Tomorrow -June 17th 2008- sees the legalisation of same sex weddings in the state of California and for the last month my Google news feeds have gone crazy on the subject-rightly so. It's great and welcome news-a little more understanding and acceptance in the world can only ever be a good thing-it affects all of us-gay and straight. Of course there will be the opposers, the fearful, who write small minded comments like this:
"No,- homosexual unions are not marriage that is what God ordained for a man and a women. People may think that they can re-write God's laws but society will reap the sad results of these wrong actions" -in response to this Times Online article.
- but it doesn't matter because now consolation type commitment ceremonies are a thing of the past in the sunshine state and same sex couples couples can get married and have a legally recognised wedding just like opposite sex couples can. Yeehah!
And, I just learned that in 1948, California was the first American state to strike down laws banning interracial marriage. It led the others then and it can again. Oh yes, change is afoot in a very big way-it has taken time, patience and belief but in the end, love will conquer all. Really, how can race, gender and sexual orientation come into question? Love is just love -there is no judgement necessary and the more it is allowed to flourish freely the better our world will be.
And when those people love who love each other want to marry, we all benefit for, as Marianne Willimason says in her book, A Return to Love-'So it is that a marriage is meant to be a blessing on the world, because it is a context in which two people might become more than they would have been alone.' It is a strengthening in the fabric of our societies, the world over.United we stand! To me, in terms of marriage, the issue of someone's sexual preference is irrelevant-it is all about the person within the outer shell of a human body-that which is not separated by age, sex, race, colour or religion.
And on that note- I found this feature in my favourite newspaper, The Independent entitled Love Story which kind of says it all really.
60 years ago, the writer James Morris married Elizabeth Tuckniss-they had five children, one of which died and in 1972 James went to Morocco and returned as a woman. At the time, the now, same sex couple were forced to divorce but they continued to live and be together. On May 14th this year, the writer Jan Morris and Elizabeth Tuckniss exchanged vows again in a legally binding civil union and as Elizabeth says, ''We are back together again,officially.'' Despite the law, they were never apart. The love between these two people remained constant-it kept them together. Love -and acceptance-conquers all. Well, the law may well be an ass-but we can take heart in the fact that it, at least, seems to be learning.
2 comments:
I burst into happy tears when I heard the news.
The sad thing is, we're not out of the woods yet in California. There's a constitutional amendment on the ballot for November that would declare marriage only between one man and one woman. If that passes, then the weddings being performed now would be null and void.
Still, the decision by the California Supreme Court is not only a huge surprise from a usually quite conservative bench not given to rocking the boat, but a welcome legal precedent that will ultimately help to end bans on marriage based on the gender of the participants.
Keep your fingers crossed for us in November.
From what i have read, statistics so far-seem to indicate a favourable outcome. I will keep all things crossed
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