Many years ago my sister introduced me to the wonderful Anna Quindlen, who is a writer for Newsweek and about a month ago some amazing stranger decided to sign me up for a subscription to this magazine and I ran across an article today that I cannot not help but write about.
Titled "The Same People," this article is about the victory that the gay community has had over same sex marriage in the California Supreme Court system. If you know me you know that I have always been a proponent of human rights and equality for all, that being said I would like to quote a couple of lines from her article.
"Before you could say Jonathan and Andrew request the honor of your presence, opponents were suggesting that civilization would crash and burn if two guys could register at Pottery Barn and raise kids in a ranch house..."
"... this folks vowed to find a way to protect the sanctity of hetero marriage, that time-honored staple of sitcom mockery and savage custody fights. Polls showing opposition to gay marriage were proffered to prove that the court had overstepped its bounds, ignoring the fact that the most sacred business of judges is not to ratify the will of the majority but to protect the minority from its tyranny."
"Gay men and lesbians have prospered because they've refused to acquiesce to the notion that they should hide their lives from public view. Two by two they've adopted children, bought homes, volunteered in their communities and slogged through life together just the way hetero couples do, except without the preferential tax codes, inheritance rights and the automatic assumption that they can make decisions for one another in emergency situations."
"Here is what I do not understand: is there so much love and commitment in the world that we can afford, as a society, to be contemptuous of some portion of it? If two women in white want to join hands in front of their families and friends and vow to love and honor one another until they die, the only resonable response to that is happy tears, awed admiration and societal approval."
"Someday soon the fracas surrounding all this will seem like a historical artifact, like the notion that women were once prohibited from voting and a black individual from marrying a white one. Our children will attend the marriages of their friends, will chatter about whether they will last, will whisper to one another, 'Love him, don't love him so much.' The California Supreme Court called gay marriage a 'basic civil right.' In hindsight, it will merely be called ordinary life."
I will marry the man of my dreams in four months, and all I had to do was find him. To be born with certain rights and then to once you declare a certain aspect of yourself to the world, lose them is so terribly hard for me to fathom. In the great words of Ms. Ellen DeGeneres "We are all the same people, all of us."
3 comments:
I love Anna Quindlen. I think what makes her a great writer is that she has so much to say about a vast amount of topics. When I think I know what she might say I find myself suprised. She stays on topic well and is always clear about the point she is trying to make.
I also love the personal stories she shares about her husband and children.
Great blog, she took the words right out of my mouth. The most poignant part being- "ignoring the fact that the most sacred business of judges is not to ratify the will of the majority but to protect the minority from its tyranny."
Anyways thanks for the shout out. Do you still have my book with her articles in it? Just wondering.
I love Anna Quindlen as well. If you have that book still, I would love to read it. Whenever I look at Newsweek, (which is usually in waiting rooms) I look for her first.
She echos the thoughts on gay marriage that I and many other believers in human equality share. I just think its a travesty to deny basic human rights- and even give preferential treatment to some- based on something they cannot control.
Come on and update this thing already!
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