Last night Mr. Twistie’s band played a local coffee house. Don’t worry, this will tie in with the title eventually. Just give it a minute.
Anyway. They played a coffee house. The crowd was pretty good, but the amazing thing was that it contained some unexpected faces. One of those faces belonged to Dan. Dan was the lead singer in the band way back through the mists of time when Mr. Twistie and I first started dating. He left, though, about twenty years ago to pursue his dream of singing gospel music instead. We wished him luck. He was a great guy with a terrific voice, but he really didn’t have a rock voice. Now he sings with a renowned gospel choir in the Bay Area and he’s thrilled to be raising his voice in the praise of God. I think he’s where he belongs now.
He’s also where he belongs in his heart. He introduced Mr. Twistie and me to his partner, Jim, last night. When they looked at one another, I saw the same glow I feel on my face when I look at Mr. Twistie – the same one I see on his face when he looks at me.
Turns out they did officially marry during the brief window when same sex marriage was allowed in our state a couple years ago. I’m delighted for them.
And this brings us to Argentina.
Three days ago, on July 15, 2010, Argentina officially legalized same sex marriage. This makes Argentina the first Latin American country to legalize same sex marriage.
The wording of the legal code has simply been changed from ‘husband and wife’ to ‘the marrying parties.’ This simple change of wording gives same sex couples the same rights as their heterosexual couple counterparts in matters such as: adoption of children, social security benefits, and other family issues.
Things got off to a rocky start with denouncements by the Catholic church and protesters in the streets taking on crowds of celebrating gays and their supporters, but the law has been passed by the government and I don’t think it’s going to change.
By contrast, after a good start, California voters stripped away the same right from thousands of Dans and Jims – and Danielles and Janes – just months after the state courts declared that equality under the law required recognition of same sex marriages.
That makes me sad. It makes me angry.
I’m delighted for the gays, lesbians, and bisexuals of Argentina. I just wish the ones here could get the same basic human rights back.