Super Awesome Blog

CNN reports that “Miss California,” or Carrie Prejean by her mortal name, will star in an upcoming National Organization for Marriage (NOM) ad against gay marriage.  If you didn’t hear, Prejean said the following in response to a question from Perez Hilton regarding wether every state should legalize gay marrage:

“I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what, in my country and my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anyone out there but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman.”

Perez later roasted her on her own site, and you can imagine why.  Her statement falsely assumes that people choose to be gay or not, and the phrase “opposite marriage” is refreshing in its stupidity.  Aren’t Miss America contestants supposed to be inspiring little kids everywhere? Can’t she say something about land mines or the poor or the starving children in wherever… and not drag herself and the pagent into a worn out and tired battle against civil rights for gay people?

MSNBC reports that a recent (4/30/09) poll shows that 49% of Americans support marriage than oppose it (46%), soaring from 32 % in 2004.  Even more surprisingly 53% of those polled think their state should recognize gay marriages from other states!

Sorry “Miss California”… but you and the rest of the social conservatives are on the way out. Enjoy that crown while it lasts (especially with news that Prejean’s breasts may have been ill gotten… funded by the paegent itself!)

365Gay reported today that the New Hampshire Senate has voted to allow same-sex marriage in New Hampshire.   It sounds like New York might be next!  It’s an exciting time to be gay… although I look forward to the day when it’s not even an issue.

Fore more information, Wikipedia (as usual) has a helpful list of nations and states that have same-sex marriage.

Advocate recently featured this awesome spoof of the National Organization for (straight only) Marriage’s anti-gay marriage ad, made by ArchNoble.   I laughed.  Enjoy!

This TV ad is about to be aired in several states, most likely including Iowa where the State Supreme Court recently ruled that banning same sex marriage is unconstitutional.  It’s full of people that look like they just smelled someone who passed gas talking about how scared they are that gay people exist.  As a gay man and an atheist, I’m continually perplexed at the "fear" people profess toward gay marriage, and homosexuality in general.

The ad is from the National Organization For Marriage, or NOM,  an anti-gay group that recently helped in the passing of proposition 8 in California.   The text of the ad is as follows (with footnotes provided by me).

"There’s a storm gathering…
the clouds are dark and the winds are strong…
and I am afraid. "

Have these people ever met a gay person? Or are they only getting their impression of them from those crazy Chick Cartoon pamphlets fundies hand out ? The Gays are some of the happiest people around, they absconded the word "gay" for a reason!  I don’t really imagine Mordor style cloud fronts coming when I think about the gay agenda.

"Some who advocate for same sex marriage have taken the issue far beyond
same sex couples.  They want to bring the issue into my life."

What a cryptic statement.  First, starting out any statement with the phrase "some who say…" lets you say pretty much anything.  What do they mean taking the issue far beyond same sex couples? Marrying our pets and so on? Arguing ad absurdum seems to be that anti-gay marriage crowd’s fall back position, one that they resort to suprisingly quickly in any argument.

"My freedom will be taken away"

The only freedom taken away by passing laws ensuring a couple’s right to be recognized as being in a civil marriage is the freedom to hate.  It sounds soooo ugly and opponents of same-sex marriage and gay rights opponents in general will say that it is about god’s will and the nature of society and lots of other flowery, laced arguments. When it comes right down to it though they find it "icky" and they think the fact that an old book mired in contradictions lends them credible justification. It doesn’t. It’s hate. That’s all.

"I’m a California doctor who must choose between my faith and my job."

The video includes a helpful disclaimer at the start that reads "The stories these actors are telling are based on real incidents." It goes on to say that you can find out more at their website.  I looked all over their site, and couldn’t find what events these actors were purporting to be inspired by.  The only time I can imagine a doctor facing a moral conundrum regarding gay marriage and homosexuality in general would be in the feild of psychology, where any kind of repression of one’s sexuality has been shown to be extremely destructive and unhealthy. If some doctor was telling someone that who they are is unhealthy and to repress their sexuality, you’re damned right they should probably be fired.

"I’m part of a New Jersey church group punished by the government because we can’t support same sex marriage…"

I’m not sure how a New Jersey church group could be punished by the government. Perhaps they fired someone for being gay? Maybe they had their charitable orginization status pulled for being bigoted? Who knows, but the free ride church’s get for being charities is pretty dispicable, especially when so many other charities have such trouble getting charitable status.

"I’m a Massachusetts parent helplessly watching public schools teach my son that gay marriage is OK."

This one made me feel particularly sad.  The implication here is that schools even talking about being gay is bad.  Growing up I had no idea what being gay even was.  All I saw around me was heterosexual pairing.  From my parents, from my school, even in movies, being straight was the only imaginable way of feeling.  As I grew up and saw other people become interested in the opposite sex I felt confused and lost for not feeling the way they did.  "What is wrong with me?" I would ask myself.

I’ve heard this from so many of my friends and peers.  Gay kids growing up have it pretty rough most of the time, and when they’re not even told that being gay is ok they feel miserable. The "icky" factor comes up again -- images of kids watching guys getting it on pops into people’s heads and… Eww!  Grow up. Kids need to know what’s happening in the world and with their own development.  Denying them information is child abuse -- simple as that.

"But some who advocate for same sex marriage have not been content with same sex couples living as they wish…"

Another "Some who say…" opening, but an even more cryptic one.  "Living as they wish" to NOM probably means being gay in the bedroom, but pretending in public life that you’re "like everyone else."  In that sense, no, "we" are not content with that. I demand the right to be who and what I am.

"Those advocates want to change the way I live…"

Again I have trouble understanding the concept of one person getting married to another person effecting the quality or structure of another person’s marriage, or the institution of marriage itself.  I see people in shitty marriages all over -- explain why they can be married and not change the nature of marriage but gay people can’t.

"I will have no choice…"

There are no rainbow mobiles coming around forcing you to be gay.  What exactly does this ad mean to imply that you will have no choice about?  The choice to hate?  Apparently.   Scary hyperbole does make for an attention grabber though.

"The storm is coming…"

Speaking of hyperbole…

"But we have hope, a rainbow coalition of people of every creed and color are coming together
in love to protect marriage…"

It does hurt when I see other minorities being used in ads to discriminate against other minorities… it feels to me like they’re being used.  It hurts even more when someone belonging to a minority actually says something themselves about sexual minorities being less of people than they are.  It’s all so ugly.  I had to laugh when they used the term"rainbow coalition" though.

If you want a laugh, check out these actual auditions for this commercial.  Originally thought to be a parody, it seems that these are legit.  Sad, but funny.

I’ve heard a lot of people telling me how happy they are that “I got the right to get married” when the State Supreme Court here ruled that denying gay people the right to marry was unconstitutional. I maintain that I have always had the right to marry whoever I want, male or female. It is my fundamental right as a human being to choose who I want to love. Now the state of Iowa recognizes it. Good.

Don’t let this latest move convince you that Iowa is a progressive state full of forward thinking open minded people. There are plenty of social conservatives here that find the idea abominable, I overhears several just while I was shopping the other day.

The social conservatives are losing, and that’s a good thing. But we can’t get comfortable with the status quo, we have to keep soldiering on or we could very well end up with our very own Prop 8.

Finally, Barack Obama has been sworn in as the 44th president.  The man has more hopes riding on his presidency than, perhaps, any other president has in history.

Will he live up to it? His tone so far has been moderate, despite liberals hoping they’d finally get a real-life West Wing presidency, and conservatives hoping they’d have a leftist democrat to rally their base around.  It looks like neither is going to get their wish… yet anyway.

As a gay man, I find Obama’s brand of hope a frustrating mix.  On one hand, he talks about equal rights for gays and lesbians, and says he’s going to be repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  On the other, he says he only recognizes marriages between men and women.

The idea of our first black president endorsing separate but equal for a minority group is sad, but I think gay Americans feel that he’s the best hope for getting things on the road to equality.

The New York Times reported today that evidence increasingly shows gay couples are more egalitarian, functional, and generally happier. This is contrary to the popular opinion that gay marriage emits some kind of anti-marriage particle that unravels society.

A growing body of evidence shows that same-sex couples have a great deal to teach everyone else about marriage and relationships. Most studies show surprisingly few differences between committed gay couples and committed straight couples, but the differences that do emerge have shed light on the kinds of conflicts that can endanger heterosexual relationships. -New York Times

One of the general assumptions about gay relationships, and by extension marriages, is that they are prone to frequent self destruct, yet many studies seem to indicate the opposite. I wonder if this is at least in part due to the ease with which straight people to get married and how much work it is for gay people to do the same – if straight people
really had to fight for their right to get married, maybe the same crucible would result in stronger marriages for them too.