Wednesday,
February 25, 2004
No, I'm not dead
Although after last week, I'm surprised as hell that I'm not. This week has been moderately better -- Lyndon's figured out what was going wrong with the Jeep (he needed new electrical cables and the automatic transmission fluid was seriously low), so his car may actually be reliable now -- huzzah!
Now I just have to finish some work for my web design customer, start porting the contract stuff into web pages, finish my essay for the Stargate SG-1 antho, mail off Esther's chuppah square, clean the apartment from top to bottom, figure out how I'm going to fix what our fabulous furbags did to the carpet, finish PHARAOH, start ARIANNE, churn out a number of short stories, lose 110 pounds and cure cancer, and everything's well away.
*pant*pant*faint* Can I have my vacation now?
And hey, since all the cool kids are doing it
I haven't had time to do it because I was zombified yesterday, but tonight I'm writing and mailing off my views on gay marriage to my congresscritters. Namely, 1) an amendment to ban gay marriage will be the first time the United States has ever denied a right to a specific subset of citizens (Prohibition was a blanket denial, and we all know how well that one worked), 2) I ain't voting for it, and 3) if they want me to vote for them come election time, they shouldn't vote for it, either.
Speaking for myself, I don't particularly feel that my marriage is somehow threatened by people with matching plumbing being joined in matrimony. And while churches are perfectly within their rights to decide who they will and will not permit to participate in a religious wedding ceremony, I'm not talking about religious weddings -- I'm talking about the civil ceremony that gives your partner the right to collect your Social Security, adopt your children, live in your country, not testify against you in court, decide if the plug should be pulled and where you should be buried, and all those other fringe benefits that come with a marriage license.
Basically, I am tired of the religious right whining about this and trying to claim that giving gays the right to marry somehow "threatens" the sanctity of marriage. I am tired of the POTUS once again trying to poke his morals (or the morals of his financial backers) into the legal workings of this country. I am FRIGGING tired of my best friend being treated like a second-class citizen because he likes guys.
On the other hand, I am thrilled that my home town is thinking about emulating San Francisco (GO RICHIE!) and dispensing marriage licenses for gay couples. I am glad that this issue is galvanizing people and getting them to act on it. And once again, I will make the offer that should this ever be legalized in Texas, I will be proud and happy to conduct the ceremony with as much pomp and circumstance as the participants want.
Have legal ministerial
license, will travel.