Not a particularly noteworthy day for me personally, at least until nightfall. However, there was a nationwide series of protests in favor of gay marriage, and a vigil/"take back the streets" event in Baltimore, after the shooting of a gay drag queen, who is thankfully still alive after six bullet wounds. I have linked that press release to this page, so I don't have to be repetitious. Click here to read the full press release.
I went to see Lolita with L and A tonight, and we passed the Sidewalk Astronomy guy at the junction of Broadway and 65th Street, in front of the Mormon's auspices. He was showing people the planets. I have seen Jupiter up in the sky since August, but apparently Saturn is also up there. Clearly visible, even here in New York. If you look really closely at Jupiter, you can see discern one of its moons. With the telescope, you could see five pinpoints of sunlit celestial bodies: Jupiter and four of its moons, named after the supreme deity's love interests--Callisto, Europa, Io, and Ganymede.
Ganymede. That brings two incidents to mind. Ganymede, one of Zeus' infatuations. Zeus turned himself into an eagle so he could get close to Ganymede and seduce him. Once, in a musuem, there was a statue of a youth and an eagle, and I asked the museum guide about it, who repeated this story. My older cousin made a comment about "those Greeks." Comments like these work to discourage you from coming out, or encourage you to speak up. I am sorry to say that I chose the former rather than the latter. The second connotation: When I worked at the IEEE, each of our beautiful SUN Sparc stations was named for a heavenly body. Venus, Jupiter, Miranda, Mars, etc. My machine was named for me: Ganymede. A name announced to me with a certain snigger, one that made it clear that someone with a rare knowledge for the classics was goading the openly queer man at work. Ah, work among the Philistines.
From terra firm, looking skyward, you will notice a lot of things, and right now, one of them will be Saturn. It's rings are not visible to the naked eye. Down here, you will meet a lot of people. Some are allowed to live as they please and a good ten percent of them are not. Today was a national day dedicated toward marriage rights for gays and lesbians. There are people out there who will even wear rings, but will straight America try to look at them?
There are lots of pros and cons to same-sex marriage, and even gays and lesbians against marriage in general. But as Andrew Sullivan has pointed out for us, it's impossible to say you are against same-sex marriage in this country since it simply does not exist. It is impossible to be against an option that has has been denied you. So I propose we have the option available, for me to maybe enjoy one day, and for those of you who disapprove to express your opposing viewpoint. But until that day, there is a lot of work to be done.
The ultimate paradox of American society, which is often repeated, and with good reason, is the trend toward criminalizing and punishing love and sex and glorifying and "understanding" violence. From the time of scarlet letters up through tomorrow, love and sex are punished irrationally. Try passing a hate-crimes bill, and suddenly "special rights" for gays are feared. Just a few weeks after Matthew Shepard died in their midst, Fort Collins, Colorado votes 2-to-1 against a hate-crimes bill. What will it take to thaw out these hearts? The death of all their first-born children? Will that lead to a parting of the waters between us?
There is such a disregard for the human heart here. No one sees the ties that bind, these invisible rings that some of us wear, or have worn. Gay men and lesbians have had marriages and have had to keep them hidden. Maybe even having hidden behind false mantras like "What I do is my business." This has to stop.
Last night, I was seated behind a bonafide cutie. Absolutely adorable. Absolutely unapproachable. Why? He wore a wedding ring. Gold band, left hand. Whether he was married to a man or a woman was hardly the point. For better or worse, rings are a symbol of a binding love. It's a signal to one's status as well. It's a thing to be respected whether you are for marriage or not, for gays or straights. That ring spared me the ordeal of ingratiation and fact-fishing. That ring, said it all. That's what it did.
It's time. It's time to start realizing that we have to wear rings, talk about the people we love, and have our photos on our desks and not just in our hearts. It's time to insist on having a life like anyone else does. There are some things that must be inalienable and substantiated. If you cannot be proud of your life and your love, then it's hard to imagine what there is to live for. Some things might get lost, but a lot stands to be gained.
There is a lot at stake here. Make the rings visible. Even if you are single. It's not just a matter of personal choice. It's a matter of civil rights, but right now it seems as far from us as Saturn is from the Earth. But our NASA probes have reached Saturn; why can't we melt these Pharoah's hearts? How long will we live in this country before we hear Miriam singing victoriously on the opposite shore?
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