Book of Jamez

55 y/o malcontent, something of a writer

Tag: Gay Marriage

  • Equally Separate

    I was getting my haircut today at my regular barber – all the barbers are black (or African-American if you have to) and the conversation moved to President Obama’s stance on gay marriage. Another one of the customers (also black) said it shouldn’t matter what people do in their bedrooms, if they love one another that should be all that matters. One of the barbers said that there was a black preacher from SC on TV and he said it should be up to the states to decide. There was a lot of head nodding at that…

    But it can’t be up to the states to decide – that’s simply ridiculous. Loving gay couples will be discriminated against in different states, the Federal government wouldn’t bestow partner benefits to survivors, taxes couldn’t be filed together… these are some, non-religious based, rights that gay couples don’t have. Letting each state decide would be a disaster – its one thing to say in this state you can drive 85 MPH and quite another to say in this state if your partner dies you’ll be left penniless and without a say in what happens to his (or her) legacy.

    Our President has stood up and declared he believes gay people should be allowed to get married. That’s pretty amazing for a guy to say in an election year. I’m very proud of him for saying so.

    A lot of folks get all up in arms about the word “marriage” and state that marriage has always been about one man and one woman. I say it used to always be that people of different races couldn’t marry and sometimes still frowned upon when couples of two separate religions get married.

    This isn’t about religion, this is about equal rights.

    Our country supposedly has this thing called “separation of church and state” we aren’t a country that’s run by the church, but it seems like our politicians spend a lot of time worrying about what the church may think and what’s right “according to God”.

    Can you imagine our country if we let churches of all religions dictate what our laws should be?

    • No work on Sunday? Some religions no work on Saturday
    • A Tithe: 10% of your income goes to the church
    • Women are less than, like the Catholic Church where they cannot become priests
    • No naming your teddy-bear Mohammed or drawing your god as a cartoon
    • We’d all have to wear silly hats or headpieces
    • Child molesters would no longer go to prison, just be set up in a new town with access to fresh meat
    • Mormons would allow us to have multiple spouses, as long as they weren’t of the same gender as we
    • Some religions ban dancing
    • Some ban drinking
    • Some religions would teach us that Superman is teaching the use of witchcraft

    This list could go on for quite a few pages I’m sure, but the point I want to make here is your religion – my religion anyone’s religion should have no say on laws and basic civil rights of others in our country.

    I want you to consider what it would be like for you if someone wanted to limit your rights based on their religion or beliefs. I want you to consider what Jesus said about gay marriage:

     

    ” _____________________________________” Jesus Christ

    Keep your religion out of my laws and hope we keep our laws out of your religion.

  • Invitation to the Royal Wedding

    By now some of you have received your beautifully designed invitation to the Royal Wedding. Some of you have responded via the self addressed stamped envelope and that is very appreciated. You have no idea how much coordination goes into planning this kind of a shin dig and RSVPing with the provided materials is so very helpful. Sure phone calls, emails and telling the couple in person is a nice touch, but they went to the trouble of putting a stamp on the envelope, not only to help fund the Post Office, but to make each attendee counted on all the official forms. At the very least you should send it via mail and be counted like most of the other common folk. Bill and I are working diligently on the wedding details and head counts are very important in this phase of the planning…

    What’s that? There is another Royal Wedding? I hadn’t heard – I’ve been so wrapped up in contacting you to get you to actually mail the RSVP that I haven’t had time to notice other Queens getting hitched.

    What’s that? oh, those Royals… well sorry for any confusion.

    Sure our attendees wont be heads of state or celebrity soccer stars, but it will be during Gay Pride week in San Francisco and really doesn’t that sound a whole lot more fun than a bunch of photo hogs … well I guess SF Pride has those too… My point being everyone who’s anyone will be in San Francisco for my special day. At least I hope so, it’d be nice if they actually RSVP’d. Why is this such a big deal for you folks? The card  saying yes or no is there, the envelope (which is stamped and addressed) is included – how hard can it be to seal this thing and drop it in the mail? The Post Office needs work folks, help them out here.

    Some people, who shall remain nameless, begged and pleaded for an invitation to the wedding and then promptly declined. Like I knew you would Julie Zielger!  Oh… sorry about that, I forgot. She still managed to drop the card in the mail and if SHE can do it, really anyone can do it.

    If you haven’t received and invitation at this point chances are you probably aren’t going to get one. I’m sorry but there is only so much room and only so much food I’m willing to purchase. I’d be grateful since you don’t have to fly all the way to San Francisco.

    One of the most often asked questions is “Can you legally get married in California now?” and well, the answer is no. There was a time in California when same-sex couples could marry, but people who think the Church should be able to decide what’s legal have put a stop to freedom of love – temporarily. Bill and I will have to fly to Washington, DC after the ceremony in San Francisco to be legally wed in our nation’s capital… that is unless that is the next thing on the Tea Party’s chopping block. Well, I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to pull it off without a hitch… so to speak.

    For those of you that weren’t invited, once again so sorry to hear that you wont get to come, I’m hoping to get a webcast of the actual ceremony and I’ll be posting that information when it’s available… see, you don’t have to dress up, don’t have to fly all the way across the country and you can watch from the comfort of your own home.. unless something entertaining is on.

  • Attack of the Bridezilla!

    So there is some debate about who’s the bigger Bridezilla, while I’m certain I’m not a Bridezilla at all, Bill seems to think that I am. So I’m interested in your opinion based on the information provided below:

    • Wants a church wedding: Bill
    • Wants to elope: Jamez (is in love, yes, but needs less pomp and circumstance)
    • Wants flowers for all the family and sponsors – Jamez
    • Wants a rehearsal and rehearsal dinner: Bill (it’s a small ceremony, but someone has lots of big ideas for it)
    • Wants a reception: Jamez (I figure if all those people are coming – we have to feed em)
    • Wants a dj for the reception: Jamez (if we’re going to feed all those people, we need to provide a way to burn off the calories)
    • Wants a photographer: Bill (I figure all our friends will take pictures why pay someone to do what our friends are already doing?)
    • Wants a red-velvet cake with cream cheese frosting: Bill (I don’t like cake)
    • Thinks we need to designate one of our friends or family as the “coordinator”: Jamez

    Thanks for participating in this very unscientific poll, this will help someone get over their denial.

  • Wedding Wrench

    Planning a wedding can seem like an insurmountable challenge. There are things that keep coming up that I haven’t thought about, things that I thought about but not enough about… it can seem like a lot to get done. Fortunately everything is still months away and will likely go smoother then I anticipate right now.

    I sent an email to a hotel in San Francisco for the reception giving them the parameters of the wedding (e.g. how many people, dates, vegetarian, non-drinkers, and so on) and the next day, as promised, I received a call asking me more details about the event which I provided. I was told someone else would be contacting me about specifics.

    When that someone contacted me it suddenly became clear to her that Bill and I were both guys, I don’t know how she missed it earlier. She then said “Oh, I was told this was a wedding and didn’t realize it was a commitment ceremony, I’m very excited for you both”.

    That was the last I heard from her, I was handed off to someone else who apologized for the “confusion and the change of hands” and said she would be my point of contact from here on out.

    I know it may seem silly and petty to some folks, but it’s not a commitment ceremony – it’s a wedding. I am going to marry the man I love in a church, in front of the people who love us and in the eyes of God. I may not be fortunate enough to get the same rights and privileges that straight couples get on that same day, but I will someday and I resent that you think my special day is “less than”.

    I want someone to explain how my love of someone of the same-sex is somehow not as valid as the eight times my mother married, the three times Rush Limbaugh married or countless others have been married.

    While we were in San Francisco two weekends ago we heard talk that the State of California plans to validate the marriages of any same-sex couples that were married before Prop 8 is finally struck down for good, and they believe it will be. I hope so, but it really doesn’t matter, as far as I’m concerned and as far as the God of my understanding is concerned – Bill and I will be married on June 25.

  • I Agree Marriage Shouldn’t Be Recognized

    Not same-sex marriage, different sex marriage, polygamist marriage, nor any other type of union.

    For too long we’ve politely glanced away when we’ve seen the golden band on their finger, I say no more. Equality for all, if we can’t have it, lets make damn sure they can’t either. Divorce is at 50% now, think of what will happen when we ignore the rules and don’t play fair.

    Any man is eligible for sex; and most men – gay or straight – can’t turn down a good blow job. Let’s take advantage of the straight man’s sexual needs and get some of our needs met as well. Bathroom senators, heroin addicted ministers, professional athletes, here we come… no pun intended.

    This isn’t just about man on man sex, think of the women that could come to fully realize how much fun sex can be once they’ve been exposed to talented lesbians. Never mind the fact that (stereotypical) lesbians will be better at helping these ladies around the house than there emasculated husbands ever were.

    Let’s redefine marriage, lets make it that much harder for you biased, bigoted, bastards to stay together at all.

    —

    Ok, that’s not what we really want. Sure there were times, when I was younger, that all I thought about was having good sex and more good sex after that. And I’m sure there are some younger folks out there, whether gay or straight, who think that way today… hell, maybe some older folks too.

    We want what everyone in America was promised: equality, freedom, choice. We want to be able to celebrate our love of another human being with the rest of the world, and to share that love with those around us. We want the same basic rights of love that our straight counterparts get without having to fight for it at all.

    Are these things the downfall of humanity? Will they lead to the destruction of all things? I don’t think so, I’ve never known love as strong as I’ve seen it in homosexual couples to end up as something bad.

    They say marriage would be redefined. Look at our history and see how much marriage has been changed already – it was not that long ago that people of different races were not allowed to marry. We don’t want to change existing marriage, we just want to share in it, we want to share in the joys, the heartaches, the rights, the wrongs of every other American citizen has if they are straight.

    Is it a civil right? The Declaration of Independence states:

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

    And what is love of my (potential) partner but “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”?

    We don’t want more than you want, we want the exact same thing you have, which is our unalienable right in this land of freedom and equality.