Freedom Postponed

After prop 8 has been overturned last week, gay Californians were supposed to be able to start getting married tomorrow but the opponents filed an appeal and the ninth circuit court of appeals has granted a stay to Judge Walker's decision so the soonest day that California gays can go on marrying each other will be in December. A lot of people expressed optimism because the appeal can potentially lead to a preferable ruling in a larger area and even potentially lead to a final decision in the supreme court for a ruling with national impact in our favor but since most judges are from the older generations and according to the polls, the older generation tends to go with banning gay marriage, I'm not holding my breathe.

A few things can help us along: Having other countries recognizing GLBT rights like Argentina which legalized same-sex marriage and Mexico which allowed gay marriage AND adoption. The US needs to realize that the world is progressing towards equal rights for all citizens and we are lagging behind. Stressing how no one wants to be in the wrong side of history works, it worked on Glenn Beck. People do realize that the recognition of gay rights is unavoidable, they just don't know if it'll be recognize 20 years from now or 20 months from now. You can see commentators and politicians softening their stance when the results of the prop 8 trial were not in their favors, even Maggie Gallagher from NOM got all defeated. I think secretly they are afraid to be remembered as bigots, that is why none of them wants to testify on camera.

Showing how inequality ruins lives helps too, so does having an open broadcast. Of course, the most helpful thing would be having the president saying something urging the people towards the right way. I was excited when Obama held a press conference supporting building the mosque near Ground Zero in the name of religious freedom but hearing him recanting his statement because of all the right-wing shit that followed made me think that maybe he's not the most reliable person to count on. At some point, he should realize that catering to the right will not do anyone any good. Instead of working towards unity, he should work towards what's right and understand that everything he and his wife do will be picked apart by Fox and Friends. (Who knew "Spain" rhymes with "pain"?)

We'll see how all this played out. In the meantime while more South American than ever are enjoying equal rights, Californians are still waiting for their turns and most of the country don't even have the fortune of waiting, DADT is still the existing policy and gay soldiers are still in the process of being discharged. NJ judges are afraid to hear marriage equality cases for fear that Governor Chris Chritsie might replace them if they were to vote to extend marriage equality to GLBT couples while Newt Gingrich is supporting a campaign for Iowan to vote out judges that favored marriage equality.

But it's not all doom and gloom, NOM has finally finished their lowly attended hate bus tour, Neil Patrick Harris and his partner are expecting twins: a boy and a girl. "Grab two beers and jump" flight attended Steven Slater has been offered a reality show, though I don't see how it'd draw an audience. Here's my favorite Steven Slater song: