My partner and I have a dilemma.
We’re a straight couple. Our lives and finances are intertwined,
and we are already essentially living as a married couple. Now we want
to hold a ceremony with family and friends to make public the
commitment we’ve already made privately. That said, we are in favor of
marriage equality and are considering joining the marriage boycott
(www.unmarried.org) until DOMA
is repealed and every state allows gay marriage.
Our friends and family say we should get married and fight for
equality “from the other side of the fence.” On the other hand, a
number of the people in attendance at our wedding would not have access
to the rights we’d be signing up for, and that feels unfair to
us.
We’d like to know what you think. Is boycotting legal marriage a
worthwhile statement for straight couples to make? Or do you think we
should put gay-rights groups on our registry and fight for marriage
equality as a married couple?
Hoping To Render Change
Funny you should ask, HTRC, as last weekend the
boyfriend-in-America/husband-in-Canada and I attended the wedding of
some dear straight friends. We weren’t the only same-sex couple at the
wedding; there were “a number of people in attendance [without] access
to the rights” our straight friends were signing up for.
All us homos at the wedding were delighted to be there and
deliriously happy for our friends, and not one of us would’ve asked
them to wait to marry until gay marriage is legal in all 50 states
— something that isn’t going to happen until 2024 at the
earliest, according to number-crunchin’ superstar political blogger
Nate Silver (tinyurl.com/cn58xy). That’s when Silver
predicts that the final holdout — Mississippi — will
finally legalize same-sex marriage.
Here’s what I think you should do, HTRC: Get married, make a
donation to the fight for marriage equality, and encourage your guests
to do the same. And, hey, are you guys getting married in the next four
weeks? Because there’s a ballot measure in Maine that would strip
same-sex couples in that state of their newly won right to wed. Help
protect marriage equality in Maine by making a donation — right
now — at ProtectMaineEquality.org. And
religious bigots in Washington State, where I live, are attempting to
repeal a domestic-partnership law at the ballot box. Protect the rights
of same-sex couples in Washington by making a donation — right
now — at ApproveReferendum71.org.
And in addition to throwing some money around, HTRC, I think you
should consider lifting one of the readings from my friends’
ceremony.
“Marriage is a vital social institution,” the reading began. “The
exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and
mutual support. Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment
to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of
mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family. Because it
fulfills yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that
express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution
and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life’s momentous
acts of self-definition.”
So touching, so true, and so universal — who could argue with
those sentiments? Everyone at the wedding was nodding. And the reading
continued…
“It is undoubtedly for these concrete reasons, as well as for its
intimately personal significance, that civil marriage has long been
termed a ‘civil right.’ Without the right to choose to marry, one is
excluded from the full range of human experience.”
After the reading—which was done by a gay friend of the couple
— the officiant identified the source: It was from the 2003
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision that legalized same-sex
marriage in that state. It was a lovely gesture: The gay couples at the
wedding were touched and the hetero couples were reminded of the
injustice that gay couples face. It would be wonderful if this passage
from the Massachusetts court’s ruling on marriage equality caught on as
a wedding reading, HTRC. The gay people in the pews will be touched,
and with any luck, any straight guests who oppose marriage equality
will take a moment to reconsider their positions. At the very least,
they’ll know where the bride and groom stand.
I’m a high-school student, gay, but whenever someone asks me, I
lie and say I’m not. I feel like I’m ashamed of who I am and that I’m
dishonoring every openly gay person. But I don’t know what else to do.
Most of the other students at my school use the words “gay” and
“faggot” in a derogatory way. I’ve only been in high school for four
weeks, and I’m not sure how they would react. What should I do? Should
I come out?
Gay Boy Seeking Serious Help
“I’m a big fan of telling people what to do (just ask my poor
boyfriend), but coming out is a deeply personal decision, one you’re
going to have to negotiate yourself,” says Benoit Denizet-Lewis, who
wrote a cover story for the New York Times Magazine about gay
kids coming out in middle school.
“With that said, here’s what you should do. First, the fact that
you’re worrying about ‘dishonoring every gay person’ speaks volumes
about your character and tells me that you have a heart and a
conscience, both of which will serve you well in your life as an openly
gay man. Second, consider coming out first to an adult you trust (a
school counselor, your gay uncle). Third, try to come out to one
friend, preferably one who loves the show Glee. Having a peer
ally is critical to your mental health. Finally, when you do come out
to your parents, just be sure you’re not in a moving vehicle.”
Denizet-Lewis’s first book, America Anonymous, is out now,
and it’s pretty genius. But for the record: I do not love the show
Glee.
Greetings from Portland, Oregon. Our fair city is totally
overflowing with cute, young, scruffy boys. Which is awesome, of
course, for gay guys like me. The only problem is, it seems like a
disproportionate number of these boys are, well, boys without dicks
— trans guys. Seems like every dance party, every art-fag event,
is packed with non-bio boys. But where are all the trans girls? None of
my lesbo friends talk about all the new trans girls running around
town.
I know that this could strictly be region-specific, but it seems
to be a bigger issue. Why is it that the butch girls all seem to become
dudes, yet so few of the femme boys identify as women?
GGG In PDX
I’m just theorizing here: There seem to be fewer MTFs out there than
FTMs, and the MTFs who are out there mostly seem to have been
straight-identified before their transitions (they were with women),
unlike most FTMs, who seem, for the most part, to have been
lesbian-identified before their transitions. So MTFs weren’t integrated
into the queer community prior to their transitions the same way FTMs
were before theirs.
Confused? Me, too.
So MTFs are less likely to frequent places — bars, clubs,
art-fag events — where you, a gay guy, might encounter them.
As for why there are so many trans guys in Portland, GGGIPDX, trans
guys clump up for the same reasons other sexual minorities do. It’s not
just about safety in numbers — although it’s partly that —
but also about the romantic odds. The more trans guys in one place, the
more trans guys there are to date; and the more trans guys in one
place, the likelier non-trans guys and girls are to meet, get to know,
and perhaps consider dating trans guys.
