(I realize you were all expecting Part Two of yesterday’s post today. Sometimes, as the man said, life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans. And life happened yesterday and demanded I blog about it. Expect Part Two of the stats post…Friday. Maybe. Or Saturday. I don’t know. I have to go to Massachusetts tonight to watch a musical based on a Marx Brothers movie. Don’t ask.)
Yesterday, the Supreme Court met to vote on the constitutionality of two things: Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (known as DOMA) and Prop 8. If you’re on the internet at all ever, I’m sure you’ve seen people having changed their profile pictures on Twitter and Facebook to this:
“ARGH HOW WILL I KNOW WHO ANYONE IS?” you might have thought, if you had no idea what was going on. “WHY ARE ALL MY FRIENDS RED BOXES WITH PINK LINES?”
To show their support for marriage equality and the unconstitutionality of DOMA. Also, seriously, try being a theater person. I haven’t known who was posting what on Facebook for MONTHS. Everyone was a red box with pink lines. I’d be all, “Did Patrick post that or was it Dan? SOMEONE STRIKE EFFING DOMA DOWN ALREADY I MISS EVERYONE’S FACES!”
In case you’ve been hiding your head in the sand all ostrich-style for a while, here’s a quick DOMA/Prop 8 primer.
DOMA:
- Allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states
- Bars same-sex couples from receiving federal marriage benefits
Prop 8:
- States that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California” (which overturned the California Supreme Court’s ruling that same-sex couples had the right to marry.)
To break these into terms you might understand if you are a homophobe:
DOMA, were it against everyone, and not just segregating the same-sex couples in a totally unconstitutional way, not to tip my hand about how I feel about it or anything (coughdirtyliberalcough) would say if you married your husband/wife in New York, you wouldn’t be recognized as a married couple in Mississippi. It would also state that if you married someone from England, he/she would have to return to England once their visa expired, and if you were dying, your husband/wife couldn’t make any decisions about your care, and if you were killed in a terrifying tractor accident, your husband/wife wouldn’t get your Social Security benefits.
Prop 8, were IT against everyone, just says you can’t get married in California.
Aren’t we lucky these aren’t against everyone, and just against those pesky gays.
Anyway, enter Edith Windsor.
Edith Windsor married the love of her life – a woman she’d been in a forty-year relationship with, Thea Spyer, in Canada in 2007. They lived in New York. New York (holla!) recognized their marriage as valid. When Thea died, and left her estate to Windsor, the estate tax was $363,053. Now, were they an opposite-sex couple, the estate tax would have been waived. But they weren’t. They were a same-sex couple. And, well, DOMA.
Windsor paid the tax. And promptly turned around and sued the Federal government for a refund.
Listen. The love of her life – FORTY FUCKING YEARS – had just died. And now the Federal government was telling her that their marriage didn’t count. Did she roll over and pay the money and weep about how unfair it all was?
Fuck that. FUCK THAT. She sued the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
And you guys?
Yesterday she won.
And they say there aren’t any more heroes.
The Supreme Court of the United States said that Section 3 of DOMA – the second bullet point up there – was unconstitutional. And from what I’m reading, it’s apparently only a matter of time before Section 2 (the first bullet point) goes bye-bye, too. (Oddly, Section One is just “This is called DOMA.” I’m not even kidding. We’ll let ‘em have that section, if they want it.)
What does this mean?
Well, if you’re a same-sex couple married in one of the thirteen states that currently allow same-sex marriage (WHAT? THIRTEEN? BUT WHEN I WOKE UP YESTERDAY THERE WERE TWELVE! Yeah, wait a minute, slappy) you get the same benefits as a opposite-sex couple. You can pay taxes together, you can make healthcare decisions, you can have insurance together, you can stay in the country if you are an expatriate or an immigrant who married someone who lives here…same rules apply.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE OPPOSITE-SEX COUPLES OMG FIRE! OMG BRIMSTONE!
It means nothing changes. It means life goes on. It means you wake up tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and you get to instill the same homophobic bullshit into your kids’ malleable little brains as you always have.
No one’s making you marry someone of the same sex as you.
Let me put it simply, in case I’m being too verbiose:
FOR YOU, LIFE GOES ON AS IT ALWAYS HAS, YOU SMALL-MINDED PIECE OF HOMOPHOBIC SHIT.
Now, let’s talk about Prop 8. See, Prop 8’s a pain in the ass because for a brief period of time, same-sex couples were allowed to marry in California, until people got all “WHAT OMG NO!” and Prop 8ed them and then they couldn’t get married anymore.
Right after voting Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional, the Supreme Court of Merka voted Prop 8 unconstitutional as well.
Yesterday was the worst day ever to be a homophobe, you guys. If they weren’t such small-minded crapmonsters I’d almost feel sorry for them.
Californians of the same sex can feel free to marry again as soon as various little legalities are ironed out.
That means we’re up to 13 states that allow same-sex marriage here in America. Well, 13 and Washington D.C., so 13.0005 or whatever we call D.C., I suppose.
You are all aware that’s both awesome and terrible, right? Because that’s 26% of Merka. 26% more than we had when we started, but ONLY 26%.
Now, listen. I know what you homophobes are thinking. You got home yesterday. You kicked at your pets and you poured yourself some sort of stiff double beverage and you started saying the following to whoever would listen:
- “The Bible says this is AGAINST GOD’S WILL!”
- “Those damn gays! Who do they think they are? They don’t deserve any more rights than the rest of us!”
- “Once gays marry, who’s next? Turtles?”
- “Kids raised by the gays are more likely to become gay themselves!”
- “The gay agenda is taking over Merka and I DO NOT LIKE IT!”
I am here to help, homophobes. Luckily, I grew up among you. I dated some of your ranks. I am related to some of you. I KNOW YOUR PEOPLE. I speak your LANGUAGE. I can HELP.
Let’s break this down, one by one.
“The Bible says this is AGAINST GOD’S WILL!”
Yes. The Bible says a lot of things. The Bible also says don’t eat lobster and don’t wear clothes that mix fabric types and to stone whores and, here’s the kicker, and I know this one’s going to shock you…treat others as you, yourself, would be treated.
That’s the one people tend to forget.
Would you want people screaming your marriage is against God’s will? Would you want people telling you you’re an abomination? Would you want people telling you your marriage is invalid?
Nope. Didn’t think so.
“Those damn gays! Who do they think they are? They don’t deserve any more rights than the rest of us!”
I totally agree with this one. Who DO they think they are? They DON’T deserve any more rights than the rest of us! Oh. Shit. Wait. That would mean…the right to marry whoever they loved…and get the same benefits as opposite-sex couples…and not get beaten up on the streets just for holding hands…and not get called names…and “faggot” wouldn’t be something you call a kid in school if he was feminine as the ultimate put-down…
Crap. Where would we STOP once we gave them the rights that the rest of us had? This IS a slippery slope.
“Once gays marry, who’s next? Turtles?”
I think we’ve talked about this a few times because Bill O’Reilly said on Fox News once that if same-sex marriage became a thing, then people would start marrying turtles.
That’s just absurd. Everyone knows turtles look awful in veils. Now FROGS, on the other hand…
(No one’s marrying a turtle. Or a goat. Or a frog. Listen, let’s liken this to when interracial marriage was banned, then allowed. Did people start marrying wildlife? No. They didn’t. So I highly doubt anyone’s going to wake up today all, “Part of DOMA got declared unconstitutional? I’m marrying the bear at the Country Bear Jamboree today, then, dammit!”)
Well, he COULD provide the musical entertainment at your wedding. That is a consideration.
“Kids raised by the gays are more likely to become gay themselves!”
I can answer this one without research. I know, right? It’s amazing how cool I am.
Children raised by same-sex parents are not more likely to be gay or lesbian. And do you know why?
Because being gay or lesbian (or trans, or bi, or what have you) ARE NOT CHOICES.
They are they way people are born. It’s hard-wired into your brain. Asking this question is like asking, “Are the children of same-sex couples more likely to be left-handed?” or “Are the children of same-sex couples more likely to be blondes?”
It’s the way you’re born. A gay child is just as likely to be born to a gay couple as a straight couple. End of argument.
“The gay agenda is taking over Merka and I DO NOT LIKE IT!”
OMG SPARKLES AND RAINBOWS THE GAY AGENDA!
You’re totally right, though. I’m going to tell you a secret that the gays don’t want me to tell you. See, I have many friends amongst the gays, and they entrust me with their secrets – and I am sharing one with you now. This may well get me kicked out of their special people club.
THE GAY AGENDA *IS* ATTEMPTING TO TAKE OVER MERKA.
And guess what it is?
Equal rights for everyone in the LGBTQIA community.
Full stop. End of sentence.
Equal fucking rights.
The right to marry the person they love. The right to have all the accompanying benefits that come with marriage. The right to be safe in their environment. The right to be accepted. The right to be seen as an equal member of the human fucking race.
Yes. The gay agenda. Look out, homophobes. It’s coming to YOUR TOWN.
And it’s deliciously accessorized. Possibly with a feather boa, or perhaps a pair of kickass motorcycle boots.
(Congratulations to everyone affected by the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Section Three of DOMA and find Prop 8 unconstitutional yesterday. Selfishly, a SPECIAL congratulations to my most-beloved gay and lesbian friends, married or not, who are now one step closer to being a citizen with full rights in the country they were born and live in. Thank you, SCOTUS, for doing the right thing; in a country where you never quite seem to know if the government is for or against you, you did the right thing not once, but twice today. And yes, I spent pretty much the entire day yesterday reading my Facebook feed and various news outlets and weeping in joy. We got it right. For once, we got it right.)
