on marriage &c.

[saucypunk]

I've been feeling particularly anti-establishment today. So I thought I'd take a minute to vomit out some thoughts on the marriage thing, and what the hell I think I'm going to be doing on August 11.

I have no interest in the concept of Marriage as an institution. My good feminist predecessors have been over this; it's all about ownership.

Comments

[christychristy]

Yes, of course it would be nice to be able to separate marriage from its history and from its remaining legal baggage. And perhaps to separate some of those rights from marriage all together. But on a practical level, right now, all people need marriage rights.

Two of my very best friends, Julie & Christi, need the huge, obvious protections of marriage as well as the 200 other rights that Mandy mentioned. They want children, but feel that they can't do that responsibly until they can be married. They wouldn't be comfortable visiting me if I move to Nashville because if one gets hurt and hospitalized, the other can't visit, etc... well, that's just unacceptable for them. They can essentially "purchase" some of the rights of marriage by paying a lawyer to execute all kinds of legal maneuvers and paperwork. But since these friends of mine are school teachers, not billionaires, they have to save up for the lawyers fees each little step of the way.

Same sex marriage is the immediate solution. Removing traces of patriarchy from the institution will probably get easier once same sex couples have equal rights. If Julie & Christi are married, who is the "man" that can rape the woman?

[saucypunk]

i agree, same sex marriage should be legal right now. i'm just not going to spend my time fighting for it; i have other battles.

[christychristy]

It's just that it seems to me marriage equality is not only an immediate imperative, but also one of the more effectives tools we have when it comes to cutting out the patriarchal elements and reshaping the institution of marriage-- and therefore part & parcel with your master plan.

[saucypunk]

I don't deny that the right to same-sex marriage is important -- I'm mostly upset that it has hijacked "the gay agenda" and is now pretty much the only cause getting any attention. Um, what about AIDS? what about every other health issue? what about hate crimes? what about the million other ways queers are marginalized?

I'm not sure I agree about same-sex marriage being a tool against the patriarchy... just like same-sex marriage won't "destroy the fabric of our society" as the conservatives seem to fear, i'm not sure that assimilation ever did anything useful in terms of overthrowing anything.