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symkha October 17 2012, 15:09:38 UTC
Yeah, "gaysbians" are apparently the mainstream among us. A lot of the authors are opposed to marriage because it reinforces some kind of neoliberal idea of what forms a family, and uses that definition to bestow certain rights and benefits on people that everyone should actually be entitled to, whether you're the Baldwin Sisters from the Waltons - straight, related but unmarried -- in a queer relatoionship -- maybe some kind of polyamorous family makeup - or single. I do actually agree with that; you should be able to get those same tax breaks and whatnot whether you're single (I also think you should be able to count animal companions as dependents).

I think the writers do acknowledge that bisexuals exist, I guess, as queers - I'm not sure. Sorry if my review was kind of confusing.

But what I object to is that gay marriage shouldn't be fought for. I also agree that way too much money is spent on making it a priority, almost as if gay people wish to "prove" their worth by showing we can be just like the Joneses. I'm not a real big fan of marriage myself, and I get annoyed when I see this push for lesbian and gay couples to have kids (I think the planet's overpopulated as it is).

But the one thing I've come to recognize is that if two people want to get married, they should be able to, no matter their gender/identification and/or sexual orientation. Again, maybe it should not be the big huge push it is, considering all the problems that afflict the gay and queer communities, but to be so opposed to it negates an awful lot of people.

Plus, as I ranted, this is America (where I am, and where the book was published); far too many people don't think, don't care about others, and are simply brainwashed into thinking things should be a certain way that reinforces a status quo. Gay people aren't any different. Why would they be? I'm vegan, and I'm always amazed that more gay people aren't because of the abuse and bullying that happens to other animals. But go figure: most people don't make sense, right? :)

And yeah, "gaysbians" fucking pissed me off!

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elettaria October 17 2012, 19:05:24 UTC
Oh dear. An entire book full of people who haven't spotted that marriage isn't going to magically disappear just because they don't like it. Would they really rather live in a world where marriage continues to be heterosexist, or one where we have equal marriage? And I absolutely agree that we need better partnership rights generally (incidentally, I'm in Scotland, but we're having the same debate over here, with some truly nasty bigots comparing the equal marriage movement to Nazis of late), but I think that equal marriage helps pave the way for that, so it's all part of the same battle. I'm not too bothered about the money being thrown at it (possibly the British campaigns are being done on a smaller budget, mind you!) because I think that bringing in equal marriage is a massive milestone that will really help to shift cultural attitudes and thus have a knock-on effect on everything else.

I'm vegan too!

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symkha October 18 2012, 22:34:11 UTC
Oh yay, vegan! Mind if I add you as a LJ friend? Everyone has fled LJ for Facebook these days... makes for boring time here. :)

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