Last week Iowa and now Vermont. Are the times a’changin’? Yes, and maybe. In 2004 Gavin Newsom declared that he was willing to risk his career for the legalization of gay marriage and promptly began handing out licenses to queers and breeders alike in San Fransisco. Not a month later Multnomah County Commissioners, here in Portland, announced they would also begin issuing same sex marriage licenses. My singing teacher and mentor, from my very tumultuous teenage years, drove up to Portland with her wife of 15 years and got a license. They were in the paper. I teared up when I saw it.
I let myself get completely swept up in the excitement to the point where the decisions by both states to stop issuing the licenses didn’t deter me. I knew a line in the sand had been drawn. People around me lamented the step back, and I did too, but I also saw that something had changed. It was a declaration. Americans are sick of waiting around. Plus, Canada is making us look bad. I knew the more the federal laws pushed the states and cities to keep same-sex marraige out the more riled up people would get. And that’s when things happen, when people get riled up.
This time around I’m waiting. Some group of people, be it politicians or citizens is going to rise up against the new state marriage laws and piss the rest of us off even more. I mean, that’s what Prop 8 did. It was hurtful and dirty and it pissed a ton of people off. Petitions were written, video montages made (see above.) This is an issue of civil rights and it won’t happen quietly.
So let’s make some noise.
