oops.

Don't think the church has quite got the ceasing oppression in His name part down. Maybe sometime in the next couple thousand years.

As Gilbert Chesterson said, Christianity hasn't failed...it just hasn't been tried.

Keith Olbermann Speaks Out on Prop 8

Reax on Prop 8

Andrew Sullivan tries to find a positive note while conceding this was a gut-punch:

My own marriage exists and is real without the approval of others. One day soon, it will be accepted by a majority. And this initiative in California can and will be reversed, as California's initiatives are much more fluid than those in other states; and the younger generation is overwhelmingly - 2 to 1 - in our favor. The tide of history is behind us; but we will have to work harder to educate people about our lives and loves and humanity.

It cannot be denied that this feels like a punch in the gut. It is. I'm not going to pretend that the wound isn't deep and personal, like an attack on my own family. It was meant to be. Many Obama supporters voted against our rights, and Obama himself opposes our full civil equality. The religious folk who believe that Jesus stood for the marginalization of minorities, and who believe that my equality somehow threatens their children, will, I pray, see how misguided they have become. And make no mistake: they won this by playing on very deep fears of gay people around kids. They knew the levers to pull.

Dan Savage finds a new culture war:

African American voters in California voted overwhelmingly for Prop 8, writing anti-gay discrimination into California’s constitution and banning same-sex marriage in that state. Seventy percent of African American voters approved Prop 8, according to exit polls, compared to 53% of Latino voters, 49% of white voters, 49% of Asian voters.

I’m not sure what to do with this. I’m thrilled that we’ve just elected our first African-American president. I wept last night. I wept reading the papers this morning. But I can’t help but feeling hurt that the love and support aren’t mutual.

I do know this, though: I’m done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there—and they’re out there, and I think they’re scum—are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color.

Ar Pam's House Blend, Autumn is upset that voters approved animal rights but denied gay rights:

Whether or not Proposition 8 ends up being defeated or being approved by California voters, one way to look at the Prop 8 vote is in light of the Proposition 2 vote. And that is that a larger percentage of Californians are against mistreating farm animals in hoow these animals are caged than are against mistreating gay and lesbian human beings by eliminating their fundamental marriage rights. Put simply, If one evaluates by the votes cast and the percentages of the votes cast, the rights of farm animals appear to be more important to Californians than the rights of gay and lesbian human beings.

Dale Carpenter notes we gays are still the detested "other:"

Over the past few days I’ve volunteered at various sites in the Bay Area trying to get people to come out and vote against Prop 8. This included speaking at a rally, distributing literature, and holding up signs to passing motorists. While I got an overwhelmingly favorable reception, not surprising for the Bay Area, I saw firsthand an angry and ugly underbelly of the opposition to gay marriage. I was called a “sicko,” had the Bible cited to me more than once, was asked whether I’d want my "own child to be one,” and was told that “they” molest lots of children, among other things.

And Eugene Volokh offers the depressing analysis that those who got married while it was legal will lose their designation:

According to the text of the amendment, as soon as the amendment takes effect, only male-female marriages are valid or recognized. (Nor is there any language in the initiative summary, or the supporters' arguments, that purports to interpret this text as not applying to existing marriages.)

Thoughts on Prop 8

Fuck.

That's the short version.

That a majority can vote to stip rights from a minority is fucked up. That some people get to vote to invalidate the relationships of others is fucked up. That people who overwhelmingly voted for change by supporting Barack Obama also voted their homophobia is fucking infuriating.

I'm also mad at myself. I was so obsessed with the Obama campaign I didn't pay much attention until the end. So I made some donations, posted a few blog comments and sent a few emails. Looking at it rationally, there was nothing I could have done to change the outcome. The blacks and Latinos who flooded the polls also voted for discrimination. But I still feel like I could have done more, should have done more.

As goes California, so goes DC. We may have hope in the White House, but I can give up my hope that DC will follow California and pass marriage equality.

Perhaps gay rights hit its high water mark in my lifetime with the California State Supreme Court ruling. Our charge for full equality was soundly defeated yesterday. And I fear it's an electoral loss that will take a generation to overcome.

I am bitter. I want to declare I will never again attend another wedding. I will never perform in another wedding, as I have twice in the last year and a half. Until gays can legally wed in this country, let's stop attending their weddings, stop giving them gifts, stop making floral arrangements, planning their ceremonies and serving as their bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Fuck marriage.

Prop 8, McCain and My Straight Friends

I'm trying to work something out. I can't quite put my finger on it.

The other day a straight colleague who is a staunch McCain supporter said to me, "I'm sorry about your father-in-law."

Father. in. law.

Although I think of the LTR's dad in those terms I was kind of startled to hear him acknowledged as such by someone who supports the political party that would use the highest law in the land to ensure that he would never get that designation. That even now the candidate he supports is in favor of Prop 8 in California which would take the right for gay people to have father-in-laws away.

It brought to mind all the straight friends and co-workers who individually have no problem with my relationship and have said to me that it's "silly" we can't marry, but who then give money to and vote for the party and its candidates who support constitutional amendments that would prevent this from ever happening.

I understand that its not a pressing issue to them. They have the right to marry, after all.

But if the shoe were on the other foot...if I were supporting candidates who wanted to take the right to marry away from them, would they be civil to me? Would my support for such a candidate be a matter of passing lightheartedness the way I currently deal with my Republican friends and co-workers?

Doubtful. After all, Romeo and Juliet died for their love; the Greeks went to war with Troy so Theseus could marry Helen. Love and marriage would seem to be a deadly serious business.

So, I appreciate the fact you recognize my relationship with my life partner's father as equivalent to that of a "father-in-law."

And the fact that you vote contrary to that sentiment I'll try not to take personally and ignore it -- even though I doubt the opposite would be true.

The Greatest of These is Love

One of the most beautiful passages from the New Testament turned into an ad against Prop 8 in California. Question: This is truly a beautiful ad -- but it is politically effective?