Wednesday, November 5, 2008 | by nathan
Look at this amazing thing that’s happened. It’s no secret to anyone who reads this website or who knows me at all that I do believe the political is personal, that if nothing else the symbolic aspect of who we elect to lead our country matters, and it matters greatly. I’ve said on many occasions that I’ve felt, the last 8 years, that the America that my parents and all the greatest people in my life brought me up to believe in was lost somehow, or, in my worst moments, that maybe it never existed.
Last night I was elated and devastated, and I still don’t know the answer.
When I was living in Europe the thing I heard over and over was how much our image in the eyes of the world is shaped by race relations in this country, how people want to believe in what America professes to stand for but just can’t, because of the state of race relations in this nation. Barack Obama’s election to the presidency by no means eliminates racism in this country, but it changes everything, in ways we’re not even clear about yet.
On the other hand, Andrew Rice didn’t win, and that hurts, because though he was always a long-shot, I thought just maybe Oklahomans would get wise and vote Jim "Global-Warming-Is-A-Hoax" Inhofe out.
The one that really hurts, though, is Proposition 8 in California. I’ve long since given up defining myself politically, spiritually, or in any other way at all, really, by my sexual orientation. If there’s anything I can’t stand it’s identity politics. But still, I thought maybe America was moving somewhere, the place I’d like us to get, where we can say, I dunno, that we can disagree with each other but we don’t need to legislate each other’s personal lives. I thought maybe in California – CALIFORNIA of all places – that us gay folks might enjoy a season in the sun. And you know me – I begrudge no one the right to disagree with me about these issues spiritually; where I get testy is when they start trying to legislate them like God had appointed them America’s Ethical Consultants.
Anyway, it’s not to be; Prop 8 passed, so all you smirking, self-righteous people who supported it got what you wanted: nothing whatsoever about your lives will change, while the quality of life for thousands of married couples in that state will be reduced. So, congratulations: in the name of Jesus you did something incredibly mean.
So here’s something else, my counter to that. When Brian and I were in Vegas, we bought these:
We’ve not had a wedding (that’s a whole other post, but it comes down to, we don’t like weddings, or, at least, not enough to spend money on one), but we did go to the TeNo store and bought rings, so we can show the world: we are married. You may think that America will suddenly descend into goat-fucking or child-molesting if Brian and I could somehow ratify the pact and the promise we have with each other in the way that you can. But you can’t deny us this: Brian is the love of my life, the heart of my heart, my best friend and the person I’d rather spend time with than anyone else on this planet. Our love is real, and genuine, and good, and the laws of man absolutely can not take that away.
