Keep Hoping Machine Running (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thefourthvine) wrote2008-10-10 04:39 pm
thefourthvine) wrote2008-10-10 04:39 pm
I don't post about politics. But this isn't about politics.
Best Beloved and I are getting married on October 31st. We got our marriage licenses today.
Which - okay, if you're straight, or you're not in a relationship, it may not be entirely clear what that means. Best Beloved and I have been together for fifteen years, since I was 19. We've spent our entire adult lives together. We've lived together, shared our finances, bought a house. Had a child. But we could never get married.
Now we can; right now, gay couples in California can get married just like other people. Just like we're real people. Today, at the courthouse, there were six couples in the marriage license line - four male/female couples, a male/male couple (with their kid), and me and Best Beloved (with the earthling, who handled the eternal wait with more dignity and patience than anyone else in line, let me just note). We all got treated the same, although I suspect that only four of us in that line understood what a privilege that was.
For now, we are all allowed to stand in that line - to wait forever, to fill out forms, to listen to the clerk swear at her malfunctioning computer, to pay the County $70.00, to get the magical license that will let us be "Party A" and "Party B" in a marriage forever. For now, we can do that. Until November 4th. The election that I hope will change this country for the better may change things in California for the worse, largely because opposition to marriage equality is much better funded than support for marriage equality.
I know most of you don't have any extra money right now. But if you feel like giving us a gift to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime event - well, you could donate something to Equality for All. Five bucks is the minimum. Fifteen would be a dollar for every year that Best Beloved and I have been together but unable to get married. Or, if you have some extra time, you could sign up to phone bank (from your home - you don't have to live in California). Fifteen calls would, again, be one for every year Best Beloved and I have been together.
The best gift you could possibly give us is the hope that other couples like us will be able to stand in that line in two years, in five years, in ten.
Or, hey, I will just take congratulations: Best Beloved and I are getting married!
Which - okay, if you're straight, or you're not in a relationship, it may not be entirely clear what that means. Best Beloved and I have been together for fifteen years, since I was 19. We've spent our entire adult lives together. We've lived together, shared our finances, bought a house. Had a child. But we could never get married.
Now we can; right now, gay couples in California can get married just like other people. Just like we're real people. Today, at the courthouse, there were six couples in the marriage license line - four male/female couples, a male/male couple (with their kid), and me and Best Beloved (with the earthling, who handled the eternal wait with more dignity and patience than anyone else in line, let me just note). We all got treated the same, although I suspect that only four of us in that line understood what a privilege that was.
For now, we are all allowed to stand in that line - to wait forever, to fill out forms, to listen to the clerk swear at her malfunctioning computer, to pay the County $70.00, to get the magical license that will let us be "Party A" and "Party B" in a marriage forever. For now, we can do that. Until November 4th. The election that I hope will change this country for the better may change things in California for the worse, largely because opposition to marriage equality is much better funded than support for marriage equality.
I know most of you don't have any extra money right now. But if you feel like giving us a gift to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime event - well, you could donate something to Equality for All. Five bucks is the minimum. Fifteen would be a dollar for every year that Best Beloved and I have been together but unable to get married. Or, if you have some extra time, you could sign up to phone bank (from your home - you don't have to live in California). Fifteen calls would, again, be one for every year Best Beloved and I have been together.
The best gift you could possibly give us is the hope that other couples like us will be able to stand in that line in two years, in five years, in ten.
Or, hey, I will just take congratulations: Best Beloved and I are getting married!
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