There are now 17 women in the Senate.
Think about that.
We still don't know if we have our fillibuster proof majority but there is hope.
A black first family will live in the White House with their new puppy.
A man of integrity will lead the country.
ANd yet.
In California a basic human right was torn from us - and I mean all of us - because when one group is oppressed we are all diminished. Gay people no longer have the right to marry. Now I am not a fan of straight marriage myself. 50% of marriages end in divorce and those are the lucky ones - the others end in death. Nevertheless, if people want to get married they should be able to. I hurt for all my friends who have been told by this vote that they are second class citizens.
And yet.
In the Castro last night, gay men danced in the street for Obama, putting aside the cruelty and injustice of this decision and looking at the big picture. I watched the TV in admiration as they boogied down and I wept tears of joy and pain.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I would hope this decision gets overturned in the State Supreme Court. It ain't over yet. Whether you like it or not. Joanna
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Maya Angelou
I am so saddened by Prop 8. Here in AZ there was a similar prop (102) which also passed.
It's time to really fight. I should have fought harder for my friends and loved ones' rights to marry before this day. I should have started arguments with people and flown a rainbow flag. It's not enough that I feel the way I do, now I need to go out and change some other people's minds.
I write to you today with both joy and sadness. Joy that I have lived long enough to see an African American man in the White House but with sadness that my state chose not to recognize my son's right to marry his partner. I sat through church, when I should have walked out, and listened to my priest say my son had made a choice when I know the choice was not his but that he was born gay. As his mother I have a heavy heart. He and his partner, my wonderful son-in-law, were married on Oct. 13th. I ask you, the muselings, to join me in hoping that nothing happens to nullify their union. I never want to face the day when one of my boys becomes ill and his life-partner cannot make decisions regarding his care.
Love,
Pat H.
Dearest Pat,
I will do everything I can to make sure your son has the same basic rights as my son. We have 2 years to mount a campaign so let's get started everyone.
My sister married her partner this fall too. I am just outraged that her union might be overturned. I will fight with you.
Been reading your blog once in a while and been enjoying your honesty and insights. And I laughed because I want to start a petition to ban all marriages rather than allow gay ones.
"I say, we will have no more marriages:
those that are married already, all but one, shall
live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a
nunnery, go."
Post a Comment