Saturday, June 25, 2011

New Yorkers Say 'I Do!' to Marriage Equality

Here are a handful of pictures from last night's historic night in New York -- and what a night it was! We got to Sheridan Square before the voting had begun, but news quickly began to pour in that we had the necessary GOP flip -- you know how they are about that -- and then a spare, to boot. The crowd was a mixture of hardcore, softcore and more than a few "What is going on here?" people who got sucked into the fun. (Not the first time that's happened in the neck of the woods, I'm sure.)

Michael and I had to laugh at the various attempted chants throughout the night -- I say "attempted" because none of them seemed to stick. Early on, I heard "Yes -- I -- do!" or something equally ambiguous. Chants of "USA!" -- which always works great for Stephen Colbert -- were met with confusion and apprehension ("Well, it's not really USA here" and "Let's not get ahead of ourselves"). Even the "New York State!" chant didn't ever catch on. When Michael and I stopped for a celebratory ice cream, I ended up getting a call from a reporter at The Los Angeles Times wanting a New Yorker's reaction to the news.

The first word that came to mind was "relief" -- relief that this monkey is no longer on our back, relief that this particular right is no longer in the hands of a dysfunctional group of lawmakers who do not even understand their role in government, relief that what seemed like a "sure thing" -- famous last words -- had surely happened. I praised our governor -- god, I hope Andrew Cuomo isn't hiding anything; I'd love to vote for him for president one day -- and the other Democrats who made this work out, despite the bullshit "religious" fear-mongering that was trumped up at the 11th hour.

The reporter, who by then knew I had a partner of nine years, then asked the most obvious question: So will you marry now? I told him no, that I wouldn't even entertain the thought until DOMA is gone and same-sex marriages are completely on par with "opposite marriage." I recognize the importance of a state like New York legalizing same-sex marriage -- and I think it's important for many families to have that option. But until the separate and not equal element is removed from the institution, it's hard for me to even know if I'm really just not the marry kind, or if I've just blocked the option out of my emotional repertoire because I always believed it would never be an option. This is an important first step toward answering that question, something I'm imagining a lot of gay men and lesbians will be considering this weekend as we continue our march toward full equality.

Afterward, I got a text from my friend Leah, who happened upon the scene with a couple other gals and knew EXACTLY what was going on. Driven to tears by the news, she called me and we ended up meeting up at Julius' where we drank and celebrated until the wee hours. Our friends Frank, Craig and Andrew joined us a little later and something about sitting in New York's oldest gay bar -- my first time there, no less -- just seemed so right for the occasion. Congrats, New York! You've come a long way, baby ...

Where's Walsh? (Via TPM)

3 comments:

NeoYankee said...

And if I'm not mistaken, TPM captured your visit as well... http://media.talkingpointsmemo.com/slideshow/new-york-passes-gay-marriage-bill/1-181497

Anonymous said...

Hey Ken - love ur blog and read it every day, I agree with you 100% when it comes to marriage. I didn't want to marry until it was Federal. But we have a kid in the mix. I can't wait to marry and legally adopt my stepson.

Thomas said...

Congratulations to all New Yorkers from my oppressed country of France. We still can't get married here.