California's Prop 8: Limited Edition Married Gays, Still Separate and NOT EQUAL
Filed by: Waymon Hudson
May 26, 2009 6:00 PM
My head is spinning. After the long wait, the decision on Prop 8 has come. It was something my husband and I were watching very closely, since we are 1 of the 18,000 couples married in California while it was still legal. We have been in an odd state of limbo since Prop 8 passed, having to watch as other people decided if our marriage should legally continue or not.
We now know that we are still married, but yet we still exist in a state of limbo. We are married, but part of a small, different group- still separate and because of that, not equal.
We are now collectors items: Limited Edition Married Gays.
No part of me is happy about this outcome. It is not the "mixed bag" that the news reports are selling it as. My marriage has been quarantined so as not to spread to the general population. We are the swine flu of marriages in California.
That doesn't feel like much of a victory.
How is my relationship somehow worthy of the term "marriage", but someone else's isn't? How is this system of marriage laws with an asterisk, this bigotry with an exemption clause, allowed? The marriage certificate we proudly have framed in our home now seems hollow, like an antique or oddity that no longer holds the same power it once did.
Surviving Proposition 8 does not feel good. Having the law say "you are married, but if we could, we would take it away from you" doesn't make you feel equal. I don't feel like anything other than something that slipped through the cracks.
So come one, come all- come see equality with an caveat, recognition with a sneer. Come see the rarest of creatures in California: a Limited Edition Married* Gay.
(h/t to my twitter friends for the "Limited Edition Married Gays" label)
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7 Comments
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Un-fucking-believable.
i am at a loss for something with substance to say.
Anonymous-T-Girl | May 26, 2009 6:07 PM
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it's bullshit.
but we'll pull through.
Cailee | May 26, 2009 6:17 PM
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Waymon,
Bigotry was never known to be logical.
Still doesn't make it right.
'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice'
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monica Roberts | May 26, 2009 6:57 PM
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ALL members of the LGBT community and their allies must vote!!! In areas with high LGBT representation, the Castro for example, voting was
extremely low. Members of the LGBT community must
come together and work as a unit for LGBT rights.
Rick Sours | May 27, 2009 7:24 AM
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I don't know where you get your information, but it isn't correct.
VOTER TURNOUT NOV 2008:
62.30% US
79.42% California
81.30% San Francisco*
88.41% 7 Castro area precincts*
*Source - San Francisco Department of Elections
Bill Vayens | May 27, 2009 8:40 AM
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Waymon,
You are correct regarding the votes percentages for the Castro per the SF government website. (which I just checked it thjis morning)
The reason I said what I did was that slot of the news stations (including CNN) had reported low voting turnout in LGBT areas including the Castro.
I also did a web search this morning and found several ;articles which addressed low voter turn out in the Castro; the first article I located quoted a figure of 45.1% (???)
The above is why I said what I did.
Any comments...
Best Regards,
Rick Sours
Rick Sours | May 27, 2009 3:01 PM
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It's a strange outcome. Remember how there was one married gay couple in Iowa for like a year and a half until the Iowa decision this past year? It's like that, but 18,000 times over.
Alex Blaze | May 27, 2009 8:00 PM
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