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.

More about the Knoxville UU Shooting

From the Gist (h/t to Jose Cheung at Street Prophets):

This is a clip from my interview with Carla Lewis, who was inside the Tennessee Valley Universalist Unitarian Church when a gunman opened fire little over a week ago. She came on the program last week to take us through the tragic event, talk about the gunman's motives of hatred against gays and liberals and tell us a bit about hero Greg McKendry. The 60-year-old church volunteer was killed in the shooting, jumping in front of the gunman to protect others. He and his wife had recently taken in a transgender foster child.

The Gist Interview with Carla. Worth listening to.

Blessed be.

John Edwards Picks Up Key LGBT Endorsements

Edwards is on a roll again. He picked up some key endorsements from the lesbian and gay community yesterday.

• Skip Paul, Corporate Executive
• Darren Star, TV Producer
• Julie Johnson, Human Rights Campaign Public Policy Committee Co-Chair
• Eric Stern, Former National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director; Former Democratic National Committee LGBT Outreach Director
• David Mixner, Former Bill Clinton for President Adviser; LGBT activist, fundraiser, author www.davidmixner.com
• Dennis Erdman, TV Producer/ Director
• Mary Snider, Human Rights Campaign Board of Directors Executive Committee Member
• David Tseng, Kerry-Edwards 2004 National LGBT Advisory Committee Co-Chair; Former Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) National Executive Director
• David Mariner, Former Out for Howard Dean Co-Chair; Founder, www.outfordemocracy.org
• James Duff, TV Producer
• Ramon Gardenhire, National Stonewall Democrats Black Caucus Co-Chair; Former DNC LGBT Deputy Outreach Director
• Scott Benson, Majority Leader Minneapolis City Council
• Shane Larson, AFL-CIO Pride @ Work National Executive Board Member; Association of Flight Attendants (AFA)-Communications Workers of America (CWA) Government Affairs Director
• Scott Wiener, Human Rights Campaign Board of Directors Member; San Francisco Democratic Party Chair* (for identification purposes only)
• Jeff Gardner, Garden State Equality Vice Chair; New Jersey for Democracy Co-Chair
• Lynne Wiggins, Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) National Leadership Council Member; Former Human Rights Campaign Board of Governors Member
• Ken Keechl, Broward County Commissioner; Former Dolphin Democrats President
• Linda Elliott, Human Rights Committee Board of Directors Member
• Dave Garrity, Former Democratic National Committee Member
• Mark Periello, Former Human Rights Campaign staff member; Democratic strategist
• Ron Ginsburg, LGBT Community Activist; business owner
• Randall Kelly, LGBT Community Activist; attorney
• Stephanie Kornegay, LGBT Community Activist; business owner
• Robert D. Horvath, Mautner Project Board of Directors Member
• Patrick J. Lyden, LGBT Community Activist; Homeland Security Advisor

WTG, JRE!