I'm Voting Gay

6 out of 51 states now allow full same sex marriage. That's nice, but it's by no means the full and honest execution of civil rights.

Chart of states and their level of marriage legality by the Economist.

Washington DC has now made full same sex marriage completely legal. There are a litany of what I'll call "cop out states" which have allowed civil unions, etc. But how is that really equality? How is it really marriage? Symbolically it says, "you can have that golden brick, except that it's steel and I painted it gold, whoops. I need all the gold to myself because I'm a wiener and am insecure about sharing."

Perhaps Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have the right idea: stave off marriage for themselves until all tax paying folks in love are allowed to get married. I feel a bit guilty about a lot of things, anything from leaving a piece of paper in my friend's driveway with a nasty note written by his neighbor, or to getting married when not everybody else gets to.

My silent protest would carry much less weight since Jab and I aren't "Brangelina". My tits and lips are far too small, but Jab can pull off the studliness of Mr. Pitt.

Alas, the idea has much merit. It would be nice of we could have some politicians, instead of actors that felt the same. Unfortunately, they appear to feel as though they must hide their sexuality and deny it. I must say, if one has filled his or her life with people that would hate them for who they truly are, they should step the fuck back and assess this situation: the emotional opportunity cost of lying about who you are is quite damaging. In the case of Roy Ashburn, he'll have to treat his relationship with his four kids like a kitchen remodel: not quite scrapping the whole thing, but certainly building it on a different framework. It would have been nice if the world, society, and the people in Ashburn's life let him feel like it was okay to be his gay-self in the first place. Yes, very nice indeed.

Given this situation, and the lack of politicians who will admit to secular spiritual associations, I wouldn't hold out much hope for activist senators or congressmen speaking out loudly in favor of gay marriage any time in the near future. Being honest and open about how one feels on issues would require politicians who carry weight to either 1) not care what others think personally and professionally or 2) present a valid enough argument to convince others personally and professionally.

By virtue of being in politics, congressmen and senators are horrible at both the above actions.

Is a silent success in the fight against bigotry and for real same sex marriage possible? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Harvey Milk may beg to differ if they could.