| As earlier reported, Vermont passed gay marriage legislation earlier this week. Which came on the heels of the Iowa Supreme Court decision last Friday. In other news, the DC City Council approved recognition of gay marriages performed in other states, with a plan on tap to introduce full gay marriage legislation later this year. In addition, David Paterson is re-introducing the gay marriage legislation Eliot Spitzer introduced in 2007. It was also part of the platform on which the two men ran in 2006. Gay marriage legislation is also coming up in both New Hampshire and Maine. The equal protection argument may hold sway in California: the courts have not yet ruled on the Prop 8 case. Back when Massachusetts was first considering gay marriage legislation, I was editor-in-chief of the local Mensa newsletter. I wanted to run two op-ed pieces, one pro-gay marriage, the other against. I knew a lot of people who were opposed to gay marriage. Some just because they were closed-minded. Others because they believed the time had not yet come, and they feared for their friends. Some in this latter group included gay friends who were "in" in the office for fear of losing their jobs, but "out" amoung friends. I asked more than 20 people to write the "anti" side, and not one would do it, because they didn't want people to think they were prejudiced against gay people. (And trust me, none of them used the term "gay", preferring instead one of a number of derogatory terms.) Thinking that gay marriage would not happen anytime soon, two friends decided to hold a commitment ceremony, after registering for a civil union in Vermont. It was a huge affair, outside under a tent: both brides with a host of bridesmaids. Somehow in the past, I always ended up in wedding parties where I had to wear a dress with a big bow on my backside, or some other indignity, but this time, I was asked to wear a tux, like all the women in the "wedding" party. In a show of solidarity, my boyfriend offered to let me pick out any dress I wanted, and he'd wear it. It was meant kindly, but he just didn't have the legs for it. It gives me great joy to write that they are planning an autumn wedding. They've been together 17 years, and now it will be legal. And so help me, this time I'm wearing a dress. I am so happy for all my gay friends who have more and more options to be married. I predict that a gay married couple (or several) will sue at the Federal level, not for national gay marriage, per se, since marriage is a states' rights issue, but for equal protection under the tax code. That the IRS should recognize them as married in the equal protection offiling status. At that point, gay marriage should roll across the country. But maybe that's just me being hopeful. |
