Poll: 58 percent of Americans support marriage equality
From Huffington Post:
Less than a week before the Supreme Court hears arguments on both the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Proposition 8 cases, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows a record 58 percent of Americans supporting marriage equality, up five points from last year when barely a majority were supportive. Most ominous for the GOP is that among 18 to 29 year-olds, a whopping 81 percent support marriage equality.
Fifty-eight percent support is amazing, especially when you consider President Obama didn’t even receive that percentage of the vote in the 2012 election. The numbers among the younger group aren’t really surprising to me. It’s the old, bigoted people in this country (here’s looking at you, Scalia) who are holding us back. At least we can count on them aging out of the system.
Defense of Marriage Act ruled unconstitutional by conservative federal appeals court judge
An important milestone in the fight for marriage equality was achieved today when a federal appeals court in Manhattan declared the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to be unconstitutional. The conservative judge who authored the ruling went one step farther by stating any law that discriminates against gays and lesbians should be viewed with skepticism.
This is a really big deal. Jacobs is not simply saying that DOMA imposes unique and unconstitutional burdens on gay couples, he is saying that any attempt by government to discriminate against gay people must have an “exceedingly persuasive” justification. This is the same very skeptical standard afforded to laws that discriminate against women. If Jacobs’ reasoning is adopted by the Supreme Court, it will be a sweeping victory for gay rights, likely causing state discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation to be virtually eliminated. And the fact that this decision came from such a conservative judge makes it all the more likely that DOMA will ultimately be struck down by the Supreme Court.
So you still think homosexuality is sinful?
Two steps back?
The thing that bothers me the most about the possibility of Romney winning is that social conservatives are sure to point out that the first president in our history to publicly support same-sex marriage lost the election – even though it will probably have little or nothing to do with it, since this election is apparently more about style than substance.
It seems in the LGBT community that we must continually take one step forward and two steps backward. It’s disheartening, especially when the years of our lives seem to slip away much faster than the progression of our cause. I remember telling Honey when we met that we would probably have the federal right to same-sex marriage within five years. That was almost 8 years ago.
10-11-12: National Coming Out Day
There is great power in being true to yourself and honest to others about your sexual orientation. I know this from personal experience. Through coming out to various people in my life – from family to coworkers – I have been able to free myself from living a life full of dishonesty, and I have been able to change the preconceived notions of others about homosexuality.
We might be slightly different from our heterosexual counterparts in some ways, but most humans long for the same basic things: freedom, comfort, and understanding. These three things cannot exist independently of one another. In order to have freedom and comfort, we must open ourselves up to allow others to understand what we are going through.
Exercise your power. Come out to your family, friends, and coworkers. Help to make the world a better place for the young men and women who will still be struggling for equality in the coming years.
Running out of time
A friend of mine, who happens to be my age, recently found out his wife is expecting. After he announced the news to me, he confessed that he worries about being too old to have a kid. “Naw,” I said. “If you’re too old then I’m too old, and I don’t like to think that way.”
Maybe I am too old.
The depressing thing is what used to seem like a possibility now seems very improbable, and I have gotten to the age where the window of opportunity seems to be closing. I figure there are only about 10 years left for me to consider becoming a father. After all, I don’t want to be closing in on 70 years old when my child graduates from high school.
My sister, who is two years younger than me, already has a 19-year-old. It’s funny to think that I could be having a child around the same time my niece gets married and starts a family.
I guess I’m pretty comfortable with where my life is right now, because I haven’t made becoming a father a priority. If my or my partner’s feelings change over the next few years, we might go the adoption route. I suppose we could always adopt an older child so that I’m not using a walker when I attend school functions. =)