D-Day

D stands for "Decision."

The headlines say it all, "Calif. High Court to Rule on Gay Nuptials." That would be today... That would be sometime this morning.

Ultimately, there are two issues at hand. The courts are deciding whether Mayor Newsome (WHO IS A GOD!!!) violated state laws by issueing same-sex licences. The second issue is, what to do with the 4,037 licenses that have been issued - maintain them, invalidate them, or leave them in legal limbo until later.

Well, being part of that 4,037 leaves me feeling pretty darned anxious. I KNOW that things will not change between me and Paul. But at the same time, it just makes me furious to think that a panel of perfect strangers dressed in black robes will be deciding whether our union is valid or not. Do they know us? Do they know anything about us? Have they ever met us? Do they care?

Nervous, nervous, nervous....

NULL AND VOID

The headlines says it all...

> Calif. Court Voids S.F. Same-Sex Marriages

I'M SO FUCKING ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surprised? No.

Sad? Yes.

But after the anger, and the sadness, ther question remains...

What next?

Numb

I'm just numb right now. Within minutes of the decision, my phone began to ring. The first call came from  peacockharpy  in Florida - a happily married mother of a beautiful little toddler. I could tell from the tone in her voice, she was upset. After all of five minutes talking to her, another call came through from red_goldilocks  here in California. This friend, a happily married mother of 3, could not control her emotions. Her crying got to me, and I started to lose it. Shortly after that came a call from a co-worker. He and his partner were also married in San Francisco. And like me and Paul, they too were declared "invalid".

How can this be?  He is it that in today's age of progression, we are still in such a backward state?  We have a government that is bombing the hell out of third world nations for trumped up reasons, and we are supposed to be ok with that.  We have increased disease worldwide, coupled with budget cuts to healthcare, adn we are supposed to be ok with that.

And now, we have the invalidation of over 4,000 marriages because they are a threat to "traditional marriages."  I know a LOT of married people.  And ya know, not one of them seemed to quake at the thought of me being married to a man.  Nobody went running out to get a divorce because we too were married.  Heck, Britney Spears is about to embark upon her second trial marriage.  And don't EVEN get me going on J. Lo.

"Preserving the sanctity of marriage" - try making divorce illegal if it is SOOOO important to preserve the sanctity of marriage.

<Sigh>

Back from the Press conference

I have just returned from the Press Conference at the Gay and Lesbian Center, O.C. Attendence was small, but I can't say I'm surprised, given the last-minute preps involved. Channels 4 and 7 were there. Giles and I were invited to be part of a panel of couples who had been declared "invalid" by the courts. I gotta say, I think we lucked out with the company that we shared. The first couple were a lesbian couple who had been married in February. One of them had brought her mother along to further stress support. They were all very well-spoken and professional. The other couple were a gay couple from Westminster, one an actor and the other a Ph.D. in Sociology. And then there was us.

All in all, everyone was feeling a little bit of anguish, but it wasn't what I would call a pity-party by any stretch. More than anything, the common feeling was that this whole thing was merely a "bump in the road." And ya know, in thinking about it, I think that's all it is. The real question is, how long is this roadtrip gonna take? Decision or no decision, Paul is my husband. We said, "I do" on those stairs and were declared "Spouses for life." So mote it be!

If a group of strangers in funny black robes have decided not to recognize my right to be married, then they leave me no choice. I will simply decide not to recognize their authority to decide who I can or cannot marry.

Someday, this will all be an amusing anecdote. Until then, the fight has JUST begun!