“I THINK SAME SEX COUPLES should be able to get married,” says the leader of the free world, and it is spoken of in terms of election strategy. Did Obama just hand the GOP the White House? How will this play in Ohio? What are the implications?
We can quibble over his “evolution” on the issue, or his timing, or about the fact that his VP forced his hand by coming out in favour a few days earlier. Or we can step back and watch history unfold. Lincoln acted out of political need as well as belief. There seems little point in questioning the motives of people in positions of power; we can only judge the results.
In terms of eliminating global human inequalities, sexual orientation ought to be the low-hanging fruit. There are no physical or scientific barriers in place that prevent us from recognizing marriage equality the way there are to, say, ensuring universal food distribution or solving gross economic disparity. It’s 2012; I can’t believe anybody really cares any more. You want to “save” marriage? Okay, how about opening it up to people who have loved each other in secret when it was necessary to do so, whose commitment to one another survives hatred and intimidation, whose love is all that has protected them from legal systems that have largely refused to acknowledge them? That sounds like real commitment to me. I’d give those people the odds of having a long, satisfying, durable relationship over a heterosexual Vegas hook-up. Who’s really threatening the sanctity of marriage, anyway?
And I’m still not sure how letting two human beings with penises or two human beings with vaginas marry one another has any impact whatsoever on my marriage, on my kids, or on my life.
So Obama’s words are a start. What comes next is anything but certain. But for such a symbolic milestone I feel as though I should take a moment and play something appropriate. Gay music? I don’t really know what gay music is. I’m standing and looking at the CD shelves down here in my basement office, the record crates, the drawers full of cassettes, and I’m coming up blank. Is it music by gay people? Music by straight people for gay people? Is it dance music? Queercore? What about Against Me, whose singer, Tom Gabel, recently announced that he would begin gender reassignment therapy? Or what about the countless singers, guitarists, sax players, drummers, record producers, cellists, bass pluckers, Moog magicians, conga bashers, tap dancers, xylophonists, backup singers, rappers and banjo pickers who had to love covertly in order to continue to book shows and record LPs? Were they all making gay music?