“In view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship,” Chief Justice Ronald M. George wrote of marriage for the majority, “the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples.”

California already has a strong domestic partnership law that gives gay and lesbian couples nearly all of the benefits and burdens of heterosexual marriage. The majority said that is not enough. [source]

California joins Massachusetts in being the only two states to legally support marriage equality.

Idiots and godbags (as much as there is a difference) in California are not willing to focus on their own families, though:

Conservative groups have proposed a new initiative, this one to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. If it is allowed onto the ballot in November and approved by the voters, [today's] decision would be overridden.

There must be something wrong with me, because I think it’s silly to get all huffy over two women or two men entering the marriage contract together.

In 2003 Canada ran these commercials on television stations across the country:

Here in the US:

Advocacy and awareness go a long way.

My New Year’s celebrations went fairly well. I started drinking around nine Monday night and at about ten The Partner and I talked with The Canadian-Down-Under for an hour. It was good to hear he is doing well, and to hear the stories he can’t blog about. (It was not good to hear he had started smoking again, at $11 a pack [I have to bug you, and would expect the same].)

Shortly after we got off the phone, Lauren called to invite us over to her place to join her, Chef, and her friend J in ringing in the new year, so we gathered some liquor and games and walked through the already-nasty weather to her house.

The five of us sat around, drinking too much, playing a game, and talking politics. Chef and The Partner left the room at one point, hiding in the kitchen, because they couldn’t handle our rather heated discussion (but I don’t think I pointed any fingers this time, even though I was sufficiently sloshed). I’m a firm believer in folks sharing their beliefs, philosophies, and politics, because if we can’t and don’t talk about them, we leave it up to other folks, who are probably godbag Republicans, and I don’t know about you, but they don’t talk for me. And how else do you know what you believe until you argue it through with others? It was great to see how different, yet similar, the three of us are.

I think The Partner left around 3am, taking my liquor with him. Fortunately, Lauren and Chef are drinkers, so I took some of their rum to mix with my soda, which I did drink, even though Lauren poured some coffee liqueur in it. She went to bed around 5 or so, I think.

So Chef, J, and I sat around for another two hours talking, although the particulars are extremely fuzzy. Realizing the time, I walked home part of the way with J, appreciating her ability to talk frankly without having hurt feelings or feeling awkward.

I then stayed up until 8, at which time it had become light out, drinking tons of water to allow myself the ability to lay down with getting the spins.

Happy New Year!

Then the phone rang at 11am.

I had partially awoken, and heard The Partner race up the stairs to answer it. He had missed it, but caller ID said it was my parents house. I mumbled something about it being too early, my mom should know I’d still be sleeping, and we weren’t going to the movies until the later afternoon.

The Partner listened to the voicemail, and said it was my step-father. The Partner brought me the cordless so I could listen to the message telling me to call home as soon as possible.

That’s never a good message.

Still rather drunk, I called home. My step-father said my mom was in the hospital, having had a small stroke at 1:30 that morning.

After the shock, I got up, got dressed, made a small breakfast, drank a lot of water, and then called one of my aunts because my step-dad hadn’t gotten a hold of her. I reached her, and told her. I tried to call my other aunt and uncle, but I couldn’t find their phone number in my panic, so I called my cousin Amanda, who didn’t answer, so I left her a message to call me ASAP.

We then dug our car out of the snow and drove to the hospital.

My mom said, “It looks like we’re not going to the movies today, kiddo.”

We stayed until about 3 in the afternoon, long enough for my step-dad to return and for the neurologist to call with the results of the MRI, which showed my mom did have a small stroke. The good news is that she did not display any outward signs of damage (such as one-sided paralysis or memory loss or slurred speech). Any and all damage was relegated to her brain, which seemed to be functioning normally, or as normal as could be. We should find out more later today.

I’m just going to say that this had better be the lowest fucking low of the remaining 364 days of 2008. Or someone is getting cut.

Mixed with this bad, I had called an old friend to let her know about my mom, and in-between our talks of watching our parents get older, she let me know about her New Year’s engagement. While I can’t say I’m excited for another wedding (even though she will be a most beautiful bride and the alcohol shall surely flow at the party), I am excited for her and hope she and her soon-to-be-husband come to enjoy their 1,138 Federal rights and privileges.

Mike Gravel was his usual self, although toned down for the context. I loved his mentioning of having been reconsidered for the invitation to the forum.

The one that won me over was Dennis Kucinich, even with all his hippie love talk. There are several spots wherein I lose composure and become verklempt.

Out of the six, Gravel and Kucinich are the only two candidates who support full marriage inclusion for queer couples. The other four (Clinton, Edwards, Obama, and Richardson) have taken a more “we’ll be the first to make separate somehow equal” stance in favor of “civil unions”.

As we have learned (or as some of us apparently haven’t learned), “separate but equal” does not always get played out that way.

I cannot think of a valid reason as to why two consenting adults should be denied equal access to the marriage contract. When we are dealing with state and federal rights and privileges being conferred to some citizens but not others we have a duty to correct the imbalance and reinstate equality under the laws for all. Civil unions are more like a bone being thrown to the crowd to heed them off for a bit than an effective, lasting solution.

In the past seven months I have attended two weddings while another friend is engaged and set to marry at some point this fall. That they decided to pronounce their union to the state and enter into a contract is secondary and was often done for the benefits they would receive; their dedication to and love for one another is the important part and that is why they held a wedding: to share with their family and friends their love.

I am glad the forum was held.

Sunday I went with my mom to see 28 Weeks Later, because we both loved loved loved the first one and love apocalyptic films in general. I was skeptical of how good the film would be, as sequels seem to be hit-and-miss. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being shite and 10 being the first film, I’d rate 28 Weeks Later at 8.0. It is much more bloody than the first one (they do that thumbs-in-the-eyes thing again), mostly because folks have guns and helicopters in this film, and there are some really great scenes that made me jump.

I’ve spent most of this week hanging out with friends and enjoying life. It feels so strange to not have to worry about classes or homework. On a related note, I’m getting back into knitting. I have a slew of projects lined up and my fingers are twitching. I’ve also been helping a friend learn to knit (rule #1: No knots!) and we’re working on her first circular knitting project, a basic hat that incorporates ribbing, increases and decreases and moves on to DPN usage.

This coming weekend I have my cousin Amanda’s wedding to attend, so this pattern of barely posting will continue until at least then.

Next week, expect pictures of my pit office as I begin to clean it. Sometime in January my brain exploded and books and papers flooded the office. One project for this summer is to clean house. I’ve managed to accumulate so much shit that it is driving me nuts and moving out is not an option.

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*I had no idea what to type here to describe the relationship. We need new language to describe today’s families!