A Straight Ally Celebrates National Coming Out Day

Last night, I was over at Cheers & Jeers at the Daily Kos. One of the bloggers was celebrating her "20th birthday", meaning that she came out of the closet 20 years ago in the month of October. I gave her tip because I was happy for her. I also know quite a few gays on at C & J, among them, the blogger who created the daily column, and his partner. One of my fellow bloggers and good friend, Ed, and his spouse, Christian, I met through C & J.

Yesterday, I was cheered by the Connecticut Supreme Court in turning over the ban on marriage for same gender couples. From the NYT:

“Like these once prevalent views, our conventional understanding of marriage must yield to a more contemporary appreciation of the rights entitled to constitutional protection,” Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote for the majority in a 4-to-3 decision that explored the nature of homosexual identity, the history of societal views toward homosexuality and the limits of gay political power compared with that of blacks and women.

“Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same-sex partner of their choice,” Justice Palmer declared. “To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others.”

Wasn't the timing of the ruling great? And it can't be appealed. Ban is lifted on October 28th. Connecticut joins Massachusetts and California as the third state to recognize same gender marriages.

I completely concur with Justice Palmer. I'm married to someone of the opposite gender and that is my preference. I'm wired that way. But I have believed all of my adult life love doesn't know gender, race, or even political persuasion. Most religions impose those restrictions and if people choose to go with their faith's rules or mores, that's their way. I hope more faiths will change and evolve whereby the restrictions aren't as many, or at least quit calling folks who believe differently sinners who are doomed to hell (the Fred Phelps followers). My faith, the UU's, made the decision over a decade ago to practice being a welcoming community, and it is one of the many reasons that I am proud to be a UU. We do not feel threatened by gay people.

However, on the legal side, it is wrong to judge an adult for loving someone of their same gender. They have the right to inherit property without family interference, the right to make medical decisions, and to adopt children. Many gay couples are giving birth to children, but the children have been considered to be born out of wedlock. That's wrong.

I always thought that a committed happy couple was a sign of being pro-family.

California has a proposition to ban gay marriage on the ballot this November. Let's hope it doesn't pass.

A bit about the flag image I have posted, which I borrowed from dbking on Flickr (along with the explanation of the symbolism):

The original gay-pride flag was hand-dyed by Gilbert Baker. It first flew in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978, by Justin Fox, the lead singer of Last Blue Film. The flag consisted of eight stripes; Baker assigned specific meaning to each of the colors as follows:

hot pink - sexuality
red - life
orange - healing
yellow - sunlight
green - nature
turquoise - magic
blue - serenity
violet - spirit

I love the stars of freedom on it too.

To my gay friends and readers, such as those at The Political Cat (I just added that site to my blogroll when I found out Political Cat had BW blogrolled and had given us a shout out about a month ago), I celebrate this day with you. I'll be listening KD Lang's "Constant Craving" as part of the celebration today.

Happy anniversary or birthday to those who have come out of the closet, and I hope many more will come out today. Let's hug them as they do.