Congratulations, California!
By Ari | May 17, 08 10:03 AM
In case anyone missed it: California's Supreme Court has ruled that queer folks can get married now.
I had the good fortune to grow up in a very queer-friendly community (though with my gender issues, I obviously didn't emerge unscathed), so I think the importance of this event doesn't hit me so hard as it does many folks who have struggled much longer and harder than I have. I found a friend's reaction to the news helped me get my mind around it: "It's been 10 years (today!) since I packed up my life and moved across the country without a job, without a friend other than the man who loved me and believed in taking a chance... I'm crying at my desk while they are trying to install a new phone system."
Thank you, trailblazers, fearless family, leaders of the queer pack. I think we northern coast-dwellers sometimes forget how hard it's been - and very much still continues to be for folks elsewhere. Marriage isn't just icing on the cake of Greenwich Village and Pride and all of our other queer freedoms, it's a Big Deal. It's another vote for us, a step closer to full citizenship. We can have legally recognized families now, in one more state.
Personally, I'm looking forward to a day when I can check "married" instead of "single" on my tax return. (Though I'll miss writing in defiantly beside that check mark: "GAY".)
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