Pride and Prejudice

Just in time for Pride Day, same-sex marriage was legalized in New York State. Three cheers for the NY legislature- they finally decided to give bigotry the heave-ho, and strike a blow for equality and compassion. Predictably, the archbishop has complained that legalized gay marriage will destroy the family (as if two d00dz marrying could be as deleterious to the family as low wages, no benefits, and long uncompensated hours could be). Some of Dolan's statements are unintentionally hilarious... “a violation of what we consider the natural law that’s embedded in every man and woman.” (heh, embedded) “we’re realistic to know the forces pushing this are very strong, they’re well oiled, they’re well financed.” (heh, very strong and well oiled) “a couple bones to the dog.” (heh, bones)... Of course, the archbishop's assertion that same-sex marriage will be detrimental to religious freedom (“We just don’t want this definitive religious freedom to be at the mercy of some government whim”) is asinine- the imposition of the standards of particular sects of certain religion on non-believing members of our secular society is not religious freedom. Shorter Dolan, "Interfering with my sectarian authoritarianism is a blow to religious freedom." Yeah, your eminence, right. Also, appeals to "natural law" are bullshit- most organisms on this planet are neither male nor female, and even among vertebrates, there are gender changers and non-sexual animals which reproduce by parthenogenesis. The archbishop's understanding of nature can be characterized as parochial.

Brian Brown of the evil, but hilariously cack-handed NOM has vowed to go after politicians who voted in support of same-sex marriage (yay, conservatives going after Republicans!). Hopefully, Brown will be run out of town, because we don't need his bullshit here in the Big Apple.

In other news, homophobic ministers in Harlem have actually increased interest in Harlem's first gay pride march by trying to get it banned. Few things piss me off more than members of a persecuted minority acting in a bigoted fashion towards other minority groups (this criticism could also be levelled against Dolan).

Why am I making a big deal about this? I'm not even gay! Well, I can't stand bullies, I can't stand authoritarian assholes who try to make life miserable for people they perceive to be easy targets. You're born screaming and covered in slime, you'll die, maybe screaming, likely in pain... why the hell would you begrudge anyone a little happiness in the course of their all-too-short life?

I first got involved in gay-rights activism (albeit unknowingly) when I was six or seven years old. Tommy, the boy who lived across the street, was four of five years older than I was, and he was a really nice kid. The word "effeminate" wasn't in my vocabulary at the time, but Tommy wasn't a rough-and-tumble kid. One day, the asshole kid next door, who was Tommy's age, was pushing him around and taunting him (I can't remember what he was saying, but I wasn't about to stand for his bullshit). Even though the kid had four or five years on me, I went after him, yelling "LEEEEAVE TOMMMMMY ALOOOONNNE!!!!" The asshole, rather than cooling it because the kid standing up to him was so much smaller than he was, knocked me on my ass, and down a hill, and I ended up with a sprained ankle, forced to use crutches and sport an Ace bandage for weeks. So, the bully or the kid who ended up coming out as gay when he was a teenager... who the hell do you think has my sympathies? How can I see a homophobic asshole, and not see the chickenshit coward who thought it was acceptable to fight back against a little kid?

In high school, the two friends who tried to kill themselves were gay. Thankfully, they didn't succeed, although my one friend (who had chronic pain issues from a really bad case of scoliosis) tried to kill herself three times. She was disowned by her family when she came out. Homophobia destroys more families than gay marriage ever will.

At my college reunion, I found out that two of my classmates (unfortunately, neither could be there) had come out- one was a hilariously funny, artistically brilliant Chicano kid from Texas who grew up in an Evangelical household; the other was a true Southern Gentleman without all the bullshit racial baggage, sort of "New and Improved" Southerner 2.0. It's too bad they weren't ready to come out while they were in college, there were plenty of "out" kids in school. I guess it's hard to jettison one's cultural baggage, but I sure as hell wish they had been comfortable enough to be true to their natures back then.

Yeah, I'm pretty much for civil rights and civil freedoms. I also think that the species has to grow up when it comes to sexual matters. I'm going to type the next sentence out in a bold font, because I want someone to needlepoint it on a pillow or tattoo it on their ass:

Morality is not about how a person uses their genitals on a consenting adult, it's about how they use their power on a non-consenting individual.

That, in a nutshell, is why I am pro-marriage equality. I'll stand by my principles, even if it means that I could be forced into being a gaymarried love slave to the food-pr0n obsessed Emperor of Portland.

Hey, rant's over, how about a little ditty? Yeah, marriage licenses in the U.S. shouldn't be subject to religious dictates, marriage is a legal matter:





Happy Pride Day to my gay readership, now shove your agenda down Conservatives' throats!