Church and state, blah blah blah

Big Pinzur, in full Instigator mode, writes:

"I had dinner with Chan over the weekend and we predicted that your answer would involve the home state's lack of acknowledgment. We figure you'll eventually clarify your position to this: as soon as it's legal in all 50 states and recognized by the Catholic church and blessed by the Pope..."

Oh yeah, that's fair.

First off, you're the one who suggested that, since California allows anyone in the country to wed, I might be appeased. How could you not expect me to care that those out-of-state weddings wouldn't count in most cases? That is ridiculous.

As to the part about the 50 states: if you want a line drawn, well, I don't think I can do that. I'm not sure how much progress it'll take for me to feel comfortable that marriage isn't a prejudiced and intrinsically religious institution. The repeal of anti-miscegenation laws was a twenty year process that started with California's State Supreme Court and ended with Loving v Virginia, so clearly these things can take time -- although I like to think we're a more progressive and accepting culture than we were in the 50s and 60s.

(I find it shocking, by the way, that just over 40 years ago -- and just over 13 years before I was born -- it was illegal in sixteen states for whites to marry blacks. That is truly, truly amazing.)

Just like in 1967, I'm aware that there's a certain pathetic backwater region of our country, henceforth referred to as the Shame of our Nation, that will have to be dragged into the 21st century kicking and screaming. I don't necessarily need to wait for that day, but I would like to be a little more confident that it will ever come. It would also help if, at the very least, the state I was living in allowed equal rights. These are just a couple of basics.

On to the last bit: I know you were joking about the Catholic Church and the Pope, but dude. Dude. My whole statement of purpose here is that I, [supposedly] like our government, want nothing to do with religion. As far as I'm concerned, the Catholics can continue to practice homosexuality only in secret and only with the illegally young, and the Pope can continue to pretend that the Bible allows for life on Mars. But I think one of the biggest roadblocks in the struggle for equal rights is the fear that we intend to change the way the church does its business. I just want the church out of our law, like it's supposed to be.

In other news: Today I overheard a woman talking with disgust about "the gays." (We just had the Fremont Fair, sort of a celebration of freakiness and rampant nudity, and apparently it ruffled this woman's feathers.) I then overheard her mention (almost proudly) that the father of her two children is a "pervert" and that it would be illegal for him to come near their children. That's God's America.

Last and also least, here's a joke I came up with a couple of weeks ago. You can use this at snooty cocktail parties. Here goes:

"Did you hear that Gov. Bobby Jindal, possible Republican VP candidate, was once an exorcist? Well, it is the party of Regan!"

If you can figure out how to tell that joke without hyperlinks, I swear it'll have people shooting martinis out their noses.