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Some of my blog fans have asked if I currently have a life-partner. I do, I actually have a wife. We were married in Dana Point, California on October 3, 2008. We are two of the 18,000 queer people who are legally married in California, having married during a brief time of legality before the passing of Proposition 8. Prop 8 made marriage between same-sex couples illegal again after its passage.
Perry v. Schwarzenegger is making its way up the judicial ladder, currently awaiting a setting in the California Supreme Court. Perry is the landmark California case concerning the fight over Prop 8. The basic argument by the Plaintiffs is strong legally, based on the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. California has no rational basis or vested interest in denying gays and lesbians marriage licenses. Anyone with the ability to read can come to that conclusion. The hard part is getting people to admit it. Gay bias makes people turn away from cold hard facts. It takes ignorance to discriminate when the laws in place are on point!
Imagine what you would feel like if strangers were deciding if you could marry the person you loved? Americans against gay marriage argue we are a democracy and the voice of the people shall stand ... always!
Frankly, I always have thought that is the biggest problem with people's definition of that style of governing. It took Loving v. Virginia to allow interracial couples to marry; the majority would have never allowed it.
The majority of Americans read on a 7th grade level and have actually never even picked up a copy of the United States Constitution. If you haven't read it lately, Google it today when you have time. It is actually good reading, a beautiful document.
The 14th Amendment, Section 1 to the Constitution reads as follows:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Plain English? As a queer girl, I get the same rights as a straight girl and equal protection under the law. I cannot be denied any right or privilege heterosexuals have by any state as long as I am a citizen of the United States -- it is illegal to do so. Wow, that sounds surprisingly simple!
Notice it doesn't mention religion. We have that little rule "separation of church and state" in America. My marriage has nothing to do with your religion or any one else's religion. It is a civil ceremony and a civil right if I am a citizen of these United States.
Facebook recently decided to add two categories to the information section regarding your relationship status. They have added "in domestic partnership" and "in a civil union" to the descriptor list. To me, that is the equivalent of saying to a black person, "you still have to sit at the back of the bus, but we have added extra cushion and really nice red velvet to the section!" Thanks, but no thanks!! Members of the LGBT community must not cave! REFUSE ANYTHING BUT TOTAL EQUALITY!
The Declaration of Independence is worth a re-read. Check out this part of the preamble, in particular:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I had the officiate of my wedding read that very passage at the beginning of the ceremony. We were pursuing our happiness as every day, good old, law-abiding, American citizens.
Okay, back to my wife. For the purpose of this blog we will call her "Linda." Well, because her name is Linda. We had been together for nine years when I proposed, having lived through previous relationships that were not the
