It's happening. Right now. In California. The fall of our society.
People of the same sex are getting married.
Listen. Listen hard. You'll hear something: The fabric of our world ripping apart.
Can you hear it? Listen again. Just below the clinking of the champagne glasses. It's there. I know it.
Maybe it's beneath the speeches and the well-wishes and the congratulations. Keep listening.
Maybe it's beneath the laughter.
Our lives are being torn apart, I know it! Keep listening.
No, that's not it. That's kissing. You can't tell kissing from the upending of everything our country stands for? Boob.
Listen harder. Listen past the sound of children knowing that their parent's bond is now legal and binding. Listen past the sound of couples being granted their rights. Listen, dammit!
It's there, beneath the words of ministers and justices and officiants, beneath the pledges of love.
If only people would stop clapping, I know we could hear it better.
Thanks for an awesome post!
Posted by: meg | June 26, 2008 at 03:30 PM
Bravo!
Posted by: Angela | June 26, 2008 at 05:45 PM
Your post made my heart sing -- it's the only one I've read that was positive about the matter other than my own! You captured it so exquisitely. Thank you.
Found you via Five Star Friday, which you richly deserved, and look forward to coming back.
Posted by: Maura | June 27, 2008 at 08:28 PM
Thanks. My sister is gay and is getting married in California in October. It's so nice to read a post like this with the supporting comments.
Posted by: Mrs. Who | June 27, 2008 at 10:24 PM
I think you're giving gays, any labelled group really, far too much credit. If society survived the movements of racial integration, feminism, and an similar, it can survive gays getting the same rights as everyone else. (Sound familiar? Someone said that after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech. Someone else said almost the same thing the day after women were granted suffrage.)
Posted by: Yvenna | June 28, 2008 at 12:40 AM
Yvenna, Can I ask that you read the post again? Perhaps you gave up in a huff after the first three lines?
(And don't worry if you did. My wife can't read much more than three lines of my writing, either. Perhaps you two should go out for drinks together.)
Posted by: Brian | June 28, 2008 at 03:10 AM
Bravo!
Posted by: Carrie | June 28, 2008 at 03:12 AM
Lunasea: Yes, you must become a lesbian. Also kill your children and start practicing witchcraft. I hope all that was in your plans.
Loren: As a Northern Californian, I would LOVE it if California could break off the mainland (uh, figuratively speaking, please, not due to The Big One. But can we leave LA back with the rest of the country?
Posted by: Irreverend Amy | June 30, 2008 at 03:25 AM
Like Polly, my comment got lost in the ether, I guess, but your words were so perfect that it was worth trying a second time. You wrote what I wish I could have when tackling the topic.
Posted by: Maura | June 30, 2008 at 06:40 PM
Wow, I usually find some kind of smart-ass comment to make when posting on people's blogs, but honestly, I can't this time.
Great post!
Posted by: houndrat | July 01, 2008 at 10:34 PM
I just took a big poop on your post. Your writing is very good for that.
Posted by: Zach | July 08, 2008 at 11:34 AM
First time reader, your in my feed now... BaWaHaHaHa!
Seriously, found you through BeAGoodDad.
Love your post, very well said.
Since my straight marriage is about to fall apart due to the ability of homosexuals to get married, do I have to become a lesbian, or can I just remain single?
Posted by: MzMadMamma | July 10, 2008 at 10:31 AM