By Marke B.
Already punished by paisley blouses, sweater vests, turtlenecks, stone-wash, feathered hair, and knee problems. Image via Towleroad.
Even lamer than the title of this post: the annoyingly real results of the Maine same-sex marriage thing. As a Facebook amigo said, voters in Maine are apparently more intolerant than voters in California by a factor of almost 1%, har-dee-har.
Obama or any other Democrats of note (other than Maine’s amazingly forthright and kudos-worthy governor) are obviously not gonna side with us on this “at this time.” Because having a sizable majority and huge influence is far too risky to do anything but play everything long and slow, obvs. Inching bulldozers are nice, but I’ll take a Hail Mary play when it comes to equal rights, Dems.
Pointing fingers — either at the gay establishment, the Catholic Church, or Obama — may be considered counter-productive, but it’s also a way to start getting our heads around what happened. Striving for an objective look is good, though, too. The one commentator that seems most enlightened to me, as usual, is the invaluable Ta-Nehisi Coates at the Atlantic. As a black, straight man he seems to have a deeper grasp on the issue than many of us do at this emotional moment. Here’s a sample:
Conservatives pride themselves on their skepticism, and generally dismiss liberals as soft-headed Utopians. But in so many ways, political conservatism is Utopianism for the powerful. It isn’t broadly skeptical of human nature, so much as it’s broadly skeptical of people its agents don’t particularly like. Hence the sense that Americans are intrinsically “good people,” that this country “is the best nation that ever existed in history,” that the South is home to “the greatest people that have ever trod the earth,” and that the murder of four little girls in Birmingham was the work of a “Communist” or “crazed Negro,” which had “set back the cause of white people.”
Hence the notion that those voting against gay marriage, are not actually, in the main, motivated by bigotry, but a belief in tradition and family.
I’m angry, sad, frustrated, etc. I hate having to comfort my fiance because some assholes 3,000 miles away told him he’s perverted. Sucks! It’s important to get together with others at these stupid times and know that we’re strong and will prevail. That’s the best we can do right now: regroup and win next time. I don’t think the state-by-state strategy is worth giving up yet in order to focus on the federal fight, which will be inordinately huger, but that seems to be the sway of things, judging from the title of tonight’s rally:
Full Federal Equality Now! Rally and Action for LGBT Rights
Wed/4, 6pm – 9pm
Harvey Milk Plaza
Intersection of Market Street and Castro Street
(More details on Facebook here)