Those People Are Defiling Marriage!

Some thoughts on the Gay Marriage thing….

Godamn right, those people are defiling the institution of marriage!

Or maybe I should say, those straight people…us straight folks?

Two days ago, the California Supreme Court ruled that a right offered to some must be offered to all. That means that this is going to be the summer of love for hundreds of thousands of people who deserve the right to express their love in whatever way they see fit.

The right-wing talk shows were a buzz. You couldn’t turn on the television without hearing the phrase “defiling marriage,” (or similar) every few minutes.

The terrible secret is that the institution of marriage has been defiled for quite sometime now. A normal heterosexual marriage is one of the easiest places to uncover horrible acts of incest, adultery, violence, and good old fashioned dishonesty and unhapiness.

So to the GLBT community—if you can make something more of this failed institution, great! Maybe only those who have been systematically shut out can really appreciate it, reinvent it, nurture it. Heteros have handed you such a damaged, beaten and bruised prize that none of us are qualified to criticize.

I remember when my favorite Aunt and her partner had to move three hours outside of San Francisco due to an eviction. They truly had a love that did not need to be bound by church and state. However, the difference between the rights and respect granted to them in San Francisco County was virtually non-existent in Lake County. This was especially evident when her partner fell ill and needed the “system” to recognize her most loved one’s judgment and place in her life.

In the end, the gay marriage decision will make a big difference in a lot of individual’s lives, and the simple expansion of the freedom of choice is reason to celebrate. The fact that a bunch of people who have built careers on hatred and intolerance (some of them closeted gays anyhow) are reeling in their big dfeat is gratifying in and of itself.

And, as long as we’re living in a system where all human relationships get boiled down to the market place, I’d say…the smart money is on Pottery Barn stock this summer.