I Love You Too – S
Everyone and their kid brother is going to be getting a gay marriage…as long as they live in Iowa or Vermont. But seriously, this is great. The Iowa decision in particular was pretty unexpected. And while it can be rolled back by popular mandate, it’ll take a few years. What’s more, there doesn’t appear to be any interest in doing so now, and marriage equality grows in popularity the longer it sticks around and the world doesn’t end. Taking all that into account, I’d say that gay marriage in Iowa is here to stay.
The Vermont case is even better because it not only passed the legislature but got enough votes to override the preposterously stupid veto of soon-to-be-ex-governor Jim Douglas. While I personally don’t care all that much about the idea that these gay marriage decisions are a problem when they’re handed down by courts, the fact that at least one state has legalized it through old-fashioned legislation knocks out one more leg from the increasingly precarious table of marriage discrimination.
Throw in the fact that gay marriage might get debated for DC – and the fact that it could very well result in a bunch of closet supporters in Congress actually lending a vote to the cause – and there’s a lot of reason to be optimistic.
Now, I’m not saying the fight is over. It’s only barely just begun in fact. And as Martin Luther King said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Which means there’s no reason to be satisfied until anyone anywhere is free to love whomever they like, freely, and without fear of discrimination. That struggle will never be over. Gay marriage is only one (admittedly very important in terms of symbolism) part of it.
Still, considering how despondent I was four and a half years ago, in the aftermath of that horrible 2004 election, things are really looking up again. The tides of history have turned – and I think it’s for good this time. I wrote something two years ago predicting this, but I have to admit that things are looking even better than I would have imagined…even factoring in the crushing blow that was Prop 8.
The important thing to remember is that 30 years from now people will look back in shame and wonder how a nation could have been so stupid and hateful for so long. The more people are forced to face up to the idea of what this discrimination means, the more untenable the position becomes. So it’s gonna be a long road, and there will be new setbacks, but we’re going to win.
And on a more personal note…I’m obviously thrilled about Iowa and Vermont. But there’s another part of me that is just so angry that it’s the year 2009 and I’m excited about people who love each other being free to get married in four states. It’s still difficult for me to believe that I’ve lived my entire life in places where the state thinks that it’s their business to pass judgment on the feelings shared between two people. It’s just crazy. And while history is on our side, it still makes me sad to think about people who have lived for years and not been allowed to get married, who still live in one of the many, many states that won’t recognize that marriage even if it’s performed somewhere else, who have been told that the way that they feel is less real or genuine than every single straight person in the universe.
Out here in California, there’s going to be another chance to set things right. And all I can say to my newly adopted state: please get it right this time.