(no subject)

[felicula]

I went to a Marriage Equality rally today, partly because it is a cause I feel strongly about and partly because I met the rally's coordinator at the church I attend. It was organized because the New York State Supreme Court handed out a decision against marriage rights for same-sex couples. A copy of the ruling can be found here. I'm not usually very crowd oriented, but I felt good listening to the speakers and being a part of the cause even though I felt self conscious that I only knew one person there.

The part that required much more strength than I though it would was heading home. I'd picked up a sign supporting the cause. It read, "Loving Couples Deserve Marriage." As I set out toward the Liberty Pole bus stop, I realized that it would be a cop out to hold the sign inward or roll it up. This is a message I believe in. This is a message I am willing to stand up for. So I carried it facing outward. The walk was 2-3 blocks to the bus stop. Then there was a 15-20 minute wait on Main Street for the bus. Plus a 15-20 minute bus ride, and a block and a half walk home. Generally, I like to be inconspicuous. Carrying that sign was rather conspicuous.

I'm used to being bisexual. I'm married to a man, I have a son, but I believe that marriage does not automatically "pin down a bisexual person into being straight or gay. Yet until today, I had no idea just how comfortable that invisibility was. Some people stared, many didn't. One man chattered to another on the bus about "living a righteous life." Another man asked me if I had an extra, until I mentioned the Empire State Pride Agenda. Then he looked more closely, said "Oh," and dropped the subject.

The last leg was the hardest. My own street. These are people who know where I live, even if they don't know my name. I was almost past a driveway where a man was conversing with a woman in a vehicle. I gave a polite greeting and the woman asked to see the sign. She asked if it had to do with the crowd and the noise downtown. I told her a little bit about the rally and its purpose. She looked at me gravely and asked, "You support that?" I said yes, I support it. Thus ensued an informal, though thankfully not overly aggressive discussion about reasons for and against gay marriage. We were able to wish one another a good night after, and I feel I comported myself well in the debate, but I was shaky as I walked past the last few houses and into my own. I was thankful I'd recently read Leviticus.

First thing in the door, I hung the sign in the bedroom window.

Second thing in the door, I sat and thought what it must be like for homosexual couples everywhere, every time they go out. I thought about what the public faces of gay rights activism must go through. These people do not have or accept the luxury of invisibility.

Believing in gay rights is so much easier than standing up for them. My heart goes out to every single gay rights activist out there, and to all the same-sex couples striving for equal treatment in the eyes of the State and Federal Governments.