Wednesday, May 27, 2009

...we ain’t what we ought to be; we ain’t what we gonna be, but thank God, we ain’t what we was.

There seems to be a growing consensus that, despite the California decision yesterday, the momentum of history is on our side. I found myself thinking of the quote I've used here as a title. It comes from a Martin Luther King speech, but he was quoting a former slave turned preacher.

Here "the other" Rob Thomas--meaning it's not the Veronica Mars creator but the singer/songwriter--speaks out in support of gay marriage.

Definitely read the whole thing, but he ends up with:
We've been here before, fighting for the rights of African Americans or women to vote, or the rights of Jewish Americans to worship as they see fit. And, just as whites fought for African Americans or Christians for Jewish Americans, straight people must stand up and be a voice for gay people.

I've heard it said before, many times, that if two men or two women are allowed to join into a civil union together, why can't they be happy with that and why is it so important that they call it marriage? In essence, what's in a name?

A civil union has to do with death. It's essentially a document that gives you lower taxes and the right to let your faux spouse collect your insurance when you pass away. A marriage is about life. It's about a commitment. And this argument is about allowing people to have the right to make that commitment, even if it doesn't make sense to you. Anything else falls under the category of "separate but equal" and we know how that works out.


Great article.

3 comments:

jeopardygirl said...

That was a great article!

I am curious, however. What do you think of Matt (aka Matilda) Bernstein Sycamore's argument that allowing gay marriage simply reinforces archaic institutions which prefer assimilation over individuality, and therefore should be shunned? (Sycamore is gay.)

Ben Varkentine said...

I suppose I can understand it but I don't think that I agree with it.

jeopardygirl said...

that was pretty much my thinking on it, also.