(I wrote this just after the ruling on Prop 8 ) Prop 8. Why didn't the proponents do a better job defending it? Are they waiting for the inevitable appeals? Whatever happens, if higher courts reverse the ruling, it is still a victory. Steps in the right direction. It takes time. I am one of the lucky ones... I married a man. I have time.
I used to think that my fascination with same sex rights stemmed from being the "racial" in an interracial marriage. Less than a century ago, my husband and I would not have been able to be legally married in the state of California. My husband was even told, while we were dating, that according to the Bible he should marry within his own race. I relate racism to the fight for same sex rights, and I have felt the sting of it. When my husband and I were first dating 20 years ago, we would get funny stares as we walked hand in hand in the grocery store, and he was asked on at least one occasion what it was like to date an Asian (after all, Asian women are submissive, right?).
Hypotheticals are bullshit... you won't understand the discrimination until it is you on the wrong end of it. You won't understand that equal but separate is not the same. You may think you do, until it is you.
I used to think that my fascination with same sex rights stemmed from being the "racial" in an interracial marriage. Less than a century ago, my husband and I would not have been able to be legally married in the state of California. My husband was even told, while we were dating, that according to the Bible he should marry within his own race. I relate racism to the fight for same sex rights, and I have felt the sting of it. When my husband and I were first dating 20 years ago, we would get funny stares as we walked hand in hand in the grocery store, and he was asked on at least one occasion what it was like to date an Asian (after all, Asian women are submissive, right?).
Hypotheticals are bullshit... you won't understand the discrimination until it is you on the wrong end of it. You won't understand that equal but separate is not the same. You may think you do, until it is you.
I agree with you that GLBTQ rights are a civil rights struggle very much like the struggles (that sadly continue, though much progress has been made) society has faced with racism. It must be hard to have faced the need to prove the validation of your marriage to others in one way already, and to face having to do that again if you should be open about your sexuality.
ReplyDelete"I am one of the lucky ones... I married a man." I think this a lot! I am thankful that my soul mate happened to be a man so that i could legally be married to him. In my state, we would not have that same ability if he were a woman. To others we must look like just another hetero couple. It is safe.
I have watched the prop 8 struggle very closely. If the issue should ever come to my home state I will join the fight hard.