Gay Wedding and Aftermath

[eastbayguy]

Everyone,

 

Here's an article from the SF Chronicle Online that I found very interesting. Definitely worthwhile reading. While I'm in favor of making progress on equality for LGBT citizens, a possible backlash has always concerned me. Ever since the success of "Queer Eye" on Bravo, my concern has been growing that we could suffer a setback.

 

Here's the article:

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/02/15/MNGMN51F961.DTL

 

Would welcome thoughtful conversation with the group about how this whole issue is perceived in various parts of the country. Here in AZ, we're all kicking ourselves for not flying up to SF this past weekend. The consensus around these parts seems to be that gay marriage is likely to happen in less than five years if the right mix of tactics is employed.

 

--EBG

[+ deej]

I'm getting "Item not found" from that link. Is it a subscription site?

[eastbayguy]

Oops.

 

Somehow a hyphen got left out when I cut & pasted the link. Deej--thanks for letting me know. Try this link.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/02/15/MNGMN51F961.DTL

 

--EBG

[+ deej]

Thanks! It's a good read.

 

I find it interesting how the author points out past political blunders surrounding the same issue.

 

People are starting to peel away the layers of emotion and perception and deal with the actual issue. I think this is a good thing!

 

We're seeing another Stonewall, but without drag queens. It may take another 5 or 10 years to get beyond this, but we really are watching history happen before our very eyes.

 

Cool!

[nate_sf]

>Here in AZ, we're all kicking ourselves for not flying up to

>SF this past weekend.

 

Don't kick yourself...! they've been swamped with people and have had to send some away. People have been camping out in the rain. It's pretty remarkable.

 

It's a very strange feeling. My boyfriend and I went to some friends for dinner on Saturday and we all asked each other, "have you done it?" None of us had, but it felt strange to even pose the possibility after having it out of the question for so long. Yeah, we all know this is tentative and could be nullified, but it's something else to add to a relationship that we hadn't really dealt with before.

 

I'm hoping that, even in the context of civil disobedience, that now that there are same-sex couples running around happy to be married, it will make it harder for some people to stomach restricting our rights. It's one thing to look at it in the abstract and say, OK, we'll restrict marriage for this particular class of people as a matter of principle, but another thing to strip away marriages from the real people we're seeing photos of. I'm hoping this will make some people think twice about opposition to same-sex marriage, as idealistic and optimistic as I may be.