Yes We Can and Yes We Did
Jun. 26th, 2015 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neadods(I can't edit using post-by-email, so a little bit of spam today. Sorrynotsorry.)
One November, not that long ago, I went to the polls and voted on a state constitutional amendment, and at the end of that day was proud and thrilled to see that I, and hundreds of thousands like me, had once and for all shattered the nasty argument "when you put 'gay marriage' to a popular vote, it never wins." To this day I am damn proud of having played my part in ripping the wheels off the "traditional marriage" juggernaut.
One January, not that long ago, I heard the incumbent President of the United States say "We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths—that all of us are created equal—is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall" - which is when I gasped so loud I scared the cats, dropped into a chair like I'd been shot, and burst into tears. I never thought I would live long enough to see the President of the United States put sexual rights as any kind of a thing on the Presidental platform, much less on an equal historical footing as women's equality and civil rights. The President? Talking about LBGQT as citizens robbed of their equal rights? It would be as unthinkable as, as, as -- as Alabama quietly bringing down the Confederate flag!
Slightly under 2 hours ago, the Supreme Court of the United States put same-sex marriage expressly on the same footing as civil rights. "They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law," Kennedy writes. "The Constitution grants them that right.”
It is not a day of unmixed joy; in fact, it is a day of reminders that promises made have not been kept. Seneca Falls did not usher in gender equality. The crimes that caused the March on Selma have not stopped -- the first of the Charlestown Nine will be buried today, the Confederate flag still flying highest in the state, while a black church in Charlotte burnt to the ground last night in an act of arson. Stonewall led to this hour, but neither Stonewall nor SCOTUS can stop the backlash that will come.
But.
But.
But!
History has bent that little bit more towards justice today. Belatedly. Imperfectly. UNMISTAKABLY.
Four years ago, Sarah Palin nastily asked "How's that hope-y, change-y thing workin' for ya?"
Pretty darn good, Ms. Palin. Pretty darn good.
One November, not that long ago, I went to the polls and voted on a state constitutional amendment, and at the end of that day was proud and thrilled to see that I, and hundreds of thousands like me, had once and for all shattered the nasty argument "when you put 'gay marriage' to a popular vote, it never wins." To this day I am damn proud of having played my part in ripping the wheels off the "traditional marriage" juggernaut.
One January, not that long ago, I heard the incumbent President of the United States say "We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths—that all of us are created equal—is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall" - which is when I gasped so loud I scared the cats, dropped into a chair like I'd been shot, and burst into tears. I never thought I would live long enough to see the President of the United States put sexual rights as any kind of a thing on the Presidental platform, much less on an equal historical footing as women's equality and civil rights. The President? Talking about LBGQT as citizens robbed of their equal rights? It would be as unthinkable as, as, as -- as Alabama quietly bringing down the Confederate flag!
Slightly under 2 hours ago, the Supreme Court of the United States put same-sex marriage expressly on the same footing as civil rights. "They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law," Kennedy writes. "The Constitution grants them that right.”
It is not a day of unmixed joy; in fact, it is a day of reminders that promises made have not been kept. Seneca Falls did not usher in gender equality. The crimes that caused the March on Selma have not stopped -- the first of the Charlestown Nine will be buried today, the Confederate flag still flying highest in the state, while a black church in Charlotte burnt to the ground last night in an act of arson. Stonewall led to this hour, but neither Stonewall nor SCOTUS can stop the backlash that will come.
But.
But.
But!
History has bent that little bit more towards justice today. Belatedly. Imperfectly. UNMISTAKABLY.
Four years ago, Sarah Palin nastily asked "How's that hope-y, change-y thing workin' for ya?"
Pretty darn good, Ms. Palin. Pretty darn good.
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no subject
Date: 2015-06-27 05:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-27 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-27 07:02 pm (UTC)I want to remember that today, too many people like me live in places where marriage rights are laughable, because they aren’t lucky enough to live in a place where freedom and equality were enshrined by founders into a system that arcs toward justice, sometimes surprisingly fast, usually far too slowly. Today, too many people like me are still being hurt and killed, kept from loving freely, made to lie, to hate and harm themselves. To all of you: We are out here, we are your family, we’re coming for you. Hang on, you won’t always be alone.
-- Will Graham
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/grateful-to-be-part-of-this-story/2015/06/26/eabe0f8e-1c3d-11e5-bd7f-4611a60dd8e5_story.html
no subject
Date: 2015-06-27 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-29 02:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-29 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-01 09:07 pm (UTC)