Walking down memory lane

It wasn't so long ago I was lamenting about about the passing of Proposition 8. My, my, what a difference a year DOESN'T MAKE. Proposition 1 passed in Maine last night.

This latest act of hatred has got me wondering, It is time to go old school and invoke the spirit of the Women's rights movement, the Black Civil Right movement, and the Stonewall riots? Are we finally ready to do more than marching in the Castro or West Hollywood, just to preach to the choir. Is it time to get really angry? Enough of this trying to talk to our enemies. News flash: THEY AIN'T LISTENING AND DON'T CARE.

I know there are some of you out there saying "but Strange, what about the children? What about tradition? Someone has go to think of the children. This isn't about hate, it's about protecting our children." News flash number 2: America don't give damn about children. If America really cared about children, the millions and millions of dollars spent on these anti-gay campaigns would be used to provide better education and health care to all children.

As for tradition, there are a lot of things that we used to allow that were considered part of our tradition that eventually had to go the way of dinosaurs. But for those of you who really want to preserve the sanctity of marriage and have it remain between 1 man and 1 woman. Here is what I propose:

1: Only unions that are performed by a religious authority figure (priest, reverend, rabbi,etc.) and in a house of worship (temple, mosque, church, etc.) will be recognized as having the legal standing of marriage. If you were thinking of just going down to the courthouse or hopping on a plane to get married by an Elvis impersonator, think again.

2. If you are an atheist, please see #1. Guess this means you're shit out of luck.

3. Outlaw divorce. You marry someone after knowing them for 1 month and it don't work out. Tough, work it out, remember the sanctity of marriage!

4. Many of the anti-marriage equality folks believe that marriage should only be between a man and woman because of procreative reasons. Ok, fine. I proposed that only people who agree to reproduce offspring should be allowed to obtain legal marriage. Since men can reproduce children from the time they hit puberty until they day they croak, this new law will only affect women. So, only women between, let's say the ages of 18-35 will allowed to be married. No one under 18 should ever be married because that's just not right and let's face it, who wants to marry someone over 35, with their 35 year old unfertilized eggs. Gross.

What people don't seem to understand (or choose to ignore) is those who are for marriage equality are not trying to tell any religious institution who they can or cannot marry. I would never go into any religious institution and demand that they marry me & Craigie Poo. I may not agree with a lot of religious ideology out there today, but I respect their right to practice and believe how they wish. Marriage equality is exactly what it says: it's about equality. I should be just as legally married to Craigie in Pennsylvania as I am in California as I am in Virginia. Marriage equality is about giving LGBT people the same rights that heterosexual often do not think about when they sign that marriage license. For example, Craigie Poo has multiple sclerosis and twice this year she has been hospitalized. If we were in some place like Arkansas, there is a good chance that I would have no legal say in her treatment because has far as the state is concerned, I'm no different from some stranger on the street.

I often hear that marriage is a religious sacrament and always has been (it was also about fathers selling their daughters, but let's just ignore that). What people fail to realize is, in the United States if you don't sign the document known as a marriage certificate, you ain't married. You and your Suga'bear/Honeybunch/Snugglebunny are just two people living together. You can go through all the hoops and theatrics to have a big fancy church wedding, but if you haven't taken yourself down to your local courthouse signed, paid your fee, and submitted that piece of paper, you ain't married in the eyes of the law. What you have is a religious marriage. Everybody who gets legally married in the United States has this thing called a civil marriage but not everybody who has a civil marriage has a religious marriage. Civil marriage (not civil unions because honestly, I really have no damn idea what they hell those are) is what the fight for Marriage Equality is about. It is with civil marriage that all the rights Marriage Equality advocate fight for come through. If two people want to also have a religious marriage and ceremony then that will be an issue that they will need to work out privately with their religious faith institutions.

When will we learn that the rights of a minority can never be put up for a vote? Hell, if that was true, my black female ass would still be sitting at the back of the damn bus waiting for my daddy to sell me to the highest bidder.

I doubt he'd get much seeing how I haven't been a virgin in a loooooong time.



- Strange ((^_~))