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In which we are numb...
Nov. 5th, 2008 01:03 pmSo much emotion going on. My daughter, the Valkyrie, really had it right... I was focussing on how great it was that we had a president who had broken through a barrier... how we, as a country, had broken through a barrier... and she nodded and asked... "But what about the measures.. you know... proposition 102 and 8?"
Today, people who had been happily married yesterday have woken to find their marriages illegal.
Think about that.
I've been married to the viking for nigh on 20 years. And a bunch of small minded, hypocritical, backward thinking people could take that away from me, with nothing more than marks on pieces of paper.
My marriage could be dissolved and my daughter made "illegitimate" because we're not yet ready, as Americans, to give equal rights to ALL our citizens.
These movements not only stopped people who love each other from getting married, they INVALIDATED the unions of loving, committed couples who had already pledged their troths to one another. They DESTROYED marriages that were perfectly happy and loving, between people who were probably (as a whole) more grateful and respectful of the sanctity of their marriage by virtue of the fact that it was a hard-earned honor, not an innate privelege they can't imagine not having.
For me to marry the Viking (or let's be honest here, any of the three men I've married in my lifetime) my biggest legal worry was proving I was who I was and that my earlier divorces were final... I've never had to worry about the government (or other citizens) taking away my marriage. That's just something I'd never thought about, not until today.
But I should have. And so should those who voted for those measures. Taking away the rights of two loving people to RETAIN the union they've committed to is WRONG! It's barbaric. It's INTOLERABLE!
Many countries... civilized countries... throughout the world have acknowledged and moved to protect the rights of their citizens to marry. Canada,Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa... None have experienced the kind of "but if we do this, we'll have to do this, and then dogs and cats will be living in sin, men will be marrying lightposts and utter social chaos will abound!" propaganda that's being used to frighten Americans about this issue. I just don't GET why this is an issue. Someone else's rights to marry don't devalue my marriage. And taking those rights away certainly doesn't make my marriage more precious. It makes it feel dirty, honestly... Like a thing I get and my friends don't (which is exactly what it is) and which I can't share with them. It's wrong. And it's a reminder that, no matter how far we've come, we've still got a long way to go.
Today, people who had been happily married yesterday have woken to find their marriages illegal.
Think about that.
I've been married to the viking for nigh on 20 years. And a bunch of small minded, hypocritical, backward thinking people could take that away from me, with nothing more than marks on pieces of paper.
My marriage could be dissolved and my daughter made "illegitimate" because we're not yet ready, as Americans, to give equal rights to ALL our citizens.
These movements not only stopped people who love each other from getting married, they INVALIDATED the unions of loving, committed couples who had already pledged their troths to one another. They DESTROYED marriages that were perfectly happy and loving, between people who were probably (as a whole) more grateful and respectful of the sanctity of their marriage by virtue of the fact that it was a hard-earned honor, not an innate privelege they can't imagine not having.
For me to marry the Viking (or let's be honest here, any of the three men I've married in my lifetime) my biggest legal worry was proving I was who I was and that my earlier divorces were final... I've never had to worry about the government (or other citizens) taking away my marriage. That's just something I'd never thought about, not until today.
But I should have. And so should those who voted for those measures. Taking away the rights of two loving people to RETAIN the union they've committed to is WRONG! It's barbaric. It's INTOLERABLE!
Many countries... civilized countries... throughout the world have acknowledged and moved to protect the rights of their citizens to marry. Canada,Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa... None have experienced the kind of "but if we do this, we'll have to do this, and then dogs and cats will be living in sin, men will be marrying lightposts and utter social chaos will abound!" propaganda that's being used to frighten Americans about this issue. I just don't GET why this is an issue. Someone else's rights to marry don't devalue my marriage. And taking those rights away certainly doesn't make my marriage more precious. It makes it feel dirty, honestly... Like a thing I get and my friends don't (which is exactly what it is) and which I can't share with them. It's wrong. And it's a reminder that, no matter how far we've come, we've still got a long way to go.
