October 28th, 2008
Here in California we have an proposition on the ballot that would constitutionally revoke the right of homosexual marriage. I’ve given up arguing with the scaremongering that’s going on to promote it. Other writers have dissected it, but I’ve found that people who believe it usually are not playing with the same deck of cards that I am. The legal construct of marriage and its “protection” don’t matter, except on the surface; the Proposition 8 crowd is selling fear and morality, and it’s hard for people - on any side of any political fence - to change their perceptions of morality, especially when they’re afraid. People want to believe in an Enemy.
In this case, it seems important to remind them that there is no Enemy. Nobody wishes them harm. There are only real people, real lives, real concerns, and real relationships, seeking legal recognition. That’s all.
On a tangentially related note (you’ll see how in a moment), I’ve been meaning to check out Comstock Films for a while now. When they created the “Real People, Real Life, Real Sex” series, they named their company after the historical Anthony Comstock, which has to be one of the smarter up-yours gestures I’ve seen out of the industry. From their trailers and the reviews, it looks like they go out of their way to show off the emotional chemistry and relationships behind the couples in their films. Naturally I approve of this.
Today, though, I especially approve of them, because they’re running a pre-election home-stretch special:
It’s going to be from Tuesday, Oct. 28, 12AM Eastern to Oct. 29 3AM Eastern. For 27 hours, 100% of the purchase price on our erotic documentary DVDs (excluding S&H) is going to the No On Proposition 8 Campaign to preserve marriage equality in California.
So get your blog on. Get your Twitter and your Facebook and your MySpace on. Text a friend, e-mail a loved one. Tell them that if they buy any Comstock Films DVD on October 28, 100% of the purchase price will go helping stop Ballot Measure 8 in California.
That’s not “100% of the profits“; that’s 100% of the sales. It’s a totally selfless gesture. If you’re interested in checking out the Comstock films, or just want to pitch a few dollars into the campaign against Proposition 8, now’s your chance to do both.
June 7th, 2008
Ann Barnett, the County Clerk down in Bakersfield, has decided that, rather than perform civil wedding ceremonies for homosexual couples, she will end civil wedding ceremonies in the county entirely. The Californian is a fine paper, and I admire the way it investigates her claims without editorial.
The whole situation reminds me more than a little bit of the Massive Resistance policy that Virginia implemented for Brown v. Board of Education, and of Prince Edward County’s extreme steps in particular.
I don’t think I need to say much more than that.
May 16th, 2008
Yesterday, the California State Supreme Court recognized the right to form a family relationship for all its citizens, homosexual and heterosexual alike. It joins Massachusetts as only the second state in the Union to recognize this right.
Some people will call this a “special right” or “judicial activism”; they argue that the law, in its majestic equality, forbid straights as well as gays to marry others of the same sex, that asking for that right is asking for something unnecessary and somehow fundamentally wrong. I’ve never really agreed with this line of thinking; the law, in its majestic equality, has in past years, forbid white as well as black to marry outside their races, to attend each others’ schools, or to ride in the same train cars.
We have a long way to go. Most of the other states have decided explicitly to deny full faith and credit to homosexual marriages legal in other states. It’s still acceptable, in most circles, to make an insult out of someone’s sexuality; people like Sally Kern can attract standing ovations and thousands of public supporters. That said, I think it’s easy to criticize too much; progress to freedom and equality is a very slow thing. It’s only been fifty-four years since Brown took the Topeka Board of Education to the Supreme Court, forty-four since Mississippi Burning. By comparison Stonewall (thirty-nine years ago next month) is a fresh memory.
People who believe in the freedom to love have two states down and forty-eight to go. It’s a very long road.
That’s OK.
I believe we’ll get there.
March 14th, 2008
Oklahoma State Legislator Sally Kern’s priorities may be just a little bit misaligned.
I could be wrong, of course. She could be right. 1000Gears encourages a very pronounced “love however you wish” sort of philosophy. That last category is unfortunately empty right now, but I’m working on it. It’s a difficult subject for me, as you may imagine. Mrs. Kern presumably comes from a less-libertine background and sees the world through a different lens.
From my side of the argument, given that Americans consume more resources per capita than just about anyone in the world, it might be good for the world if more of us elected to get our collective rocks off in non-reproductive ways. There are several good alternatives for straight-oriented people, too, if you’ll excuse my empty tag again (I have no good excuse for its absence).
From her side of the argument, she believes something about “God’s word” and a fear of indoctrination. I respect that, in my own way. Religion has a tremendous influence on the way we view the world; our interpretations of God’s word shape our priorities and it’s unreasonable to expect us to neglect that. If she feels that Leviticus 20:13 is God’s highest command to her, then I respect this as her personal decision, even if I disagree with the decision itself. For my part, I confess to a weakness for pork, rare steaks, and the occasional shellfish, so I lean more towards Matthew 25:40 myself.
Her opinion, though, remains her opinion, and I respect her right to share it. Personally, given our ham-handed foreign relations, ballooning national waistline, worsening fuel crisis, abysmal trade deficit, and impending credit collapse, it’s a little hard for me to see how a little more safe, sane, and consensual love-and-let-love could be bad for the country. I guess that’s just a matter of priorities.
