Reflecting on yesterday's ruling

Hi, all.  I just need to say some things briefly.

Gay marriage was actually the issue that first mobilized me into politics.  It was quickly eclipsed by my support for a still-elusive employment and housing non-discrimination act, but it was my first big cause.  It's now arguably the only one of my initial goals to have been achieved (though we'll have to see how serious the govt is about forcing Alabama to comply), and I feel weird.  Good certainly- the benefits to those who wish to marry are real, as is the cultural/respectability capital which will accrue to the LGBT community, and many people's lives are meaningfully improved after yesterday.  I know I'm one of them.

It feels so strange though, in some ways I've come full circle- here I am, about to drive up to Iowa to volunteer for a presidential candidate running to Clinton's left, with no job to show for it, and thinking about Gay Marriage.  That's pretty much where I was in 2007.  Funny little world, isn't it?  As Gilbert would say, it "teems with quiet fun".

So here's a victory, and I encourage everyone to check out the opinions on both sides.  (Supreme Court Injustice Clarence Thomas wrote in his dissent that neither internment of Japanese-Americans nor enslavement of African-Americans "violated human dignity", so clearly lack of marriage rights is harmless, which I think is the clearest display of the conservative philosophy we've seen lately). 

I imagine my reaction is not unlike many- this is such a very personal issue- I mean, it's not like every Gay couple is going to meet up on the same day and get married to their spouses simultaneously at an arranged moment and location a la Putin Youth camp, so thoughts are probably on what this means to lots of individuals as well as to the community at large. For me I'm of course thinking of my partner but also of who and where I was eight years ago, and two years before that when I tried and failed to start a Gay Straight Alliance in middle school, and it's, to put it mildly, trippy. 

So much has changed since then- for one I still thought I was a boy- but there's been so much loving and living in eight years, with the issue of marriage rights never far from my mind.  I'm freer in some ways, sadder in others, and still generally doing everything wrong.  It's hard to think I haven't gotten better at what I do, haven't established myself yet, haven't made things right that I thought I could. 

But a lot is changing- I do feel better now, at least about my body and persona.  I'm happier with the way I look, feel more honest about my mind, and feel that people read me better now that I'm out as transgender.  So much misplaced shame is gone, so much excitement I never felt before transitioning is here now, and I feel more ready for whatever is coming next.

Solidarität, Genossinnen und Genossen