Equality Day

Today was Marriage Equality Day. I made Noah come with me and we drove down to Olympia for a rally sponsored by Equal Rights Washington. I was also hoping to meet with my legislators, but we got there a little late and so we didn’t get to do that part. But all in all, it was a good day – the sun was out, I got to spend some time with my teenager, and I felt good expressing my opinion about a cause that really matters to me.

I thought a lot about my friend/”uncle” Donald today. Way back when – gosh, like 20 or 21 years ago, he first exposed me to the world of homos. I remember him coming to visit us in Maryland because he was going to a display of the AIDS quilt and then going to a protest, I think with ACT UP. He and my mom talked about jello molds and he told us that he knew exactly what to bring the day of the protest in case he got arrested. We went to see him at the AIDS quilt, and that was really my first taste of social issues. I really couldn’t understand why people would be discriminated against because they were sick. I worked a couple of AIDS quilts after that. I remember one year, I had a panel in my section that had been covered up by the family of the person named. They were embarrassed and didn’t want people to know their son had been gay and died of AIDS. Sad. Donald has been gone almost 11 years now.

Years later, I still can’t wrap my head around the idea that in 2009, people are still discriminated against because of who they fall in love with or more specifically, what they do in the bedroom. Who cares? Would any of us want to be judged by the same token? I’m guessing no (if so, Bret Michaels is in a world of hurt). It’s so ridiculous. My neighbors down the street have been together as long as my husband and I have been. Is their relationship any less significant than mine, because I have the legal piece of paper and they don’t? No.

If I do nothing else as a parent, it will be to try and teach my kids that skin color doesn’t matter. Religious affiliation doesn’t matter. And sexual orientation doesn’t matter. Everyone deserves respect. We the people means ALL the people, doesn’t it? Our forefather didn’t say – “except those boys who kiss other boys. “

OK, soapbox put away now. :)

Here’s a funny Noah story. Just recently, he has discovered ‘80s music, and thinks it’s really cool. All of a sudden, I’m hip because I have Def Leppard CDs, and I’ve seen Depeche Mode in person and oh my god in heaven, I have a CD with “Jessie’s Girl” on it. We had to play said song all the way home from Olympia today, with Noah singing all the words he knows. This consists of sporadic phrases like “she’s lovin’ him with that body, I just know it” and “I want, I want Jessie’s girl.” Picture complete quiet, except for the song, and then Noah busting out those parts. Whoa.