Take to the streets and possibly scare and or offend people? Damn right!

So, over in this post and in reply to comments to it, Artaxastra thinks the GLBT people and their allies who have taken to the streets are like the KKK. She thinks we should concentrate on getting people to like us, that we should be conciliatory and we should step back and work carefully and not try to scare anyone.

I say...BULLSHIT.

On September 5, 2008, Nancy and I, along with two very dear and wonderful friends, went to the county clerks office and got married in a ceremony recognized in the city and county of Sacramento and in the state of California. Why we did it doesn't matter. What matters is that we had the right to do so. It was a right determined by the highest court in the state, doing their job interpreting the Constitution of the State of California.

Apparently, our marriage and the 17,999 other same-sex marriages that took place after May 16, 2008 offended a group of people. They didn't like it, didn't like that we had that right. And so...they decided to take it away from us. They got help from many places, but the chief source of funding and people to man phone banks and protest--did you know that they bused people in from Utah to protest on California streets?--was the Mormon Church.

And they did it. A combination of factors that are even now being debated enabled a church from Utah to scare the people of California into taking away a right granted to a minority under the law.

Should people be scared of gays and lesbians, bisexual and transsexuals, people who somehow don't fit into their narrow view of sexuality that we call straight?

No, of course not.

Should they be scared that an out of state church was able help to pass a proposition to amend a state's constitution to take away a minority's right ?

No.

They should be terrified. You should be terrified. We should all be terrified.

They took away our rights.

The tragedy here isn't that 18,000 couples now have to wonder if that piece of paper means something. The tragedy here isn't that many many more couples who dream of being married someday now have to wait even longer than they already have. The tragedy here isn't that the GLBT folk and their allies took to the streets in protest, thus upsetting some delicate balance that some people think might some day down the line get some people to LIKE some of us.

The tragedy here?

The tragedy here is that MORE PEOPLE aren't out there in the streets.

They took away our rights.

Are we angry? No, we are fucking outraged.

They took away our rights. Here in the United States of America.

They took away our rights.

Of course we took to the streets. I don't want to live in a country where a minority has its rights taken away and DOESN'T take to the streets.

They took away our rights.

What if women had been granted the right to vote and then had it taken away. Would you expect our suffragette fore-mothers, women who fought and marched and went to jail and were force-fed, to just sit down and wait for people to LIKE them?

What if everyone who ever marched or spoke up for their civil rights, MLK and Black people, Césear Chavéz and the Hispanic workers, the stone butches and drag queens and the fags and dykes of color...what if they'd been given the rights they deserve as citizens of America only to have them taken away? Would you expect these people who fought and talked and marched and argued and bled and, yes, sometimes died to just sit down and wait for people to LIKE them?

They took away our rights.

Everyone in this country who believes that all are created equal, that what we as Americans strive for is a more perfect union....

Everyone should be out in the streets, because they took away our rights.

They. Took. Away. Our. Rights.

Whose rights are next?

What She Said

My wife. I think I'll keep her.

Well, you know...if people LIKE me enough to let me stay married.

I just realized something (still not a book post)

One of the reasons that the whole "Blame the Brown People for Prop 8 Passing" thing pisses me off so much is that it's yet another case of making assumptions about a group of people as if they were part of some sort of hive vagina mind.

How often have we seen the Far Right and the evangelicals claim that the GLBT community has a Gay Agenda? And on the Left? How often have our votes been taken totally for granted because they know that, for the most part, we're automatically going to vote Democrat?

Both attitudes are insulting and both drive me crazy. My own personal agenda is probably a little different than Nancy's, and both our agendas are undoubtedly miles away from the single gay guy next door who seems to love perpetuating several gay stereotypes. There is no monolithic Gay Agenda; there are, in fact, GLBT people who don't give a damn about the right to marry.

As for counting on my vote.... I'm used to that, both as a far left Liberal and as a dyke. It's conventional political wisdom that actively courting the gay vote is the kiss of death to a campaign. Which you know...step inside my Docs for a day and think about how that feels. "We want your vote, but we can't actually promise you anything at all or even acknowledge you except in the vaguest way. I'm sure you don't mind."

My point is that for white GLBT folk or allies to turn around and act as if there's a monolithic Black or Hispanic hive mind with a homophobic agenda is hypocritical. It's what people have been doing to us and it saddens me to see people turn around and do it to another minority, particularly when the numbers everyone's using to insist that Black voters were responsible for 8 passing are, to quote Rodney McKay, Wrong Wrong Wrong!!!!

If you're doing that, if you're assigning certain characteristics across the board to certain racial groups, well...that's racism, plain and simple.

*checks* Yup, still married!

Dear people out there in CA who voted yes on 8, including some of you in my freakin' hometown (and thanks a lot for that; I like to think of Sacramento as a nice blue spot in a Valley of red),

I'd just like to take this moment to tell you that me, Ruth, the big fat dyke? Still married. Screw you.

To the rest of you out there:

Okay, as you've seen around, or maybe you haven't (which is why I'm linking to this): "The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed a writ petition before the California Supreme Court today urging the court to invalidate Proposition 8 if it passes." Basically the argument is that substantial changes to the State Constitution require the approval of the Legislature before they go to the people in the form of a ballot initiative. This one? Pretty substantial and it never went before the Legislature.

Bear in mind that this is the same Court that declared for equality back in June. I don't know these people and I'm sure they'll be all fair and impartial and stuff when they do their judge thing , but you know? It's got to be kind of annoying to have done your damn job, interpreted the Constitution, and then had a bunch of people spearheaded by a church in freakin' Utah (we don't even share a border with them!), try to get around something you said was legal. Also I bet they didn't take kindly to being called "activist judges."

May I just say that I'm personally glad we have State Attorney General Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown on our side? Say what you will about him, but the guy's a solid liberal and is the one who insisted that Prop 8's language be changed to reflect the fact that it was taking away rights. It probably would have passed with better numbers if he hadn't done that.

Also, Joe the Plumber? Screw you too. My union plumber voted for Obama.

So, three people in the room--two plumbers and me. Who knew where the nearest hardware store was? I should have asked them to drop in at Butch n Nellies to get me another coffee; the one I had at 6 has long since faded and I'm running on freakin' fumes here.

PS, I read two books, so I'm up to 17 now and I'm halfway through Neal Stephenson's utterly awesome Anathem. I love how he entertains, makes me feel smart and makes me feel kinda ignorant, all at the same time.

Oh hey, can we NOT do this?

Like racism, homophobia exists in all communities.

See what I did there?

Nancy said it best.

YES!

Today, tonight, right now at this moment....

I'm proud to be an American.

And you know? My ancestor, the one who fought in the Revolution, would probably be appalled at what happened tonight. Women running for office? A Black man being voted into the highest office in the land? His female descendant, the lesbian married to a Black woman, voting?

Jehu would have been shocked and probably bewildered.

And that? That's part of why I'm proud.

Because we can change and we can become better and we can continue to perfect this union.

Yes.

Yes We Can!

Snerk!

Not particularly work safe, but pretty funny anti Prop 8 vid.

Girls for Obama!

Girls for Obama!

What got me about this was seeing the above post right after seeing something over at Wondermark where David Malki has started something called True Stuff from Old Books, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Today he ran three political cartoons from 1911, two of which had to do with women and voting.

Hey!! Listen up!!

Okay, many of you have seen the Donuts/Bacon '08 shirt, right?

Well it gets better because there's a song. Described by the artist as "a bouncy Pro-Obama agitprop song about voting liberally, drinking liberally, and celebratory hangover food" it's well worth listening to and downloading and generally savoring like....

...well, like Donuts and Bacon! (in the morning!)

DONUTS AND BACON LYRICS

We were reading and watching and ranting irate
When we saw a shirt advertised at the debate
Such sweet inspiration! A savory plate
Of donuts and bacon, Obama 08

And I saw in that vision before me online
A fine sentiment that we could all get behind
When the victory’s ours let’s go out and get blind
And eat donuts and bacon in the morning!

CHORUS
Donuts and bacon and
Donuts and bacon and
Donuts and bacon in the morning

Donuts and bacon and
Donuts and bacon and
Donuts and bacon in the morning

It’s been a long tunnel but we see the light
Cause we all know that Barry will carry the fight
So let’s get out the vote then drink whiskey all night
And eat donuts and bacon in the morning

CHORUS

All good liberals can fight when our back’s to the wall
Cause we know that we’re right, and the right’s not at all,
All us losers and boozers and heroes can’t fall
If there’s donuts and bacon in the morning

CHORUS

Though we’ve suffered eight years of republican blight
If the worst should occur by deceit tuesday night
We can drown all our sorrows then get up to fight
And eat donuts and bacon tomorrow

But religious folks tell me despair is a sin
And though I’m no believer and I’ve never been
I believe that Obama and Biden will win
Let’s have donuts and bacon every morning

CHORUS 2X and WE OUT.

In Sickness and In Health, but Mostly In Sickness

I wanted to do something interesting or profound or maybe even angry for Write to Marry Day, but the fact is, both Darkrose and I are sick. I've been sick for about a week and a half; I got better over the weekend but now my voice is starting to go. Darkrose actually took the day off and slept for most of it.

My own sleep cycle is screwed up so I stayed up all night. I did a load of laundry around noon--we were getting to the "honey, I'm running out of underwear" stage--and made up a batch of lentil soup. At some point, I cleaned out the cat boxes and washed some dishes. About the time she crawled out bed, I fell into it and slept for a while.

It's just coming up on 9pm; normally at this time, she'd be getting ready to leave work, but tonight she's on the phone with a friend whose been having some spam problems on her website's forum. I put down my book--Lies My Teacher Told Me, which will probably be my 12th Cannonball Read book unless I pause to read the first Mercy Thompson book--to do this post, but I'm actually hoping to fall back asleep soon.

Ogdred, our younger cat, is curled up at the foot of the bed and Joxur, the older one, is trying to convince me that because I fed him gooshy food earlier than usual, he should get more at the appointed time. The house is kind of a wreck because I'm not the best housekeeper when I'm well, let alone when I'm sick.

This is our life slowed down a little thanks to the first flu of the fall. This is the "in sickness" part of our marriage. This is our dangerous "glamorous" lesbian lifestyle. This is our GLBT agenda; helping out a friend, making dinner, having clean underwear in the house, dealing with cats, doing our best to take care of one another when we're both coughing and sneezing and constantly blowing our noses.

This is what people are afraid of. Oh sure, the leather boys (and bois) posing half-naked on Pride Parade floats and the Dykes on Bikes are scary; they're the mysterious other. But we're pretty damn normal; we struggle through the petty daily challenges pretty much like I did when my spouse was male. We're not just like the couple next door, we ARE the couple next door.

Hatred is complicated and multi-layered and sometimes it's a lot of work to maintain. When the homophobes and the anti-same-sex marriage crowd are faced with the fact that the people they're hating on are just another couple trying to make it through the week, it's freaky for them. How are they different? How can they be better than us if they are us and we are them?

What if they're wrong? What if they've been wrong all this time? What if this means they've been wrong about other things?

We are the married couple next door and, aside from how we have sex, we are far more like a straight couple than not. When you vote, ask yourself how a pair of people who love each other and who make late night runs to the store in order to buy ice cream for the other could possibly threaten this state so much that our constitution needs to be amended to remove our rights. And then?

Vote No on Proposition 8.

And now? I'm gonna go have some soup.

I just don't know...

Gods, could these people be any more disgusting?

A Yes on 8 ad uses pictures of children without their parents permission.

"Keep crying and keep walking"

All she was doing was filming the Yes on 8 people, but apparently, according to them, that's enough to justify this kind of violent behavior.

There's a push on to get 10,000 people out there pounding the pavement to rally voters and it's actually making me feel guilty. But the problem is...I'm already on shaky emotional ground in general and I honestly don't think I could talk to anyone who is seriously in favor of Prop 8 without either getting into a yelling match or breaking into tears.

It's...see, you know these people are out there; you see them with their stupid slogans hanging out near Pride Festivals and so on, but you try not to think about it most of the time. And then something this polarizing comes along and suddenly you remember that there are people out there who completely and utterly HATE who you are. And what can you say in the face of that?

There was a discussion on one of the political blogs I read about how people are saying that they're voting yes on 8 but they're not bigots. No, I'm sorry, but you don't get to say that. Because if you aren't a bigot, then why are you voting to take away my civil rights? And anyway, the result is the same, a vote yes is a vote yes, no matter how many gay friends you have.

There simply is only one reason to vote for this measure: you hate fags.

This Just In: Water Stil Wet

Alan Greenspan realizes that he was wrong to think that free markets would police themselves.

Wait, Ayn Rand was wrong?! Greed Is Good doesn't work as a financial philosophy?!

I'd feel more sorry for him if his beliefs hadn't landed us in the mess we're in.

Oh Fred, how are you so awesome?!

McCain's next best hope -- and I mean for his soul, not for his electoral prospects -- is to have someone like Bob Dole sit him down and explain what's at stake in the three weeks he has left. Bob Dole should explain to McCain that even though Bob Dole never got to be president, Bob Dole is OK with that, because people remember Bob Dole as an honorable man and not as a lying, dishonorable, race-baiting windsock willing to say or do anything in pursuit of his ambition for power.

I started reading Fred at Slacktivist for his hilarious ripping apart of the Left Behind books, but I've stayed for content like this.

And really, if you haven't checked out Left Behind Friday you really should.

Finally, I'd like to shout out a huge THANK YOU to the Philadelphia Phillies for taking out those fucking Dodgers!

CA Prop 8

If there are only two things I want to see happen in this election year, it's a win for Obama and a defeat for California Proposition 8, which, if it passes, will amend the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.

After weeks of poll numbers indicating that voters in CA were going to reject Prop 8, two new polls are showing it ahead. And while I know there's plenty of time to swing it around, it's still gut-wrenching. Darkrose and I got married a little over a month ago and, you know? I'd kind of like to wake up on November 5 and not have to worry about hanging on to that status.

I'm hardly naive, particularly on this issue, but really, there are times I want to talk to the people who are doing this and ask what I ever did to them, how my spending the rest of my life with the person I love threatens them. And then I look at what we refer to as the "terrorist fist jab wedding picture" (actually we're gripping each other's hands there) and realize that really, there's nothing I can say to the people who think that that picture is a sign of all that is wrong in America.

All I can do is ask that those of you who think that it's pretty fucking awesome that in one afternoon in Sacramento county, a mixed race lesbian couple, a Hispanic straight couple and a white male couple either got licenses or got hitched spare a little positive energy or, if you can, a little money.