To hell with Maine, or California, or any other place that dangles equal rights before us just to snatch them away again with the blindly evil help of the Catholic and Mormon Churches. Get your gay arses to Iowa and GET MARRIED!
When California legalized same-sex marriage -- briefly -- my partner and I discussed a quick visit to get legally hitched. We'd gotten married in Missouri three years ago in a picture-perfect, outdoor sanctuary of beauty, but of course we live in MISSOURI, and our union wasn't recognized by law.
I knew, KNEW that the haters were gonna try to take back equal rights in California, but did we scurry our butts onto a plane and get hitched before that could happen? No, we chose to wait, to go visit dear friends in Arizona.
And like friends of mine in Oregon, some 18,500 couples woke up to find Prop. Hate had . . . purgatoried. . . their California marriages. They married, LEGALLY, in California,and now their unions are in some weird alternate reality, lost in some legal limbo. They are married, but no others like them can get married.
When Iowa gave the nod to equal rights for all, we were astonished. And we were determined not to make our previous error. We had to wiggle around work schedules and family and the fact that my dear love is in her final month (week!) of pregnancy, but by gum and by golly, we drove our butts to Iowa, TWICE, to jump through the tiny hoops necessary to formalize our unions in the eyes of the law. In Iowa.
The entire story of that surreal experience is best left for another day, but I do want to say that, days later, when our marriage certificate arrived in the mail, I was moved beyond words. It's REAL, folks, and Iowa now stands for us as an actual, honest-to-God sanctuary, a beacon of justice in the MIDWEST, of all places.
We are sorrowful about Maine, outraged about California, and we know -- we KNOW, Bill -- that it hurts and it's outrageously unfair that you can't marry your love in the state in which you live. But you CAN marry him, and you should do so as soon as you possibly can. The day is coming when the dominoes will topple -- it has already begun -- but you don't have to let the haters prevent your legal union. You don't have to let ignorant people in Maine dictate to you.
Right now, this week, you can get legally married. In Iowa. Without residency requirements. You may have to wait three days, but the state is surprisingly pretty, especially this time of the year, and the locals are Midwest friendly and pretty danged libertarian in their respect for private lives.
Fu** the Catholic Church. To hell with the Mormons. Get thee to Iowa, and let the nuptials begin. If all my gay and lesbian brethren would do this, we would have MILLIONS of married same-sex couples and will have won the battle by sheer dint of numbers.
Bless you, Bill. My heart aches this morning, but we have only lost a battle. We will win the war.