(no subject)
The prospect of gay marriage legalization is one of the few social debates that brings can make me teary-eyed. I'm just not very teary-eyed by nature, but the fact that gays can't marry in even in relatively democratic areas of the world is just egregious, and it's a pretty personal issue for me.
California recently legalized gay marriage, and tonight's the night for the first gay couples (except the ones that got married in San Francisco and then annulled. Heh.). There are several really sweet stories in regards to this lately - This LA Times article about planning a wedding in under 3 weeks being one of them, and this other story about the lesbian couple celebrating 55 years together being another.
In Bakersfield, County Clerk Ann Barnett feels so strongly about straight-only marriage that she has announced that her office will no longer perform marriages. Straight Nose Cut Off to Spite Gay Face. People are calling for her resignation, but she did announce she wouldn't perform either straight or gay marriages, so it remains to be seen if what she's doing is illegal. In defiance, many gay couples have announced their intention to marry in front of the office, and it remains to be seen whether the Bakersfield police will arrest them for this.
One thing about this news story made me cross at the writers at NPR, and it always makes me sad to be cross at NPR. They described Barnett (who had no claimed any religious objection to performing the services and said instead that her decision was due to monetary and "security" concerns), as "Ann Barnett, mother of five..." The story wasn't about her children, not even about her marriage, which would have been more relevant. When the writers at NPR decided to add "mother of five" into the story, what they really wanted to say was "crazy religious nutjob who has lots of babies." It's just like when conservative say "New York liberal" to mean Jew or etc. NPR should be above that shit.
California recently legalized gay marriage, and tonight's the night for the first gay couples (except the ones that got married in San Francisco and then annulled. Heh.). There are several really sweet stories in regards to this lately - This LA Times article about planning a wedding in under 3 weeks being one of them, and this other story about the lesbian couple celebrating 55 years together being another.
In Bakersfield, County Clerk Ann Barnett feels so strongly about straight-only marriage that she has announced that her office will no longer perform marriages. Straight Nose Cut Off to Spite Gay Face. People are calling for her resignation, but she did announce she wouldn't perform either straight or gay marriages, so it remains to be seen if what she's doing is illegal. In defiance, many gay couples have announced their intention to marry in front of the office, and it remains to be seen whether the Bakersfield police will arrest them for this.
One thing about this news story made me cross at the writers at NPR, and it always makes me sad to be cross at NPR. They described Barnett (who had no claimed any religious objection to performing the services and said instead that her decision was due to monetary and "security" concerns), as "Ann Barnett, mother of five..." The story wasn't about her children, not even about her marriage, which would have been more relevant. When the writers at NPR decided to add "mother of five" into the story, what they really wanted to say was "crazy religious nutjob who has lots of babies." It's just like when conservative say "New York liberal" to mean Jew or etc. NPR should be above that shit.